Future Rally Media Coverage

[kirungi okwogera]

It was just the Day 1 programme that had no commentary. Here in he UK the other days all had commentary. Perhaps was a technical malfunction? I read on Colin Clark's twitter that they had done the commentary as he tweeted after they had finished!

Seems to be a growing list of broadcasters joining, although the UK seems very, very quiet with no broadcaster.....

World Rally Championship - Fanzone - WRC TV Guide

Still no news on the Promoter front. Has been very quiet from the FIA on that subject.

I work in TV and used to prepare the NZ showings of WRC programmes. It would never be intentional to air any sport programme without commentary, in fact the satellite feed to MotorsTV and anyone else who played it out should have been noticed within a few minutes of feeding, which would still be several hours before it played to customers. The receiving sat-ops people at MotorsTV/whatever local broadcaster for each country should have rejected it and the dispatchers would track down the producers of the show and get them to send it again with commentary. They are normally sent with two audio tracks, one full mix, and one without commentary but with music and effects - it's possible MotorsTV messed up by playing only the M&E track, but I think it's more likely they weren't given the full mix track. Colossal technical screwup for someone, never should have aired without commentary, and would DEFINITELY never have been made without commentary! I was pretty shocked to see that...

From my perspective there are only a few companies on the earth with the specialized experience necessary to cover rallies well (collecting onboard footage after each stage, organizing those many hours and syncing them to where the roadside cameramen are in each stage, setting up the higher-tech stuff like the simultaneous footage stuff that Eurosport does, or virtual spectator with telemetry and so on...). Any one of them would do a fine job, it's just a matter of getting the deal solid so we're not getting jerked around with crappy episodes missing sound, unscripted/unedited stumbling commentary like with Monte this year, or uncertain TV coverage in general, lack of live powerstages and all that. I really can't believe the FIA has been so blase as to wait so long without making a deal, even a temporary one just for 2012...

[tintin]

There is a deal though. It has been in place for three events now.

As for Motors, they broadcast in eight different languages, and have a single transmission controller for all the different services, so they certainly won't be monitoring all the language options all the time.

[tfp]

I work in TV and used to prepare the NZ showings of WRC programmes. It would never be intentional to air any sport programme without commentary, in fact the satellite feed to MotorsTV and anyone else who played it out should have been noticed within a few minutes of feeding, which would still be several hours before it played to customers. The receiving sat-ops people at MotorsTV/whatever local broadcaster for each country should have rejected it and the dispatchers would track down the producers of the show and get them to send it again with commentary. They are normally sent with two audio tracks, one full mix, and one without commentary but with music and effects - it's possible MotorsTV messed up by playing only the M&E track, but I think it's more likely they weren't given the full mix track. Colossal technical screwup for someone, never should have aired without commentary, and would DEFINITELY never have been made without commentary! I was pretty shocked to see that...

From my perspective there are only a few companies on the earth with the specialized experience necessary to cover rallies well (collecting onboard footage after each stage, organizing those many hours and syncing them to where the roadside cameramen are in each stage, setting up the higher-tech stuff like the simultaneous footage stuff that Eurosport does, or virtual spectator with telemetry and so on...). Any one of them would do a fine job, it's just a matter of getting the deal solid so we're not getting jerked around with crappy episodes missing sound, unscripted/unedited stumbling commentary like with Monte this year, or uncertain TV coverage in general, lack of live powerstages and all that. I really can't believe the FIA has been so blase as to wait so long without making a deal, even a temporary one just for 2012...

WRC 2012 Argentina - Day 1 - part 2/2 - YouTube

I downloaded this to my phone the other day, I wondered why there was no commentary!

[RS]

i feel the Eurosport produced IRC shows are quite good!

For me, the Eurosport coverage of Monte was the best quality coverage we have had of a WRC event so far this season.

[Plan9]

I just hope that who ever picks up the WRC in future does not cover the scenes of the cars driving flat out with either music or commentary. The engines howling and co-drivers is enought info for me

[RS]

I just hope that who ever picks up the WRC in future does not cover the scenes of the cars driving flat out with either music or commentary. The engines howling and co-drivers is enought info for me

Good point. I noticed on Argentina coverage you could barely hear the cars at all.

[Barreis]

Biggest problem is that nobody wants this, not profitable. Also FIA wants large sum of money.

[Red bull]

Good point. I noticed on Argentina coverage you could barely hear the cars at all.

Total crap it's just like watching a replayed playstation WRC video game,bring back Eurosport or ESPN.

[Plan9]

I can't believe they think we want to hear music and commentary not maybe the actual men and machines. Argentina was the worst rally coverage. Ever. Period.

[AndyRAC]

Biggest problem is that nobody wants this, not profitable. Also FIA wants large sum of money.

Or, if they do want it, they don't want to pay big money. The simple fact is the sport isn't big enough to be charging huge sums. Accept this, and charge accordingly.