Bt Sport Coverage

[BWitcher]

1 hour ago, someone said:

 

I am not interested in snooker, but yes I do.  When you see a player lining up a shoot you are seeing their thought process on which ball to hit, the angle to take, where they want the cue ball to end up to line up the next shot.  It is not just dead time, it is revealing something about what the player wants to happen.

When you see a speedway rider gardening it tells you they want more grip.  Of course they do.  What exactly should a casual or non-speedway viewer gain by watching someone stamp their foot for a minute that should keep them watching? 

As for rugby, aside from the fact you are only considering rugby union as the ball is in play much longer in a rugby league match, I would still consider the times when a line out is set or a scrum packed as being part of the action even before the ball is put in play.  It is still part of the game, unlike in speedway where there is literally nothing happening to watch between races when riders are in the pits.

But I am happy to be proved wrong, that there is so little action in snooker and rugby that people are turning away from it, and are flocking to speedway because of the exciting gardening action.

Spectators prove otherwise.  TV ratings prove otherwise.  The amount broadcasters are willing to pay prove otherwise.

But I like speedway and want it to survive so would be very happy if you could show me that everyone but hardcore speedway fans think gardening is no different to snooker players lining up shots.  That casual viewers think the one hour and forty-five minutes of a speedway meeting without racing is part of the action and equivalent to a scrum being formed.

Please prove to me that this is "nonsense," and that speedway's constant decline to the point where it essentially has to give away its TV coverage for free just because it needs the exposure is going to reverse by doing nothing to make it more attract to new fans.

Your entire post is utter nonsense.

The very fact you seem to think you have the ability to mind read shows that. You don't 'see' a thought process at all. You just see someone standing there looking at a table... trying to class that as action shows the frailty of your argument.

You then really lose the plot and fly into some fantasy realm. Who has said that people are turning away from snooker and rugby and flocking to speedway? Nobody. When you have to 'create' something to get your argument to suit it shows the fragility of it in the first place.

Cricket and Baseball are two other sports with massive periods of downtime compared to actual action. It doesn't cause a problem.

I don't need to 'prove' anything, there are countless other sports with lots of downtime.

You're trying to take one issue and make believe that is the root cause of all of speedways problems. It isn't. 

[PHILIPRISING]

BT are very happy with viewing figures for both the SGP and PL so far this year. Even up against. the Champions League Final the Prague SGP did well.

[RobMcCaffery]

4 hours ago, PHILIPRISING said:

BT are very happy with viewing figures for both the SGP and PL so far this year. Even up against. the Champions League Final the Prague SGP did well.

Excellent news. This reflects the level of promotion on the channels I referred to earlier. Given that nearly a remarkable (for pay-TV) 3 million watched the Champions League Final it's even more impressive.

Hopefully the next step is deal renewals with better monies on offer. They seem to be showing more enthusiasm for the sport than many 'supporters' .

Edited June 6, 2018 by RobMcCaffery

[RobMcCaffery]

On 6/5/2018 at 11:18 AM, someone said:

You consider watching a tractor going around in circles, Dave Goddard reading out tweets, riders doing some gardening, Pearson and Tatum arguing over whether they ever agree with each other, and literally looking at an empty track as being the equivalent of a band's album tracks?  Crikey.

Plenty of sports do have slow periods, such as a ball getting kicked around in the middle of the field or a snooker players line up a shot.  But they are actually action as part of the sport being played.  Most of the two hours of a speedway meeting is not action, which is why it gets filled out with replays, commercials, inane and otherwise conversation, and stock car racing.  Riders in pits and not on the track is certainly not action.  Repairing an air fence is not action.  Even riders on the track just waiting around for the marshall to get them ready is not action.

Personally I prefer watching sport live too, but viewing figures show that Match of the Day is very popular.  There is a reason why highlights show are still very common on all channels, people watch them.  And sports are not all the same as to how they translate between live and highlights.

A rugby match is two halves of over 40 minutes of near continuous action, whilst a league speedway meeting is fifteen races lasting around a minute.  Highlights of the former means having to cut out moments when the sport was being played, highlights but for the latter it does not.  You can make a half hour version of a speedway meeting without missing a second of racing, including all the ones which never technically happened as they had to be restarted.

If the choice is a good highlights programme or nothing, people will still chose the former.  And the idea here — though I said I disagree with it, and it does not have to be an either/or situation anyway as you could have a proper highlights show in addition to a live meeting — is that highlights would be a better format for people who are not the hardcore speedway fans who pay to see some high quality track grading action, but instead those who would be turned off by no riders being on the track for over three-quarters of the event so broadcasts are literally ust filling time.  That is why Goddard treats the Swedish coverage more like a local radio show between races, because he has to find a way to keep people from turning off when there is literally nothing happening for him to commentate on. 

How many speedway fans spend the entire two hours studiously watching the track or TV instead of doing something else between heats anyway?  You might be upset at a concert if the band does not play the three minutes of silence before the hidden bonus track at the end of a CD, but you will be in a minority.  Speedway really does not have the luxury of only performing to a minority of its fans, let alone just its fans alone.

In the real world speedway is struggling yet you are arguing the viewing figures show that the public are happy with what they are getting and there is no need to consider other options?  You are right, the divide between the real world and the BSF is quite staggering at times. 

Utter rubbish. Try reading what I posted again, as long as your finger or lips don't get tired. You clearly have no clue. 

[RobMcCaffery]

On 6/4/2018 at 4:12 PM, Hawk127 said:

Yes apologies for not being clearer on the highlights. I meant all fifteen heats.

 

Thank you for the clarification. 'Highlights' generally implies exclusion of parts of the actual action. Equally full coverage does not have to include 'tractor racing' as another poster stupidly claimed. The latter is when you go to the pits for interviews and analysis. As usual some here see what they want to see, usually to score cheap points.

There's one key aspect of the TV coverage that I am sure flagrag would confirm. Your proposal would produce say a half hour programme which in TV terms is poor reward for the cost of sending a crew which is costly and the cost per hour of a thirty minute programme would be sky high compared to a two hour version featuring racing plus analysis and interviews. Now some clearly feel no need to see or hear such 'colour' but I think you'll find the less 'hard-core' fans might actually welcome a chance to see and hear the faces behind the masks and to hear analysis of what's going on. One person's 'mindless waffle' is another's interesting TV. If it was so overwhelmingly unpopular why after over twenty years' experience do sports TV channels use it? Clearly they see value even if some may not. 

I return to an earlier point. Sport TV today is about full live coverage. Where highlights programmes exist they are normally supplementing the live coverage, as with the fotball review shows on BT or Sky, or are because that is all they can get the rights to, such as Match of The Day or Football on 5. 

There are few sports whose prime coverage is reduced to delayed highlights only and I would hate to see speedway becoming one of them. 

Edited June 6, 2018 by RobMcCaffery

[INCOGNITO]

8 hours ago, PHILIPRISING said:

BT are very happy with viewing figures for both the SGP and PL so far this year. Even up against. the Champions League Final the Prague SGP did well.

 

Especially as it's not costing them anything maybe

[PHILIPRISING]

7 hours ago, INCOGNITO said:

 

Especially as it's not costing them anything maybe

WOULDN'T say nothing ... fees to BSI for SGP, production costs for PL.

[ABS]

19 hours ago, PHILIPRISING said:

BT are very happy with viewing figures for both the SGP and PL so far this year. Even up against. the Champions League Final the Prague SGP did well.

Do these figures take into account people like me who recorded the GP whilst watching the football?

[PHILIPRISING]

12 minutes ago, ABS said:

Do these figures take into account people like me who recorded the GP whilst watching the football?

GOOD question, will get an answer

[HAMMER180]

I think the powers that be should approach the BBC as they seem to have some sort of connection

to BT (shared presenters etc) as the BBC have lost a lot of main stream sports as SKY have thrown

a ton of money at the football darts etc and the BBC cannot compete with the billions thrown at it

that's the reason BT are not paying much if anything for the speedway as the football they have got cost 2.4 billion

The BBC sport website is showing lots of low key sports and I feel they would jump at the chance if the price was right

and the coverage would be accessible to a much wider audience.

[Dodger Blue]

Anyone else in the East Anglia region remember the once a week 'Speedway match of the week' which showed local derbies??

Happy days!!

[Bunce]

8 minutes ago, Dodger Blue said:

Anyone else in the East Anglia region remember the once a week 'Speedway match of the week' which showed local derbies??

Happy days!!

Wasn't it an Anglia TV production showing local motor sport with Steve Rider? I know he did "Midweek Sport Special" maybe it was that programme.

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

There was also the 'Wheels' programme on Anglia

[Reliant Robin]

5 hours ago, PHILIPRISING said:

WOULDN'T say nothing ... fees to BSI for SGP, production costs for PL.

Not forgetting the fee to BSPA....reduced from previous I'm sure, but certainly not 'nothing' by all accounts

Edited June 7, 2018 by Reliant Robin

[KrisB]

2 hours ago, HAMMER180 said:

I think the powers that be should approach the BBC as they seem to have some sort of connection

to BT (shared presenters etc) as the BBC have lost a lot of main stream sports as SKY have thrown

a ton of money at the football darts etc and the BBC cannot compete with the billions thrown at it

that's the reason BT are not paying much if anything for the speedway as the football they have got cost 2.4 billion

The BBC sport website is showing lots of low key sports and I feel they would jump at the chance if the price was right

and the coverage would be accessible to a much wider audience.

BBC won't touch it as no women in the sport

[SteveLyric2]

55 minutes ago, KrisB said:

BBC won't touch it as no women in the sport

I can think of a few!!!

[Dodger Blue]

3 hours ago, Bunce said:

Wasn't it an Anglia TV production showing local motor sport with Steve Rider? I know he did "Midweek Sport Special" maybe it was that programme.

It was in the 70's and I remember a Panthers v Mildenhall meeting with the Hines brothers riding!!

I know I had them all recorded on VHS tapes. 

I think there were around 7 or 8 tracks operating in the region inc Bosotn and Milton Keynes.  

[mickthemuppet]

The Speedway programme was shown on Thursday night on Anglia including a rider of the series It included Milton Keynes and Rye House although at he time could not be picked up on those two tracks 

as the signal was not strong enough. I remember giving Mick Hines some tracks which had him and his brother on them as he had no videos of them racing

The next programme Anglia tv did was called Wheels   which comprised Speedway , Truck Racing, Stock Car, Drag Racing

[Rob B]

Don't know what happened tonight but it seems anyone who set it to record on Sky it didn't record, BT must have changed the programme information at last minute.

[Aces51]

10 hours ago, Rob B said:

Don't know what happened tonight but it seems anyone who set it to record on Sky it didn't record, BT must have changed the programme information at last minute.

Looking at the British Final thread it seems it recorded with a SkyQ box but it didn't on my HD box.