Functional differentiation of the concepts "genre" and "format" in sports broadcast journalism

The social significance of sports and interest in it caused by unpredictable results, dramatic events and acute conflicts make sports attractive to journalists from different mass media working in a variety of genres and formats. Due to the introduction of new communication channels, the use of high technologies and growing competition with online broadcasts, the established system of genres in television journalism has been blurred. It lost its clear typology, merged some genres and broke the traditional canons by adopting hybrid groups of entertainment content (talk show, reality show). Study aims at systematizing such concepts as "genre" and "format" in sports journalism. Television sports broadcasting acts as a special discourse. The authors of the article defined the format of television sports broadcasting and considered its connection with traditional journalistic genres. They also overviewed such a media product as the Russian sports TV channel "Match TV" in terms of its quality.