European Sportscar TV Coverage

[Adam43]

We're pretty lucky with MotorsTV (and even having anything on Eurosport) in terms of what series that they cover. However it seems people didn't like the Daytona 24 coverage. Was it the uncertain timetable, the adverts, the coverage in general (all of those?).

I think everyone thinks that MotorsTV does a pretty good job. Am I right here? Can it be better?

From my point of view I feel it is incredible that we have both the ALMS and LMS series broadcast, and more often than not the full races! Who would have thought this possible, even only a few years ago.

The Eurosport coverage didn't match up to that. MotorsTV doesn't have that many resources, but you get the impression that they consider it more important. They stick to the timetable! They don't 100% rely on the host broadcaster either, sometimes staying with the action even if the host is away on an advert break.

[Speed-King]

Motors does absoultely nothing for me as it isn't available in the majority of Germany. I'd rather see a lackluster Eurosport coverage than not see a great Motors coverage....

[Knowlesy]

Yes, MotorsTV is a blessing. The coverage of sportscars is excellent.

I have gripes with the picture and audio quality (mainly picture). I often think, you know, I'd be happy to pay a subscription for a good picture quality. Imagine Motors coverage combined with Sky Sports picture quality!

You can never expect Eurosport to match Motors, it is not a dedicated channel for a start. But that said, they still don't do as good a job as they could. Why do we have to have a news ticker obscuring the screen all the time on E2? Why do they run the same ad schedule as the American host? And, seeing as we were matching Speed's coverage, why the need for the commentary team we were left with? The amount of interviews and stuff that was missed thanks to Kirby whittering on was unreal. Eurosport just don't care, understandable as they are useless and spread themselves too thin.

Overall, we are blessed with a lot of stuff, certainly a hell of a lot more than could even be comprehended not so long ago. But I still think a step up in quality is needed. We have the quantity, now it is time to tune the quality. Will Motors ever make a move to HD for example?

[rdjones]

I don't have access to Motors so I can't really comment on there coverage. I'm with Virgin, but we are ex-Telewest customer so we can't have it, but if I lived 3 miles up the road in an ex-NTL area I would have access to it. I have asked several time why I can't have it but no one can give me answer.

I have to say I was not impressed with Eurosports Coverage of Daytona this weekend, Mark Cole seem to know what he was on about but Carlton Kirby was awful. However it was great to see them showing the event. I wonder if they will show anymore Grand Am races later in the year.

[Paddy_NL]

Originally Posted by AdamAshmore

I think everyone thinks that MotorsTV does a pretty good job. Am I right here? Can it be better?

No, I don't think they can improve. Motors is absolutely great, especially during ALMS when the Americans have their commercial breaks. Indeed, as you say; we are blessed with MotorsTV. John Hindhaugh, Mark Cole and their colleagues do a great job, and I liked Liz joining in at the last few races

The coverage of the Rolex24 was just a reminder how races are broadcasted in the States (why the 'ell would you interrupt a car race with ski-jumping?!?), the amount of breaks were horrendous, especially in the first part.

As for advertising on MotorsTV, it's okay now (and funny sometimes with those French ads, what was that with the Polish Ford salesman? ). I would rather pay more to my subscription then get more advertising, but that wouldn't be up to me

MotorsTV is great, it got me interested in more motorsport. Hell, I'm even planning to visit Bathurst in 2009 because of the Motors ceverage!

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Eurosport is rubbish, but then that's not news. Motors TV, good coverage in terms of hours broadcasted and getting it live, but I find that I watch very little of it. They have the US commentators from SPEED on their ALMS coverage, and as we all probably know, commentators from the American school are, well, rubbish. I could have watched the ALMS races in 2007, but I rather sat at my computer with Radio Le Mans and a live timing screen. Hindy, I love you. Fantastic commentator. The same cannot however be said for Carlton Kirby. Oh how I loathe that man. He is the main responsibility for me not following the Le Mans Series. You cannot watch a six hour race with such a horribe commentator. If they get Hindhaugh to do it, it would greatly improve the product. Just look at Brazil.

[Bentley03]

I would concur that Motors TV does a great job. Sure, there are areas where it could be improved, but to criticise would just be nitpicking (and we're never going to lose the ads). Those of us lucky enough to be able to receive Motors are truly blessed!

My hope is that Motors will continue to show the Le Mans Series races live and that a comprehensive highlights package is made available on more mainstream channels.

[Paddy_NL]

Originally Posted by Paddy_NL

As for advertising on MotorsTV, it's okay now (and funny sometimes with those French ads, what was that with the Polish Ford salesman?).

I meant this one >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-Q6H...eature=related

[ss_collins]

Motors is great, yes they have some ropey commentary at times - but what they show is brilliant - I'm loving my ARCA fix this winter

[JAG]

Eurosports motorsport coverage is attrocious.

They were up and running years before Sky Sports, but it's still 50/50 whether a program starts on time, even so there's a good chance they'll have severe audio/picture issues.

With their limited budget, Motors TV do a great job. Hopefully they'll go from strength to strength.

[Knowlesy]

My post looks like whingeing on reflection, please don't perceive it as so.

I am just interested to see if what we have progresses, that is all. I'd love to see Motors become the definitive channel, in terms of both quality and content and I'd happily pay for it if necessary. I miss my fix of Motors when the satellite is down or whatever.

What other channel has done the full monty for the 24 hours of Le Mans for example? It is great coverage.

(I wish they'd get live Nationwide and ARCA though, but that's off topic!)

[JAG]

They have the US commentators from SPEED on their ALMS coverage, and as we all probably know, commentators from the American school are, well, rubbish.

I personally believe they are by far the best commentators on any medium, the only one's that can match them are Martin Haven and a couple of the RLM guys.

[rdjones]

BTW does anyone know if the FIA GT Championship is going to be on Men and Motors again this year. I did watch a couple of the racers last year and the coverage was pretty good.

[Bentley03]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

My post looks like whingeing on reflection, please don't perceive it as so.

Not at all, thought your post was most constructive Mr.K!

Let's face it, the opportunity for the endurance guys amongst us to be able to watch the long distance events live and in their entirety, is a situation which, even in the very recent past, was simply unimaginable. Once the novelty has worn off, I'm sure I'll get round to criticising the picture quality and other aspects more openly.

[ss_collins]

K-man - ARCA is on motors as I type!

Green fast thing 03 jim old bean - there is not a lot wrong with the Motors Endurance coverage aside from dodgy commentary - in the ALMS its top notch as they use the excellent Speed guys

[Dani Filth]

Eurosport beats everybody with the MotoGP .. but in all the other categories .. it can get better .. but I still prefer the english speaking ones to my local commentators

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by ss_collins

K-man - ARCA is on motors as I type!

Oh yeah, I've been watching them, they are repeats from last season. Really enjoying them! It makes me wonder if Motors are working on this for next season....maybe live races?

[SALEEN S7R]

Can Motors improve their coverage? Only perhaps if they get rid of Carlton Kirby and perhaps as has been mentioned before upgrade their picture quality slightly too. Mark Cole I can live with, yes he can drone on a little but at the end of the day he knows his stuff and is infinately better than Carlton Kirby. It's also worth remembering the Motors TV BGT highlights show, that is a pretty good programme I think, certainly better than the shortened version we get on Channel 4, the only way they could improve the BGT coverage is to air the races live. IMO.

Eurosport, well Im with the majority here and I agree that their coverage isnt great. However they did show the Daytona 24 hours live which we woudnt have otherwise received. Eurosport also show the International GT open live with Martin Haven and David Leslie commentating which I think is very good, cant ask for a much better commentry team than that now really and if it wasnt for Eurosport who would show the races live?

Men and motors do a good job too, the commentry team is very good and they show both qualifying and the races live, ok they dont show the FIA GT3 qualifying live but you cant have everything. Sure they didnt show the Spa 24 hours live in its entirety but I think they aired about 9 hours of live coverage last year which is about the same as what Eurosport used to show when they had the TV rights for FIA GT.

[The Tour]

We made our feelings known about Eurosport on our latest podcast - www.thetour.org.uk . That was prior to the Rolex 24 and unfortunately some of the coverage was again cut short but I suppose we have to be grateful.

I respect Motors TV for what they have done for Sportscar Racing. Of course, the way they put it all together could be improved but hopefully they will get there. Without them over the last few years we would have been screwed.

Please post any comments you have on Eurosport to studio@thetour.org as we will be reviewing some comments on our next show.

[Mal]

Motors TV is great and I dont want to criticise as to loose it would be far worse than we would gain from any improvements.

However the thread asks how it could be improved and in my opinion the only way for it to improve significantly is for ALMS to take over the broadcast production. At the moment there are so many ad breaks on the US feed that it makes it difficult for the European feed to have any flow or consistancy. It really needs to run its own production. I know this is probably not practical or financially feasible, but it is the answer to the question posed.

Being more practical, I would rather the commentary be done by RLM, especially when the US coverage is done by anyone other than Speed. NBC's coverage of Road America (?) last year was worse than Eurosport.

[canam]

Without knowing the challenges faced by the commentators (timing screens, track shots etc), it is hard to give a fair criticism to the quality; however, I sense that the majority are not doing enough in following the race. They confuse cars, positions, car/driver pairings etc....the list is quite long (I rememer one commentator suggesting that these are not downforce cars!!!). At this level, it should not happen. We don't need 'known' commentators if they won't do the work. I would bet that many on this forum could actually do a better job.

[SebringMG]

IMO the problems for Motors really stem from the pretty poor production done by the ACO / LMS rather than anything they control!! AFAIK the picture and graphics come from the LMS not motors and this is where the problem lies - the graphics are too poor quality and even on a big tv are pretty hard to read!

Bringing in the SPEED style ticker along the top would assist greatly but on the whole they do a good job and i would prefer to watch the current product than not have it at all.

While Eurosports covereage of Daytona was not up to their normal standards at least they had it!! Eurosport to be fair do a pretty good job considering the large variety of sports they cover - i for one would not want them removing some of the other sports for increased motor sports (except snooker - they can happily get rid of that!!).

[chocmonster7]

It amazes me that with such a negative feeling against Mr Kirby he still keeps getting picked for covering motorsport. If Motors/Eurosport can't use the original American commentators then please have Mark Cole with a racing driver or someone like Martin Haven/John Hindhaugh.

[Jimmy Magnusson]

The Haven/Leslie and Haven/Rees pairing on WTCC and GP2 weekends respectivly is fantastic. The problems of Motors TV would all go away though if they lined up some people like this:

John Hindhaugh
Graham Goodwin
Paul Truswell
Jim Roller
Charles Dressing

Et cetra. Thanks for an excellent Le Mans coverage guys, would love to have you on the LMS! But don't forget to bring Leslie and Haven!

[Justin Moran]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Magnusson

The Haven/Leslie and Haven/Rees pairing on WTCC and GP2 weekends respectivly is fantastic. The problems of Motors TV would all go away though if they lined up some people like this:

John Hindhaugh
Graham Goodwin
Paul Truswell
Jim Roller
Charles Dressing

Et cetra. Thanks for an excellent Le Mans coverage guys, would love to have you on the LMS! But don't forget to bring Leslie and Haven!

Slightly O/T Speaking of Paul, hows he doing? Not heard any news for a while, could Graham enlighten us as to his progress?