WRC on Dave TV in 2008

[sal]

Hot news just released, WRC is to be on the "DAVE" channel next year :-)

UKTV channel Dave has struck its biggest original content deal since its October rebrand, snatching the UK rights to the World Rally Championships from ITV.

The coverage, previously screened on ITV4, will appear as a weekly 60-minute Sunday night show in early peaktime. It will be produced by North One, which owns the championship's global rights controller International Sportsworld Communicators.
UKTV controller Matthew Littleford said he wanted to add more original content to Dave's repeats of shows such as QI and The Apprentice, along the lines of the output of ITV's digital channels.
"You have to innovate and can't rely on content that has sat on other platforms," he said. "If there's an idea that's good enough and that works for the target audience, we will see if we can make it work."
UKTV acting head of commissioning Jane Rogerson secured the UK rights in a three-year deal. The WRC will air on Dave for between 40 and 50 weeks of the year.
Motoring is emerging as a cornerstone of Dave's schedule. Reruns of Top Gear attract its biggest audience, pulling in more than 500,000 viewers, while the final of Dave commission Car of the Year attracted around 360,000.
Rogerson said: "Rallying has a huge following in Britain and we're looking forward to working with North One to bring the championships to as wide an audience as possible."
Dave's highest-profile commission to date is puppet-fronted panel game And Then You Die, which attracted around 130,000 viewers in a late evening slot. Littleford is weighing up a second run. In the first month since its relaunch, Dave averaged a 1.32% share in multichannel homes and a 3.2% share among men aged 16 to 34.

[RS]

From one repeats channel to another. Perhaps a slightly better fit than ITV4 but so much for a return for ITV1.

[Allyc85]

What a f***ing disgrace WRC gets pushed further n further down the pecking order and put onto a channel which shows week old repeats. Its no wonder alot of people are turning off when it gets moved every year and shown at stupid times. Why would manufacturers sign up to a sport when alot of fans dont get access to coverage.

Useless twats...

[c4]

http://www.crash.net/motorsport/wrc/...ve.htmlThought the WRC in UK was appealing to a large female demographic, well, that was during the DR era. This just, imo, confirms the WRC as a minority sport consigned to minority channels. Wonder if North One have ditched the 24hr channel. The sport and the FIA need to be much more creative and proactive with TV. Stop tinkering and spin doctoring and just get it right.

[Langdale Forest]

If it is moved onto Dave the TV coverage could be better than the ITV4 coverage this year.

[UKOG~Will]

FFS, this is just stupid, the best form of motorsport on the planet having it's coverage shown on a channel called "Dave".

BBC ought to snap it up

[MrJan]

Will pretty much be same coverage I'd imagine. Honestly I don't care as long as they stop using virtual spectator all the time. Good for showing stage layout but I don't need to see what it looks like if two drivers start a stage at the same time while the REAL video is squashed into the corner.

ITV coverage has always been appalling and C4 was never brilliant. Bring back Tony Mason and Steve Rider.

[BDunnell]

What a f***ing disgrace WRC gets pushed further n further down the pecking order and put onto a channel which shows week old repeats. Its no wonder alot of people are turning off when it gets moved every year and shown at stupid times. Why would manufacturers sign up to a sport when alot of fans dont get access to coverage.

Useless twats...

The two things are inextricably linked.

It is a shame that TV coverage now is the be-all and end-all. It wasn't always thus. The WRC used to be great without any TV coverage to speak of in the UK with the exception of 15-minute highlights items of a few foreign events and the RAC coverage.

[c4]

ITV coverage has always been appalling and C4 was never brilliant. Bring back Tony Mason and Steve Rider.

Would like to see Mark James back.

[Viktory]

At least I'll be able to watch it now!!