ITV - An Embarassment

[Bezza]

No wonder my interest in the BTCC is on the wane. The racing is clearly as good as ever, but when its on shown on TV with the most shoddy and downright embarrassing coverage then the racing just doesn't come true.

The second race just shown was the most badly edited race i have EVER seen. We didn't even see Shedden lose the lead! He was suddenly in second getting passed and going down to third. No piece of action was ever examined with any substance, and bits of action were just skipped through as if it was a end of program montage. I could have edited the race better myself using bloody Windows Movie Maker.

On top of that, we have to sit through Louise Goodman and a totally pointless interview with Matt Neal driving a powerboat. And then, adverts after 9 minutes. How about start with the first race, have no stupid features, and then we get more racing?!

I am crying out to the powers that be to get the BTCC onto a channel that knows what its doing. I would say ITV have lost the plot, but then they've never had the plot with any form of sport - they are most the clueless TV company in the whole world.

[CroftPilgrim]

I am crying out to the powers that be to get the BTCC onto a channel that knows what its doing. .

They have. It's called Setanta. As the old adage goes, you pay your money you take your choice...

Truth is, there isn't enough time in a 1 1/2 hour programme to put in everything that happens in all 3 races, let alone replays. ITV do a great job under the circumstances.

PS - mind your language. You dont need it to make your point :)

[Alfa Fan]

You get what you pay for...pay nothing and get the generous 90 minute BTCC program on ITV which will include annoying features as well as the racing, or, pay £15 a month for Setanta Sports and enjoy the whole days racing live.

[BDunnell]

I didn't see any bad language in his post, although 'ITV' is considered a swear word in our house.

[BeansBeansBeans]

There's only so much that can be squeezed into a 90 minute program, so the highlights of races 1 and 2 are bound to be brief.

If you want detailed extensive coverage of all 3 races, you'll have to put your hand in your pocket and get Setanta.

[VkmSpouge]

I think ITV's coverage is fine. I feel they could work a bit on the editing but they do have time constraints.

[tdb]

I Agree the Matt Neal powerboat thing was pretty pointless and the time could have been better used showing more of the racing.

[reidy_fan]

agree, less faffing about more racing

still disagree about setanta, dont see the point of paying £15 per month when all I would watch is the btcc/support races if they had done it at up to £7.50 per race day on pay per view I ould have had it but cant be bothered with old firm tv

[Steelrat]

If you want detailed extensive coverage of all 3 races, you'll have to put your hand in your pocket and get Setanta.

Or, as I said in a previous thread, be lucky and have Virgin Media and get it bundled in at no extra ....

The only reason I haven't subscribed to Setanta is because you have to have a separate direct debit to them, as opposed to adding it to your Sky subscription ...

P

[Robinho]

watched some of the Setanta covergae, and i wouldn't praise them that much - all they have done is stumped up the cash to buy the live feed from the circuit, the production/broadcasters/commentater/graphics etc are exactly the same as it was on Motors last year.

that said, it is very good, no complaints, and the live races is so much better than the cobbled highlights

[BDunnell]

watched some of the Setanta covergae, and i wouldn't praise them that much - all they have done is stumped up the cash to buy the live feed from the circuit, the production/broadcasters/commentater/graphics etc are exactly the same as it was on Motors last year.

that said, it is very good, no complaints, and the live races is so much better than the cobbled highlights

But at least they have ensured that it all gets shown, and the coverage is fine. I enjoyed it today.

[Bezza]

I pay for Sky+, I'm not buying another channel just to watch three touring car races every fortnight or so, Scottish and Gaelic football does not interest me! And to be perfectly honest the support races are of no interest to me - unless I am mind-numbingly bored I never used to watch them when MotorsTV had the coverage. If it is on mainstream TV I expect a decent job - and I'm not getting one.

All I want is three races, one is live so the other two should be edited well. I don't want to see a Matt Neal love-in and a pointless interview with the smug man driving a powerboat. I want to see racing, and each major incident looked in detail from a few angles - NOT some hastily cobbled together montage from which you don't even know who is leading. It really isn't that hard.

You stick the BTCC back on the BBC and the viewing figures will shoot through the roof. The words "ITV" and "sport" don't mix. You should be able to see that from the F1 and any football coverage they have.

[Bezza]

They have. It's called Setanta. As the old adage goes, you pay your money you take your choice...

Truth is, there isn't enough time in a 1 1/2 hour programme to put in everything that happens in all 3 races, let alone replays. ITV do a great job under the circumstances.

PS - mind your language. You dont need it to make your point :)

Mind my language? Find a swear word and I will apologise! :s

[BDunnell]

You stick the BTCC back on the BBC and the viewing figures will shoot through the roof. The words "ITV" and "sport" don't mix. You should be able to see that from the F1 and any football coverage they have.

Although what I've seen of ITV's BBC coverage this year has been fine, I have to agree with you. Everybody knows that the BBC is still seen as the natural home of sport on TV, no matter how much of it ITV buys up. The viewing figures for football tournaments that both cover bear this out.

The problem is that ITV — and the BBC in its sports coverage to some extent — is obsessed with this idea that you can pull in a more general audience by doing these 'lifestyle' feature-type interviews that the more knowledgeable viewer eels acutely embarrassed by. Whether they actually bring in any more viewers I don't know. I would imagine that audience research says that it might.

[Drew]

The coverage is pretty good, I'd say. I don't particularly like Ted Cravitz or Louise Goodman, but I blank them out. I get the idea that the BTCC is something they are forced to do.

Still, I was pretty happy with what I saw on the tele.

[matt5964]

the coverage on setanta sports is free on virgin media... no need to get ripped off by sky..

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I don't like the ITV BTCC coverage far a number of reasons.

* The theme tune
* The graphics
* The poorly edited coverage of race 1&2
* Tim Harvey's commentary. He knows what he is talking about but I don't like his accent or the sex noises he makes :erm:
* The wheel of fortune


I like

* The fact the races are shown on the day of the event and not a week later
* Grid interviews by Ted and Louise are relatively professional
However Ted isn't a good presenter, even Angus Scott did a better job, it would be much better if Steve Rider did the presenting.

I don't think the BTCC coverage is as good as the BSB coverage.

[wedge]

I made the same complaint at the start of the year!

Seems like this year's edited highlights are crap compared to last year.

[Robinho]

the edited highlights are a victim of he number of incidents in the race, when action packed like all of the races yesterday you run the risk of losing far more, when a race settles down its easier to fit the major incidets into the time allocated. however the guys editing the races do seem to be a bit free with the scissors and miss swathes of imortant action, whislt time that could be better allocated is put into the background - that could also be a requirement of the sponsors/organisers etc?

however i'm happy with the Setanta/motors coverage, same pictures and commentary. no need for an added subscription - you can now get V+ which works like Sky+ but you can record more channels and watch another, plus the broadband is better, pity at the moment i can't afford either yet!

[mattie007]

Setanta is currently £9.99 a month. I have ditched £50 a month Sky and have taken up freeview and Setanta for just £10 a month. That way I still get the main channels I watch plus BTCC and football.

ITV is ok, but I hate Ted Kravitz with a passion, he just wants to talk about F1 all the time. Like others have said, have race 1 from the minute the program starts, 5 mins of interviews, then race 2. That way they show more race coverage. I dont mind so much now I have Setanta though!

I used to love it on BBC when they had Steve Ryder and Charlie Cox.

[Hazell B]

As an ITV watcher, who won't buy Setanta as I haven't got all day to watch three races, I'm half agreeing with Bezza here. ITV's coverage is poor at times and 90 mins should be two hours if that's possible. The off the track stuff can be interesting, but frankly not very often.

If viewer figures are down, it will either change or vanish. I'd rather it changed.

[Iain]

The only thing that annoys me is that it seems to revolve around Jason Plato. :rolleyes: Mind you yesterday Ted and Louise reacted well to the Plato/Neal clash and didn't come out with all the schoolyard telltale crap that VB-H used to. :up:

[Hazell B]

That's true, they are better presenters than last year's act.

They both seem to talk to the audience rather than V B-H's version which was talking to drivers and ignoring the little people at home.

[BDunnell]

For all their faults — neither is a great sports presenter — both Kravitz and Goodman are journalistically competent, which is what the role needs.

[ATF]

I don't have a problem with the presenters, although I think Angus Scott is just as good as Ted Kravitz (and doesn't constantly refer to F1)!!

It's just the 90 minute time restriction they put on the programme when there's no real need...why not make it two hours and show some slightly shorter "old films" instead?!

[Sir Galahad]

ITV's rallying coverage is appauling too. :mad:

ITV are reall good at wasting time.

[LotusElise]

I'm not going to knock ITV completely - at least they're showing over an hour of coverage at a sociable time, unlike their rally efforts.

However, the edited highlights could be much better. They have about an hour's show to play with (minus ad breaks) and the races are a bit over 20 minutes each, so they could show so much more than they do. They don't have to ditch the talk completely but it would be nice to cut it down and lose the repetition.

[Mp3 Astra]

I don't like the ITV BTCC coverage far a number of reasons.

* The theme tune
* The graphics
* The poorly edited coverage of race 1&2
* Tim Harvey's commentary. He knows what he is talking about but I don't like his accent or the sex noises he makes :erm:
* The wheel of fortune


I like

* The fact the races are shown on the day of the event and not a week later
* Grid interviews by Ted and Louise are relatively professional
However Ted isn't a good presenter, even Angus Scott did a better job, it would be much better if Steve Rider did the presenting.

I don't think the BTCC coverage is as good as the BSB coverage.

I'd agree with you about most of your points; even Tim's dubious noises! They were quite bad in 2006 but I think he's been given a lesson in not acting like a spectator watching from the trackside :D

I reckon ITV's coverage could be better if the editors/producers spent more time on editing, and maybe watched the races a couple of times over to get all the information. There is plenty of time to watch them at least 3 times! I don't know whether they do that or not, but if they don't they really should be doing! A notebook wouldn't go amiss either.

My parents are very unwilling to buy any of this subscription tomfoolery or Virgin Media and suchlike, so I just have to grin and bear the faults. But really, as many people have said in the numerous other ITV complaint threads, I guess we're pretty lucky to get live coverage. The BBC rarely had a live race (maybe once or twice a year) and tennis and golf always seemed to be more important than the BTCC. So, in balance, with a couple of improvements, (and the abolishment of the abysmal attempts to try and get into the drivers "personal lives" so they're "in touch with the viewer") we could have a very good show to watch on a Sunday afternoon/evening after the races.

[Robinho]

ITV's rallying coverage is appauling too. :mad:

ITV are reall good at wasting time.

to be fair the rallying coverage is not theirs, its the WRC's own which ITV shows, no input by them into the program.

as for the BTCC, the coverage is available, which is a lot better than it has been in the recent past, sure, there is room for improvement, but on the whole the content is good and if nothing else its got 1 race live. i agree they should work on the highlights to show the race better, ideally if its a particulalry action packed race they should extend the time available by dropping some of the lifestyle and background pieces, and included these when the race is relatively action free

[BDunnell]

The BBC rarely had a live race (maybe once or twice a year) and tennis and golf always seemed to be more important than the BTCC.

There were probably good viewing figure reasons for that, in fairness.

On the issue of the BBC's lack of live coverage, I seem to remember that TOCA wasn't keen for a long time, due to concerns about circuit attendance. I may have got that wrong, but this is my recollection. However, Autosport reported at the time that the BBC was looking at broadcasting the 1993 British GP support race live, and, according to Murray Walker, Steve Rider was always going on about wanting to do live coverage.

[wedge]

There were probably good viewing figure reasons for that, in fairness.

On the issue of the BBC's lack of live coverage, I seem to remember that TOCA wasn't keen for a long time, due to concerns about circuit attendance. I may have got that wrong, but this is my recollection. However, Autosport reported at the time that the BBC was looking at broadcasting the 1993 British GP support race live, and, according to Murray Walker, Steve Rider was always going on about wanting to do live coverage.

I think the Beeb showed quite a few races live, probably half a season's worth, IIRC! And yes TOCA were worried that live telly would hurt circuit attendance.

Steve Rider was pushing for live coverage, Murray argued the highlights worked better because you can always edit the races to make them much better than they really were!

[BDunnell]

I think the Beeb showed quite a few races live, probably half a season's worth, IIRC!

They showed three meetings live in each of the 1997, '98, '99 and '00 seasons.

[Bezza]

To be fair I'm not fussed with live coverage. I much preferred the (brilliantly) put together highlights during the 90's with Murray or Charlie Cox commentating. It worked much better in my opinion.

[Mp3 Astra]

To be fair I'm not fussed with live coverage. I much preferred the (brilliantly) put together highlights during the 90's with Murray or Charlie Cox commentating. It worked much better in my opinion.

Those were good, but you could always tell if there was an incident coming because they would go silent or prentend to be surprised!

[nik]

I'm glad the theme tune has taken some stick.

Why can't the BTCC have a decent tune that everyone instantly recognises?
The theme tune for this year is awful - it's just a noise, with no distinctive qualities.

[BDunnell]

I'm glad the theme tune has taken some stick.

Why can't the BTCC have a decent tune that everyone instantly recognises?
The theme tune for this year is awful - it's just a noise, with no distinctive qualities.

I agree.

Am I right in thinking that ITV changed it after a few meetings, too?

[Dave B]

It's slightly better than the "Zip me up, zip me up, I wanna banana" effort that F1 suffers with :\

[SEATFreak]

I would like the BTCC to use the one F1 used about 3-4 years ago. The catchy one. I thought it was catchy anyway. It was around the time Jenson Button first signed for BAR.

[BDunnell]

I don't think any ITV sports music since the first World of Sport theme has ever been catchy.

No, nothing will ever beat The Chain in this role. Not a great song in itself, but I got goosebumps when I heard it at the start of 5 Live's F1 coverage with Murray Walker a fortnight ago and I bet I wasn't the only one.

[Dave B]

I have that as a ringtone for certain people :D

[BDunnell]

I have that as a ringtone for certain people :D

What do you use for certain other people? The music to Last of the Summer Wine?

[Iain]

I would like the BTCC to use the one F1 used about 3-4 years ago. The catchy one. I thought it was catchy anyway. It was around the time Jenson Button first signed for BAR.

Their remix of 'You Ain't Seen Nothin Yet' by Bachmann Turner Overdrive?

At least the ITV music isn't as cheesy as the WTCC official theme tune. :erm:

[Bezza]

Well nothing will beat The Chain, obviously.

You'd think the bosses at ITV could come up with something better, for both the BTCC and the F1. I think Insomnia by Faithless would work quite well for F1.

[thompp]

Well nothing will beat The Chain, obviously.

You'd think the bosses at ITV could come up with something better, for both the BTCC and the F1. I think Insomnia by Faithless would work quite well for F1.

or the Brahms Lullaby....?

[SEATFreak]

Their remix of 'You Ain't Seen Nothin Yet' by Bachmann Turner Overdrive?

Really? Is that what it was?!

I would never in a million years have put an established song to the theme. I would have said it is something composed just for the coverage.

[Iain]

They've had three themes that I can think of. The first was the Jamie Rockway composed number, then the BTO remix and now the 'Lift Me Up, Lift Me Up, I Am A Llama Now' by Moby.

[Hazell B]

The catchy one.

You don't mean that dreadful piece of 'music' Jenson Button's girlfriend 'sang' do you? I think that was used once or twice.

Much as I love Moby, not so sure about him being perfect for F1. There's a load of really good Brit stuff about that would do a better job.

[Steelrat]

I still think they should use 'Jesus Built My Hotrod' by Ministry for the BTCC theme .... So there ...

P

[cos]

Extra ITV coverage for Brands!


ITV4 will show a complete re-run of race one before cutting to the circuit for full live coverage of race two. This is in addition to the previously already confirmed live broadcast of race three on terrestrial channel ITV1 that will follow later in the afternoon.

Transmission times are:
ITV4: 12.30pm-2.30pm
ITV1: 2.50pm-4.20pm


http://btcc.net/html/generalnews_detail.php?id=669

[Jona]

Excellent news to us freebie viewers! bet Setanta are'nt too pleased.

[cos]

Excellent news to us freebie viewers! bet Setanta are'nt too pleased.

Setanta aren't covering the Brands rounds live, so I shouldn't think they mind.

[VkmSpouge]

That's excellent news :D

[BM]

Setanta aren't covering the Brands rounds live, so I shouldn't think they mind.

Setanta ARE covering the Brands round live, just not on Freeview since that is Setanta Sports 1.

[Alfa Fan]

At the moment Setanta aren't showing the BTCC live, although that could change.

[Mp3 Astra]

Fantastic news! Even though I'll be there anyway; it'll be great to come home and see it all over again!

[Pedalpusher]

I didn't think to look in here for the stuff about the extra ITV coverage before I started another thread about it. Oops :o

Still, as MP3 Astra says, It'll be good to record it and watch again when I come home.

I wonder if this could lead to ITV showing all BTCC races live next season over their various channels. I'm guessing that the current Setanta deal is a one year deal and the coverage could be up for grabs again next season.

[ATF]

That's fantastic news, although I will be out all day Sunday so will try and avoid the results till I can watch the races!!

I saw the other day they're doing a similar thing with this weekends BSB and was annoyed that they never do anything like this with BTCC...until they did!! Hope they do similar with Knockhill and Thruxton, given they have 4 channels, there's no reason not to - unless Setanta won't allow it?

[Ian McC]

Extra ITV coverage for Brands!



http://btcc.net/html/generalnews_detail.php?id=669


Christ on a bike they have been reading Bezzas posts!

Bezza has the power! :eek: :bandit:

[Bezza]

Well, McC, you can't blame them can you? Last time I started a thread it was congratulate Tim Harvey and Matt Neal getting married - they are still in fantastic unison to this day. And now this - impressive!

[Hazell B]

ITV4 isn't showing as even being on air until 5 or 6pm on my Freeview what's on.

Thanks for posting that, or I wouldn't have known it was on at all.
Probably won't watch it in the end, though.

[Tesco]

I agree with most of the points raised. You can buy a freeview digibox for £49.99 as a one off paymnent and watch the coverage on ITV 2. The ITV pit crew coverage, well I always get the feeling that the BTCC is "below them" and that, "we would rather be doing something else with our weekends". The guy (Ted Gravitz, spelt correctly?) tends to have a habit of talking down to drivers. If you do expose yourself to the complete folly of pre-race coverage of F1 on ITV, you will note a complete change of approach to the drivers.

[fabricator/61]

:confused: Confused by the coverage this weekend, for a time I thought I was watching PLATO TV. I have never seen such a biased programme aimed at an individual as yesterdays coverage. He didnt even win race two but got to spin the wheel of fortune!!!!! If he wins the title I wont bother watching anymore.

[nicemms]

Did anyone notice that on ITV4's grid line up that Gavin Smith, acording to them, drives for vxracing?

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Did anyone notice that on ITV4's grid line up that Gavin Smith, acording to them, drives for vxracing?

I saw that on ITV1.

[Mp3 Astra]

Did anyone notice that on ITV4's grid line up that Gavin Smith, acording to them, drives for vxracing?

But it said the right thing in the race results! Not a big problem though.

[peewhee]

Did anyone notice that on ITV4's grid line up that Gavin Smith, acording to them, drives for vxracing?

Got that about right for race 3!