FI TV Fiasco

Alfasudcrazy

What are your thoughts on F1 TV coverage this year on TV. I know RTE no longer show it and Satanta's coverage is cr... extremely compromised. I am strongly thinking of ditching Sky in favour of Chorus in order to be able to see UTV's excellent coverage (see related threads)

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=237061
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=2457075&postcount=21

bazz26

I think F1 in general has killed itself imo. The new rules are a joke and have made a sport which has become less enjoyable to watch over the last 2 or 3 years even worse.

Obviously RTE's F1 ratings have fallen by the way side and decided to ditch it.
The most irretating thing about ITV's coverage is that they take alot of commercial breaks during the race itself. :mad:

So you could miss something half interesting like David Coultard (spelling?) crashing into this team mate.

MrPudding

Luckily I have an NI subscription for my Sky, so I get ITV.

I kind of like the new rules. They seem to be shaking things up a bit. I reckon after a couple more races, when the team know better how the tyres last, it will get even better.

I agree that the ads are annoying but they do have the technology to run replays so its not that bad.

MrP

*Angel*

Alfasudcrazy wrote:

I am strongly thinking of ditching Sky in favour of Chorus in order to be able to see UTV's excellent coverage

Yep UTV's coverage is really good. Yes this season is a bit of a joke, but it's so good to see M Schumacher doing badly for once. It's weird how much has changed since last season.

ando

So far I think this season is the best we've had in 3 or 4 years. Seeing schumi as an underdog gets my blood flowing during a race. And the racing between Webber and others like Rschumi, Trulli and DeLaRossa was spectacular. I dont understand when ppl keep saying F1 is still $hite

Check this clip out and say its boring. I can think of a few more incidents like it in the season so far:

http://homepage.eircom.net/~monza1999/misc/f1.wmv

The only thing I hate about F1 at the moment is no Irish team or drivers and James Twat Allen

byte

You could aim a satellite dish at Astra 1 to receive RTL, who also broadcast F1, though dialogue is in German

quarryman

I'd agree. I hink this season is going to be one of the best in the last few years. Something, i reckon, RTE are gonna regret opting out of.

Seth Brundle

Did RTE opt out or just lose it to Setanta?

mike65

Just realised, this is on the wrong forum! Moved

Mike.

Alfasudcrazy

Oops Sorry - I was afraid I might be jumping the gun doing that - is there any way the mptorsports section could have a link with the Motors/Classic cars section - I never knew this section even existed until I found it by accident. If not sure not to worry

Blaster99

I think Setanta bid on it and won. I don't really watch Setanta's coverage much but it seemed much like RTE's coverage to me. What is really cool is that Setanta shows both qualifying sessions (and possibly the Friday sessions too, can't remember). ITV's F1 coverage is the best I've ever seen anywhere. Pity they can't apply some of that magic to their WRC coverage as well.

This season is purty good.

Blaster99

Oh by the way, Setanta's site is very good for sports news as well. One of the better F1 news sites out there I would say and they tend to add little sarcastic comments at the end of the articles as well.

Curran

Not bothered about RTE cutting F1 (apart from when ITV take a commercial break - used to flick over so i woulndnt miss anything)

The commentary was SH1T€ on RTE anyways....(as is all commentary on irish TV) like that idiot David Kennedy (yeah the ginger minger) who was in F1 for a few races and in all off them he DNQ (did not qualify)...and reckons he knows everything!

Even Murray Walkers gibberish was better than RTE's coverage - BRING HIM BACK - what a LEGEND!

As for the new rules!The new rules certainly have spiced things up a little.....but the new Qualifying is stupid....but Bernie E. has realised that and is going to propose new qualifying rules at Imola this weekend to all the teams...could see the old 12 lap or 1 lap (one lap on Saturday only) back by mid season!

Going to be a tight season! Esp. being a long season!
Schuey & Ferrari are going to come strong (possibly this W/E at their home race)

ando

the two race engine and the no new tyres rule suckz aswell imo. I dont want to hear about cost cutting measures, its Formula 1 ffs

Curran

ando wrote:

the two race engine and the no new tyres rule suckz aswell imo. I dont want to hear about cost cutting measures, its Formula 1 ffs

Totally agree ANDO....if ya cant keep up with the cost - get out....just like Eddie Jordan did...

...shame to see him go....such a vibrant team..dont know how they lost their sponsorship even if they didnt get great results for a season or two

Dempsey

Jordan started to slip when B&H stopped being their main sponsor. Their income was severly reduced.

The only team that doesnt worry about cost is Ferrari, all the others are desperate to keep in the black. If they dont introduce cost cutting measures it will only be Ferrari left in F1 and the rest will leave.

Curran

Dempsey wrote:

Jordan started to slip when B&H stopped being their main sponsor. Their income was severly reduced.

The only team that doesnt worry about cost is Ferrari, all the others are desperate to keep in the black. If they dont introduce cost cutting measures it will only be Ferrari left in F1 and the rest will leave.

Agree with you there Dempsey - about the loss of B&H sponsorship and that Ferrari have the money!
But if Ferrari have a bad season this season...Renault will be seriously rich boys!
Alsonso"mainia" if you will - has already started in Spain (was big last few seasons but massive now) so much so that the Spainish GP is sold out already...dont think it sold out last few seasons...certainly not before the week of the race....i know Renault dont cash in on that.....
but i reckon Renault will win the constructors championship (Schuey the Drivers)...big $$$$$ if they do....
and if Alsonso"mainia" is anything to go by..... also the merchandise they will sell this season will rake in the money.....and also everone will want to their sponsorship on the cars!

Dempsey

I remember when Beno Reno's and Williams Reno were dominant in F1. If they can topple Ferrari they could slip back into Alesi and Berger days and Reno could resume where they left off. It be good for the sport if Ferrari dont do the double, again. Definitely be more people wanting to watch a 2 or 3 horse race rather than Schu and Rubens being told who should finish 1st and 2nd most races

Blaster99

I'm not a Ferrari fan (or a basher), but it for some reason struck me today that F1 would be unbelievably boring if it weren't for Ferrari. I specifically stayed in to watch the qualifying to see if they're back in action. Would anyone really watch it if teams like Renault and Toyota were fighting it out? It would be like wondering who makes the best MPV. That said, a dominant Ferrari was boring. The current competitiveness of the field is the best it's been in a long time. 3-4 teams can win a race now.

I would also question if Ferrari could really put in all that much more money into F1. They obviously have more money than most other teams because of previous wins and TV revenue and special Bernie deals, but it's a small company and they're not doing that spectacularly well financially, never mind Fiat's problems.

Dempsey

I thought most of their F1 money was/is coming from FIAT? If Ferrari have high costs and dont big home driver and constructor, FIAT wont pump in the financial difference. They could get stung badly.

SoupyNorman

whether anyone thinks the new rules are good or not they were badly needed and i have to say from the first race everybody could see an instant effect, the sport has been so reptitive over the last few years it had to be done. i miss the days of mika against micheal now that was serious rivalry.

i wonder will they go ahead with the proposal to remove all electronic driver aids within the next couple of seasons....then it will be nothing but a steering wheel, an engine and god on your side!!!!!!!!!!

Dempsey

I would like to see all electronic aids gone aswell. Electronics are compensating for too many driving errors. The focus should be on the driving not how good the electronics are.

ando

Alfasudcrazy wrote:

I know RTE no longer show it and Satanta's coverage is cr... extremely compromised.

they didnt even show the race live today

dearg_doom

Cool, I was just about to make a new thread for this exact topic, so I'll write what I was going to write there, here!


James Allen is a cock!

It's true!

The guy is the WORST sports (nevermind just F1) commentator EVER!

Terrible diction, retarded vocabulary, Brent-esque manner, the guy is the worst part of ITV's coverage(yes, even more annoying than the ads imo!!!)

The 'commentary' at the end of Imola was pathetic! I know these guys are experienced drivers or whatever but they rarely show off this knowledge, instead prefering to be 'cool' or whatever is going through their heads as they 'do their thang'. They just come accross as kind of indecisive and insecure to me.

In contrast, the Setanta guys were telling us that Alonso was tactically going slower not only because his rear tyres were falling apart(which the ITV lads didn't even notice) but also so that he would not become caught up with the two back-markers Liuzzi and Wurz that he was about to catch up on and who might have given MS an opportunity to overtake him.... this is just one case of the ITV guys' crapness(a few races ago when Kimi went out with a deflated tyre, Anderson copped on, and told us within mintes, Kimi was still coasting around the track at the time, that it was probably a mistake where the pitcrew who adjusted his tyre pressure might have left the valve open. The ITV guys didn't cop this either - although that might have been due to their percieved infallibility of the Brit teams)


I know the RTE guys aren't the best, heck they aren't even 'great' commentators, but I like them, and GA adds a huge amount in his intimate knowledge of the workings of an F1 car/team(in fact I think he's the best of the lot, I've heard a lot of people moaning that he's boring and not a very 'natural' speaker - but, in fairness, if you're interested enough to watch 20 cars drive in a circle for 2 hours you should be interested in the subtleties of how they work/break)

If only Setanta would raise the commentators' volume during the race, don't get me wrong, I like burst eardrums a much as the next guy, but the last couple of races have been a bit much:p

Kalina

Setanta coverage is saved only by Gary Anderson, he knows his stuff after years working in the technical side of F1. He has the technical knowledge to answer questions that the Quigley and Kennedy have little or no knowledge of.

muckwarrior

Edit: Crap, I just realised I posted this in the wrong thread. Can Mod move it to ITV Un-****in-believable?

I went on ITV's website yesterday and gave them a piece of my mind about the stupid ad break at the end. Was suprised when I actually got a reply today:

IITV would like to apologise for cutting to a break at the climax of yesterday's Grand Prix and we are sorry that it affected your enjoyment of the race.


As you are probably aware, we always try to cut to adverts during the least contentious parts of the action and update viewers with anything they may have missed as soon as possible after the commercials.


ITV is contractually obliged to include a certain number of adverts during the race - we are a commercial channel and Formula One is a commercial sport.


On Sunday, the race was very exciting throughout and it was a tough call as to when to cut to adverts - for example, we didn't want to interrupt the race when Jensen Button was in the lead. Our production team make these decisions and have done so since we started F1 coverage in 1997, by and large they get it right.


In the event we delayed taking the break until the last moment but had to do so with three laps to go. Yesterday's race was a particularly difficult one to call as Michael Schumacher caught Fernando Alonso so spectacularly. It appeared that he would take the lead at any moment and we were reluctant to cut away from the action.


Unfortunately, the pass moment never came and we were forced to take the scheduled break too close to the finish. Coverage returned for the final lap to see Schumacher and Alonso battling for the lead. We know it is of little consolation but their positions didn't change hands during the advert break and we screened the final three laps in their entirety after the race finished.


Nonetheless, we are well aware that the timing of this advert upset many viewers and can only apologise to you again.

Whilst the strategy for cutting to adverts is not an exact science, we will do our utmost to ensure that this scenario does not happen again in future and your comments have been passed on to the production team plus the Controller of ITV Sport.


Thank you for writing in to us.

From the Duty Office, ITV

Bamboozled

With the loss of RTE's coverage, I'm resorted to catching highlights on TV3. I've no ITV either since moving. Whats the story with Setanta? How do i get it and is it worth getting to catch more than just highlights?