Champ Car's 2008 TV Schedule

[Tim Northcutt]

Well....at least the highlight shows won't be as expensive to buy...

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/N...e.asp?ID=12477

No offense to CCWS, but IMO this is an incredibly stupid move. Delayed telecasts do not draw nearly as much viewership as live telecasts, and they won't even be showing their marquee event at Long Beach on ABC, or even live. It will be on ESPN2....

Also, the one-hour highlight shows will seem to be chopped up and harder to follow than a regular full race event.

Those are my thoughts...what are yours?

[mountainstar]

Honestly at this moment, in the current situation, I don't think a half an hour here or there, or live or not really matters. I think there are other larger issues that need work.

In my situation the hour shows wont impact me much as I have little time anymore to be able to sit around and watch racing all sunday like I used to be able to.

[stradlin21]

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

Well....at least the highlight shows won't be as expensive to buy...

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/N...e.asp?ID=12477

No offense to CCWS, but IMO this is an incredibly stupid move. Delayed telecasts do not draw nearly as much viewership as live telecasts, and they won't even be showing their marquee event at Long Beach on ABC, or even live. It will be on ESPN2....

Also, the one-hour highlight shows will seem to be chopped up and harder to follow than a regular full race event.

Those are my thoughts...what are yours?

it's probable that the tv companies don't think it's worth showing live

you are spot on about delayed telecasts not drawing the same audience

over here in the UK, whilst the IRL enjoys top class coverage on the country's premier sports channel Sky Sports, Champ Car is on budget station Eurosport who are noted for shoddy scheduling and bad coverage

i'm not joking, the tv guide said Champ Car, the Sky EPG said Champ Car but they were showing curling!

i think it's just a sign of the times

ESPN/ABC isn't available over here so i don't know what there coverage is like

[ScotsBrutesFan]

I can't say I'm surprised, indeed I even suggested something like this might occur back in November http://tentenths.com/forum/showpost....40&postcount=3

[Dutton]

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

Well....at least the highlight shows won't be as expensive to buy...

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/N...e.asp?ID=12477

No offense to CCWS, but IMO this is an incredibly stupid move. Delayed telecasts do not draw nearly as much viewership as live telecasts

To be fair, I doubt we can attack the CCWS-powers for this: one can be sure they would pick live over tape-delayed any day of the week. The CCWS-powers hold much of the responsibility for the product not being viewed as necessary for live coverage, but they are not directly responsible in this particular instance.

Unless, of course, there is some kind of clear evidence that this is a desired situation (as compared with all-live) from the CCWS POV. If this is the case, unlikely as it may appear, then one would have to question the presence of sanity.

[indycool]

Well, it's obvious that it's budgetary. CC is cost-cutting. Buying two hours on ABC at the time you want to costs more than one hour later at a time ABC wants to give you. Same with ESPN, etc.

But I can't believe that Long Beach is tape-delayed on the deuce and Laguna will be opposite the final day of qualifying at Indy.

[2112]

What say me? I`m done following this series. I can find a few excuses to care, but if I can`t follow the races properly on TV, they pretty much told this fan to go elsewhere. I stopped following WRC here for the same reason, so CCWS is no different.
I`ll just watch F1, ALMS, Indy500, NASCAR and . That`s enough.

[Knowlesy]

Yes, desired or not, this is another blow.

From my point of view, my interest is waning and when live coverage goes out the window then it makes it difficult to retain it.

Unless we in Europe get our own live feed of course. Nah, hardly likely to happen.

[stradlin21]

WRC coverage in the UK is a joke

it's gone onto channel Dave now which usually shows stuff like the Catherine Tate show

off topic I know but just an insight into how motorsport gets brushed under the rug over here

[Knowlesy]

The move to Dave might not be such a bad thing. It's got a much larger viewership than ITV4 at 3:00am in the morning for example.

Plus the coverage will be bespoke and we get a programme every week. Probably best to reserve judgement on it and see how it goes.

[cptkablamo]

I am not surprised is it the terrible thing that people say it is...

1. was the last package working - NO, they were getting very very small audiences so why not try something different. Get it on at the times that people are channel surfing and watching tv.

2. Many series have survived on highlights packages - even thrived. It is on, it will be more action packed...

Its probably not ideal but then again, they had to try something different from last year anyway...and as Stradlin mentioned, motorsport ain't the most popular thing on, so lets see how this goes before we slam it...

[JohnSSC]

So, are the rebroadcasts infomercials or actual coverage of a sporting event? You decide!

Some here were more than happy to post last year about what a great idea it was for the time buy. That sponsors would soon appear in enough quantity to underwrite the time buy and thus make this a profitable venture for CC. That in future seasons, we would see improved coverage and increased sponsorship to the teams. Of course the implication was that we "naysayers" just had it all wrong and just couldn't admit what a good thing it was.

Well, I will admit it: last year's package was better than this year's in that the races were at least shown live.

Now the same folks are here telling us that the chunks missing from the rebroadcasts don't really matter. New CC motto: "ChampCar! You don't need to see the whole thing!"

The chunks you are seeing from me are coming from the spew that results from the ongoing spinning by the spin doctors here...I am reminded of the song "Dizzy."

They are going to rebroadcast what is arguably the Crown Jewel of CC racing? If there is a race that SHOULD be live that one (Long Beach) is it.

Next step: hold all the races at one track to cut down travel costs. This is getting more and more like Roller Derby. Maybe we could get NHL to name their team "The Jammers" and Forsythe could be "The Bay City Bombers."

[indycool]

cptkablamo,

1. They've tried something new each year for four years and nothing has worked. In this case, though, less "live" is less "live," less over-the-air network is less over-the-air network, less airtime is less airtime and less in front of the viewer is less in front of the viewer. One of those things that quacks like a duck and waddles like a duck, so it must be a duck.

2. Really? Which ones that have been reaching to national and/or international audiences?

[cptkablamo]

Originally Posted by indycool

cptkablamo,

1. They've tried something new each year for four years and nothing has worked. In this case, though, less "live" is less "live," less over-the-air network is less over-the-air network, less airtime is less airtime and less in front of the viewer is less in front of the viewer. One of those things that quacks like a duck and waddles like a duck, so it must be a duck.

2. Really? Which ones that have been reaching to national and/or international audiences?

1. yeah...maybe this style is more sustainable and can be worked on for a few years while they tackle the other things wrong with the series. I know I am living in a dream world but I still don't think it is as bad as people are saying...Maybe I will be proven wrong, maybe not...

2. BTCC in the early 90s was a highlights package - although they had a good package and Murry Walker doing the commentry - so it can be done but you have to get the whole thing right I suppose.

[indycool]

Understand, Cpt. The highlights thing, just IMO, doesn't seem to work too well in the U.S. because of all the sports choices (not just racing) that are available live.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by indycool

Understand, Cpt. The highlights thing, just IMO, doesn't seem to work too well in the U.S. because of all the sports choices (not just racing) that are available live.

Actually the bulk of sports programming is tape delay or highlights.

[mountainstar]

Whether irl or champcar, I don't think what ever tv coverage you put in place makes a bit of difference. 1 hour, 3 hours, 5 hours, live or not, doesn't matter. Ratings will still suck. There are more fundamental problems that need addressing.

[jbzspace]

I doubt that CCWS can afford anything near the coverage that the 300 ton gorrilla NASCAR buys.

Heck, they can't even afford to help the Matos kid who won 3 championships in their ladder system only to be told that his 2 million dollar Atlantics prize wasn't enough to buy a ride. Raffa's decision to defect to the enemy (IRL-Indy Pro with AGR) was a wise one. At least he stands a chance of making a living and getting on live TV if he reaches the big show.

[indycool]

NASCAR doesn't buy it. It gets paid rights fees, something like $2 billion over seven years.

[2112]

Good to see the rise of the ALMS though.
American Le Mans Series LBGP race is airing on ABC @ 3:30pm EDT the same day the Champ Car LBGP is airing on ESPN2 @ 5pm EDT

It`s now officially a support series.

[JohnSSC]

Originally Posted by 2112

Good to see the rise of the ALMS though.
American Le Mans Series LBGP race is airing on ABC @ 3:30pm EDT the same day the Champ Car LBGP is airing on ESPN2 @ 5pm EDT

It`s now officially a support series.

Yeah, they need something to bring attention to CC...might as well use ALMS as a sort of Quad Cane for a racing series...

[sr230772]

am i the only one that thinks its not so bad under the circumstances

[D.R.T.]

Yep sr.

Obviously full coverage and live is preferred but as mountainstar says there are bigger areas of focus.

Ratings are poor. Keeping on with the current system wasnt going to improve that.

Any news on whether races will be in full via the ChampCar website ?

[Dutton]

I am assuming RaceDirector will offer the same as previous years: it would surely only make sense to continue, given developments?

Indeed, make improvements to it that need making.

I had a specific irritating issue with it last year: they better sort that out for the coming season. I could live with it when I could see the races live on the TV, but this is not quite so now.

[mountainstar]

RD gets upgraded this year.