Sky Coverage

[Maddas69]

This year I have had the opportunity to watch every Grand Prix on SKY instead of SVT, DK4 or any other channel. Previous seasons I have slagged off the coverage on these other channels and I have been really looking forward to the SKY coverage.

 

Boy am I disappointed. I was looking forward to great commentary, excellent coverage with multiple cameras and above all not missing any of the controversy on and off the track. What do I get? Very poor stuff!

 

First of all; the commentaries is actually very good. I thoroughly enjoy Sam, Kelvin and Chris (and Billy tonight) and I think both the studio commentary and on track is very good. BUT they miss important things! No-one commented on Nicki riding heat 18 barely hanging onto the bike. No-one commented on him half lying over the bike after the finish line! Why? Are they blind?

 

But the camera coverage is my concern! It is actually very poor!

AFAIK SKY is the only network that has rights to film in the pits, so why don`t they film more in there? They miss all the drama, absolutely everything! Tonight there were a lot of incidents but we never got to see any of the action in the pits. Injuries is a part of speedway and to not be able to film that Crump was injured until he was actually lying on the "medical-bench" is a disgrace! None of us viewers did know that Nicki was in such a poor state that he could hardly ride a bike until he came into the pits after his next ride. On top of it all they missed the Gollob/Nicki "bust-up" completely and all we got to see was a short reply, that was it! How they managed to actually film the Jagus drama must have been pure luck.

 

Drama is a part of speedway and if you want to make good TV you need to get everything on tape. I am sick of watching the stupid "gadget" where they show who won and who lost and then straight over to uneventful replays mainly of the riders leaving the gate when what we should see is the riders going down the back straight and coming into the pits. That is where the action is after a race!

 

The coverage was poor tonight, it was a bit better in the first two GP`s but then again there was not so many incidents there.

 

SKY; get a grip, this is just not good enough!

Edited May 26, 2007 by Maddas69

[M08]

We should've warned you about Millard!

[SCB]

I thikn you're being harsh.

 

Firstly, showing riders injured is not concidered a god thing.

 

Secondly, they showed Nicki injured, I don't think they needed to keep on about it, they did mention it though.

[Rob B]

SKY have nothing to do with the cameras. All the cameras are provided and operated by the host country, in this case Sweden, every country gets the same feed. All SKY do is put the commentary over the top from the Studio in London.

 

The only GP SKY have cameras at is the British GP, where they provide all the camera work.

[Mateusz]

Still better than Polish C+. It's three boring guys in a studio talking rubbish all the time. Don't know why they send Daria there as she even couldn't move to Jagus' pits and check what was going on. And a quote of the day "We're sorry but we only know the same as you in front of your tv's". So what are you doing there then!?

[HenryW]

Is the coverage definitely being filmed by the local TV companies as in previous seasons?

 

The replays shown in the GPs this year seem to have been different, and in my opinion inferior, to previous seasons....and they also seem to have had a consistent style across the GPs.

 

I know that IMG have their own production company, is it possible that they have taken over the filming and/or production of the coverage sent out to the international channels?

[21st century heathen]

I agree that they missed whatever happened between Nicki and Tomasz, and I agree that the replays seem to be more about the editors sense of artistic value than actually showing what happened. For example they missed Chris actually going from 4th to 2nd on the last bend in the after-race replay (although obviously went back to that one).

 

The comms team of Tony Millard (in particular) and Kelvin Tatum regularly miss what's actually going on. Nicki was clearly struggling. He was caught on camera several times with his hand holding the injured hip. When he was sitting on the bike (I guess checking everything was straight) before his 5th ride he immediately reached for his hip as he tried to get off the bike. As you say he was clearly struggling to hold on as the laps went by in his 5th ride. He was barely able to ride it back to the pits, when in the pits he didn't take his helmet off for ages and had his head resting against the boards at the back of his pit, and was holding his ribs in several camera shots. None of this got a mention, but it was caught on camera. It wasn't mentioned that he was moving much more freely by the time the final came around. It was mentioned that he'd been to the medical room though. Can the doc administer pain killing jabs during a meeting?

 

We saw several shots of Jason recieving treatment, and worryingly being stretchered rather than walking to the ambulance. This brings me to another point that was caught on camera but not picked up on by Kelvin or Tony. Jason seemed to have taken his boot off, rather strange for a shoulder injury. He was then clearly unable to walk. I wonder if there is more to come on that story in the morning. All of this hardly backs up the claim that the cameras (whoever provides them) missed the action.

[Maddas69]

If you watch ANY Roadracing meeting on Eurosport they don`t miss anything, all incidents are filmed both in the pits and on track. And that is on a BIG widespread track! So why can`t speedway be the same???

[HenryW]

All of this hardly backs up the claim that the cameras (whoever provides them) missed the action.

Just thought I should point out that my comment wasn't suggesting that the cameras were missing things as they happened, purely that the replays have been pretty poor so far this GP season.

The example you gave of the Harris race was one that I noticed during the coverage as well. Obviously, as you mentioned, Sky went back to this race but the production company at the track clearly didn't seem to think it merited a replay in the normal post-race segment when it was something that anyone who knew anything about speedway would certainly have shown.

I really don't think we need 5 or 6 different shots of the riders leaving the gate, not when there have been quality racing moves during the race. It's been the same in all GPs so far this season, which is what made me wonder whether the same production company has done all events.

 

As for the commentary team not talking about the interesting events actually being shown on screen.....well, it's Millard, isn't it? Until he exits, I don't expect that to change.

[Trees]

To be fair they did show Nicki in pain and to be honest we hardly needed to told that he was having probs, it was plain to see. They did also show him after the race where he squared up to Gollob, he was obviously not then in so much pain as he soon whipped his helmet off and was complaining to whoever.

 

Re the track, perhaps because the usual track people were not allowed to prepare their normal track but had to do what Ole wanted, they had probs?

Edited May 26, 2007 by Trees

[mp2]

I would have thought it would be a world feed that would go everywhere and then be dubbed over in another language??

 

As far as I know, the company who do A1 among other sports are the company who produce it and it would all come from the one production unit wouldnt it?

[RockWolf]

A quick quiz for all Sky views tonight......

 

1..Where is leigh Adams from?

2..Name the Norweigan who rides on a Polish licence.

[Star Lady]

One thing I noticed was the lack of pictures of the immediate aftermath of the Jagus/Pedersen/Pedersen crash. Thank goodness someone had common sense . That crash was horrendous and the riders were lucky to get away as lightly as they did. Does anyone honestly want to see a fellow human in agony and receiving medical treatment? If you answer yes, put yourself in those riders shoes.

I've no objection to it being shown once it's clear the riders are relatively OK, but can you imagine being the relative of a rider and watching it unfold on TV, hundreds of miles away and having no way of finding out how badly they are hurt? Have some compassion.

[mp2]

Look, at least you get to see the Grands Prix, I wouldn't whinge too much,

 

In Australia, currently, we are in the dark and can't follow it aside from (text) updates put on websites (if we want to follow it live) or rely on texts from people watching sky in the UK!!

 

Just watch it with the sound off or not at all!

[lupus]

One thing I noticed was the lack of pictures of the immediate aftermath of the Jagus/Pedersen/Pedersen crash. Thank goodness someone had common sense . That crash was horrendous and the riders were lucky to get away as lightly as they did. Does anyone honestly want to see a fellow human in agony and receiving medical treatment? If you answer yes, put yourself in those riders shoes.

I've no objection to it being shown once it's clear the riders are relatively OK, but can you imagine being the relative of a rider and watching it unfold on TV, hundreds of miles away and having no way of finding out how badly they are hurt? Have some compassion.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I agree with this SL - I think the TV companies learnt their lesson after Ales Dryml's crash at Oxford. They showedthat in minute detail with loads of replays and close up's of Ales obviously having a seizure........horrible TV!

 

Since then the simple crashes are replayed but they tend to hold fire on the more serious ones until they know the rider is okay (ish!).

 

With regards to the camera work - this is, as others have said, the same camera work yuu would have got to see watching it on Danish or Polish TV. You can tell this because - despite the 'pretence' that they are there - when we lost the pictures briefly during the meeting there was silence from Kelv and Millard as they had nothing to comment on! Also when Nicki's red light came on they didn't comment until it appeared on the screens - surely if they had been there they would have seen it before it appeared on the TV!

 

Fact is that they're actually in a room next door to Huewen, Sam and Billy and are watching someone else's camera work an commentating on that!

Edited May 27, 2007 by lupus

[21st century heathen]

If you watch ANY Roadracing meeting on Eurosport they don`t miss anything, all incidents are filmed both in the pits and on track. And that is on a BIG widespread track! So why can`t speedway be the same???

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Money, and space are likely to be two key issues. There's not a lot of room in the pits when you've got that many riders, bikes, mechanics, officials, and hangers-on.

 

There's still a little bit of educating speedway to accept the invasion of the cameras as well.

 

Just thought I should point out that my comment wasn't suggesting that the cameras were missing things as they happened, purely that the replays have been pretty poor so far this GP season.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I was responding to the original comments.

 

On the subject of production there is one thing to note that hasn't been mentioned. The GP's and league matches follow the same format of replays. If different companies produce each GP and Sky the league, why do they have the same arty farty view of replays, and stupid montage of matches that don't actually show anything in any kind of context?

 

One thing I noticed was the lack of pictures of the immediate aftermath of the Jagus/Pedersen/Pedersen crash.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Since then the simple crashes are replayed but they tend to hold fire on the more serious ones until they know the rider is okay (ish!).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Something that was noted in our household too. I have no problem with seeing relays of the crashes because I, personally, like to analyse exactly what happened. It's live action of the aftermath that can be a problem. The initial long shots with no close detail was the right way to go. Once it was clear the riders were starting to gather themselves, and sit up/get up we got some closer shots. Firstly, Bjarne walking away etc... I thought this was handled absolutely perfectly.

 

Incidentally how did Bjarne not break his arm/wrist with the way it got caught up with the bike, and how did Jagus not break his shoulder/collarbone?!! Even Nicki was a lucky that Bjarne didn't do more damage to him.

 

Look, at least you get to see the Grands Prix, I wouldn't whinge too much

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Most of us (there are always a few exceptions) appreciate that we are very lucky to have a lot of speedway live on our screens these days. However, there are some frustrating little things that we'd dearly love to change. With a few tweaks the coverage could go from good to very good pretty much overnight.

[Pollyanna]

A quick quiz for all Sky views tonight......

 

1..Where is leigh Adams from?

2..Name the Norweigan who rides on a Polish licence.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

3. Who is 5 times Slovenian Champion?

[PolskiZuzel]

With regards to the camera work - this is, as others have said, the same camera work yuu would have got to see watching it on Danish or Polish TV.  You can tell this because - despite the 'pretence' that they are there - when we lost the pictures briefly during the meeting there was silence from Kelv and Millard as they had nothing to comment on! 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes! You are 100% right. The pictures come from the local crew, and the commentary from the given channel studios.

[Bobbin' Along]

A quick quiz for all Sky views tonight......

 

1..Where is leigh Adams from?

2..Name the Norweigan who rides on a Polish licence.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Damn they're tough. Could I phone a friend?