ITV Coverage of F1

ScumLord

I know it's their final year and thank fudge. They've gone way overboard with the advertising this year. Towards the end of the race, the interesting bit! They seem to show adds every 5 - 10 minutes.

You'd think they'd want to go out on a high not run their reputation into the ground being money grabbing whores.

Mena

While I personally prefer ITv and their presenters over any other option, I must say that the ad breaks have become totally mad, to the point where I no longer watch a live race, so that I can forward past the silly ads.

For this reason I am very happy the BBC are grabbing it.

Cookie_Monster

That really annoys me alright, as doe sthe constant "lets talk to Lewis about something" interview every day its on

De Hipster

Thankfully 'The Lewis Hamilton Show' is to be no longer.

He's talented, agressive & probably what the sport needed of late but seriously Steve Ryder really needs to remove his head from the young McLaren drivers 'you know what'!

That's not to say the BBC won't simply take over in the same vein...

zeris

The other irritating thing ITV have done a few times this year is not show press conferences except for when Lewis speaks and instead fill the time with "analysis" of Lewis' performance in the race. I now switch to Setanta once the flag falls.

I once thought the Button-mania on ITV was bad, now I know better.

jvc

zeris wrote: »

The other irritating thing ITV have done a few times this year is not show press conferences except for when Lewis speaks and instead fill the time with "analysis" of Lewis' performance in the race. I now switch to Setanta once the flag falls.

I once thought the Button-mania on ITV was bad, now I know better.

+1 to all of that.
Another thing that is starting to annoy me about ITVs coverage is Mark Blundells so called "analysis". All he seems to do is agree with what Steve says and his grammar is very poor.

Irishshin

Have to agree. I am very glad its going to the BBC, the ITV ads are just so annoying. They always missing good bits and they go to ads during pit stops. Its amazing how they can show a football match with less ads.

They go on too much about Hamilton. Personally I think its the reason why so many people don't like him!

Grim.

Irishshin wrote: »

They go on too much about Hamilton. Personally I think its the reason why so many people don't like him!

agreed i personally don't like Hamilton but they make me hate him the itv crew just don't give the other drivers any time which is just annoying after about 2 hours of Hamilton fanboi ism and stops me enjoying the sport hopefully the BBC coverage will be a little less bias

vectra

Thank god we will se the back of those muppets..
Roll on 2009 and BBC HD coverage :cool:

amacachi

If BBC confirm they'll be broadcasting in HD I'll be seriously considering upgrading my stuff Good think with the next few races is that ITV usually aren't as bad with the ads in the late night races

Irishshin

Only 15 laps gone in Japan and they have now gone to ads twice!!!
So frustrating.

amacachi

Yup, I was dead wrong thinking they wouldn't have many breaks during this race:rolleyes:

fatgav

one incident this morning really annoyed me

'did massa have all four wheels in the pit lane when he overtook webber?'

the smell of desperate of james allen. disgusting.

Grim.

yeah that James Allen annoyed me as well although he manages to annoy me on quite a regular basis during a race

triple h

The best thing about BBC getting the formula 1 next year ( well for me anyway) is that i can cancel my Setanta sub. My main reason for getting Setanta was for formula 1.

When Setanta first started showing F1 i paid €99 for that year, dear enough. Next year i think it is somewhere around the €250, outrageous.

When Setanta first started showing F1 they would only show one ad break on average ( some races would have 2, some none). As the price goes up (every year) the ad break count goes up, outrageous.

When Setanta first started showing F1 and remember that is the reason i got a satanta sub. , i stated to watch baseball and enjoy it. Next year i am going to subscribe to the MLB web site for the year which will be €80 and i can watch as many games and any team i like on my laptop or computer, unbelievable.

There are tooooooo many soccer matches on tv nowadays, so Setanta showing more soccer games does not appeal to me. But the BBC showing F1 races and they show no ads, thats a winner.

Irishshin

There was really waaayy too many ads during the GP this morning.
Felt like much more than usual.

James Allen is so annoying fingers crossed he won't be going to the BBC next year
Although I do hope Martin Brundle is going. I like him.

FrostyJack

I actually watched the whole race on Setanta this morning for the first time. And I have to say it is quite crap. It's worse than the football on Setanta. The commentary is so drab and they are half asleep. The missed loads of things happening on screen (massa passing Hamilton for one). It was like Murray Walker without the entusiasm. I flicked on ITV for the start of their broadcast at 4, expecting to hear them going off on one about the incidents, but they didn't really. They have seemed to have toned down the Lewis Hamilton show and Brundle was actually giving him loads of stick.

Another thing was they knew what tyre strategy everyone was on and had interviews with the drivers who left the race etc. Setanta just guessed every thing. If it didnt get replayed 6 times they didn't mention it. Never watching Setanta (unless I have to) again, ITV all is forgiven.

amacachi

I had the live timing on the laptop and when I flicked on Setanta I noticed they seemed to be at least a lap behind with what was going on. They'd say someone had lost a second on the last lap when they'd actually gained half a second.

vincenzolorenzo

While ITV/Lewis TV can get very annoying at times they actually do a pretty good job to be fair. The one thing that i HATE about ITV's coverage though is the amount of ads. When RTE had F1 they only used to have one break during the race, ITV must have 4 or 5 anyway. In fairness though i think people are building up too much expectation about the BBC coverage. They're still brits after all and are still going to focus on the brit drivers. As Hammo is going to be leading the way on that front Lewis TV will probably continue next year. I'm looking forward to the switch to BBC but only for the red button option lack of ads to be honest.

thegoth

Only one reason I watch all the F1 races on Setanta and pay €20 a month for it and its Gary Anderson's analysis and opinions

Dilbert75

I wonder will BBC be available to Irish Sky subscribers on EPG next year or will the Setanta broadcast rights for Ireland prevent that? I know it'd only be a matter of setting it up on the Other Channels but it'd be a hassle...

Mythago

ITV's huge ad content is painful on TV, but, their website takes the biscuit; every link click is greeted with a pop-up ad! They really are milking Lewis mania to death.

Hopefully Brundle stays with the Beeb & Steve Allen should be kept purely to wind-up viewers;)

Cookie_Monster

Could a potential upside of this be that UTV will now show other motor sports in f1's place? A1 or touring cars on non-f1 weekends would be a great plus i think

afatbollix

nopethey have no money.. they have all ready canceled there irish rally program for next year....

Jor

I think ITV have blown most of their Sports budget on getting more Champions League football and England World Cup qualifiers.

If you thought James Allen is bad (During the Japan GP, he sounded like Sarah Palin to Massas Barack Obama), when England eventually scored their first goal against Kazakhstan last Saturday, the commentator said "Well, that should put the Kazakhstan players in their place." I think British TV have special arrogant implants which they put into several of their personnel. Either that or I've been watching too much X-files.

G-Money

I absolutely hate the ad breaks on ITV and I'm glad that this weekend will be the last race they are showing. Having said that, I like some of their features, Brundle's grid walks and track guides. I won't miss James Allen, unless the BBC end up getting someone worse. I've kind of just got used to the British media wanting to have babies with the national sports people so I'm fairly immune to all the Lewis loving. I suspect sometimes that Hamilton is contractually obliged to speak to Steve Rider each race weekend, but anyway. This time next week we will have a new world champion.