The WRC 2012 Thread
Discussion
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97869
Autosport said:
The FIA is believed to be on the verge of confirming an agreement for World Rally Championship television rights - at least until the end of the season.
The manufacturers and event organisers met with FIA president Jean Todt and WRC Commission president Jarmo Mahonen in Paris yesterday, with the likely outcome of the meeting being that the European Broadcast Union will take on the production and distribution of television from WRC rounds until the end of the season. A longer term agreement between EBU and the governing body has been talked about.
A source from within the manufacturers' meeting said they were pleased with the possible EBU option.
"It sounds like a good way forward," said the source. "The WRC needs the television to breathe, so we need to make this happen. The [EBU] will, we believe, take some of their own people to rallies and rely on some of them on the ground locally. Once they have made the pictures, EBU can then talk to its members in all countries in Europe about running them."
Once EBU is in place, one of the first tasks will be the start renegotiating with key channels such as ITV4 in the UK, with which an agreement to broadcast the WRC had been reached with former promoter North One Sports.
The rally organisers in the WRC have now signed an agreement with the FIA confirming they will not do their own individual deals - a significant shift from the letter issued early last month from Mahonen telling organisers: "Each WRC organiser will, unfortunately, have to negotiate the television broadcasting of his event."
Rally Sweden was the first event to do that - and did so successfully, with the event organisers reportedly turning a profit in excess of 100,000 euro from the second round of the series.
Rally New Zealand chairman Peter Johnston said: "We are very pleased to see a sound outcome from the present situation as the FIA takes the reins. With their co-ordination of the television media services, facilities and distribution, we can feel confident that the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship will continue to run to its usual high standards."
The manufacturers and event organisers met with FIA president Jean Todt and WRC Commission president Jarmo Mahonen in Paris yesterday, with the likely outcome of the meeting being that the European Broadcast Union will take on the production and distribution of television from WRC rounds until the end of the season. A longer term agreement between EBU and the governing body has been talked about.
A source from within the manufacturers' meeting said they were pleased with the possible EBU option.
"It sounds like a good way forward," said the source. "The WRC needs the television to breathe, so we need to make this happen. The [EBU] will, we believe, take some of their own people to rallies and rely on some of them on the ground locally. Once they have made the pictures, EBU can then talk to its members in all countries in Europe about running them."
Once EBU is in place, one of the first tasks will be the start renegotiating with key channels such as ITV4 in the UK, with which an agreement to broadcast the WRC had been reached with former promoter North One Sports.
The rally organisers in the WRC have now signed an agreement with the FIA confirming they will not do their own individual deals - a significant shift from the letter issued early last month from Mahonen telling organisers: "Each WRC organiser will, unfortunately, have to negotiate the television broadcasting of his event."
Rally Sweden was the first event to do that - and did so successfully, with the event organisers reportedly turning a profit in excess of 100,000 euro from the second round of the series.
Rally New Zealand chairman Peter Johnston said: "We are very pleased to see a sound outcome from the present situation as the FIA takes the reins. With their co-ordination of the television media services, facilities and distribution, we can feel confident that the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship will continue to run to its usual high standards."
PSBuckshot said:
For a sport as big as rallying/wrc its pretty pathetic.
Imagine the uproar if this happened to F1
Ah, but that’s the thing – it’s not really a big sport is it? Very few events have ‘proper’ commercial sponsors, instead rely on hand-outs from regional/tourist boards, etcImagine the uproar if this happened to F1
However, the agreement with EBU seems a step in the right direction – and about bloody time. It should be a relief to all the rest of the event organisers – knowing something solid regarding TV coverage.
One thing that is needed is sorting the calendar – and stop clashing with F1.
Er, why did I think the F1 started this weekend?
Bloody idiot....
Edited by ArnageWRC on Tuesday 6th March 14:55
ArnageWRC said:
Ah, but that’s the thing – it’s not really a big sport is it? Very few events have ‘proper’ commercial sponsors, instead rely on hand-outs from regional/tourist boards, etc
However, the agreement with EBU seems a step in the right direction – and about bloody time. It should be a relief to all the rest of the event organisers – knowing something solid regarding TV coverage.
One thing that is needed is sorting the calendar – and stop clashing with F1. This weekend is Rally Mexico, unfortunately, the F1 season starts – marvellous planning.....
erm..?However, the agreement with EBU seems a step in the right direction – and about bloody time. It should be a relief to all the rest of the event organisers – knowing something solid regarding TV coverage.
One thing that is needed is sorting the calendar – and stop clashing with F1. This weekend is Rally Mexico, unfortunately, the F1 season starts – marvellous planning.....
as an indication as to the scale of the problem for rallying promotion, I was at a rally school event recently and one of the other participants, who had no real interest in rallying (he was bought the gift as a red letter type present), asked some questions about it (rally). He thought that Skoda were doing well in rallying... they are in IRC. When I explained the difference between IRC and WRC, I then asked a few questions, he did not know ,for example, that Citroen competed in the WRC! he had to be told who the current WRC champ is although he had heard of him - and then made the Citroen connection, and when I asked him to name another manufacturer in WRC he replied with ..........Subaru!
it is a minority sport. Unfortunately?
it is a minority sport. Unfortunately?
Fingers crossed this promoter TV issue can finally be sorted, so the sport can (maybe) begin to progress again!
In other news it seems that the manufacturers only want events in Europe and America, leaving out great events like rally new Zealand and making it even less of a "World" Rally Championship!
In other news it seems that the manufacturers only want events in Europe and America, leaving out great events like rally new Zealand and making it even less of a "World" Rally Championship!
Mini1275 said:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97869
ITV4 Autosport said:
The FIA is believed to be on the verge of confirming an agreement for World Rally Championship television rights - at least until the end of the season.
The manufacturers and event organisers met with FIA president Jean Todt and WRC Commission president Jarmo Mahonen in Paris yesterday, with the likely outcome of the meeting being that the European Broadcast Union will take on the production and distribution of television from WRC rounds until the end of the season. A longer term agreement between EBU and the governing body has been talked about.
A source from within the manufacturers' meeting said they were pleased with the possible EBU option.
"It sounds like a good way forward," said the source. "The WRC needs the television to breathe, so we need to make this happen. The [EBU] will, we believe, take some of their own people to rallies and rely on some of them on the ground locally. Once they have made the pictures, EBU can then talk to its members in all countries in Europe about running them."
Once EBU is in place, one of the first tasks will be the start renegotiating with key channels such as ITV4 in the UK, with which an agreement to broadcast the WRC had been reached with former promoter North One Sports.
The rally organisers in the WRC have now signed an agreement with the FIA confirming they will not do their own individual deals - a significant shift from the letter issued early last month from Mahonen telling organisers: "Each WRC organiser will, unfortunately, have to negotiate the television broadcasting of his event."
Rally Sweden was the first event to do that - and did so successfully, with the event organisers reportedly turning a profit in excess of 100,000 euro from the second round of the series.
Rally New Zealand chairman Peter Johnston said: "We are very pleased to see a sound outcome from the present situation as the FIA takes the reins. With their co-ordination of the television media services, facilities and distribution, we can feel confident that the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship will continue to run to its usual high standards."
The manufacturers and event organisers met with FIA president Jean Todt and WRC Commission president Jarmo Mahonen in Paris yesterday, with the likely outcome of the meeting being that the European Broadcast Union will take on the production and distribution of television from WRC rounds until the end of the season. A longer term agreement between EBU and the governing body has been talked about.
A source from within the manufacturers' meeting said they were pleased with the possible EBU option.
"It sounds like a good way forward," said the source. "The WRC needs the television to breathe, so we need to make this happen. The [EBU] will, we believe, take some of their own people to rallies and rely on some of them on the ground locally. Once they have made the pictures, EBU can then talk to its members in all countries in Europe about running them."
Once EBU is in place, one of the first tasks will be the start renegotiating with key channels such as ITV4 in the UK, with which an agreement to broadcast the WRC had been reached with former promoter North One Sports.
The rally organisers in the WRC have now signed an agreement with the FIA confirming they will not do their own individual deals - a significant shift from the letter issued early last month from Mahonen telling organisers: "Each WRC organiser will, unfortunately, have to negotiate the television broadcasting of his event."
Rally Sweden was the first event to do that - and did so successfully, with the event organisers reportedly turning a profit in excess of 100,000 euro from the second round of the series.
Rally New Zealand chairman Peter Johnston said: "We are very pleased to see a sound outcome from the present situation as the FIA takes the reins. With their co-ordination of the television media services, facilities and distribution, we can feel confident that the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship will continue to run to its usual high standards."
Hopefully Motors TV/BBC Wales style commentator + rallying footage rather than Dave's celebrity travel show.zeb said:
sad but true....
It may be a minority sport in the UK, but I suspect there is much more interest in other countries.Just look at the stage turn out in some countries - just like the good old days in the UK - the RAC Rally was the biggest single spectator event in the UK at one point - I really have no idea how they managed to f
k that one up! 
Emeye said:
zeb said:
sad but true....
It may be a minority sport in the UK, but I suspect there is much more interest in other countries.Just look at the stage turn out in some countries - just like the good old days in the UK
EDLT said:
Emeye said:
zeb said:
sad but true....
It may be a minority sport in the UK, but I suspect there is much more interest in other countries.Just look at the stage turn out in some countries - just like the good old days in the UK
In how many countries is the WRC the No1 Motorsport? And in which countries is it a Top5 sport? Even in the 'Home of Rallying' - Finland, F1 is meant to be more popular.
When you accept that it is minority, you can set the sport up accordingly.
How many WRC events are commercially sponsored? Neste Rally Finland, Vodafone RallyPortugal, Brother Rally NZ? A pretty damning indictment of a World Championship. The rest are backed by tourist/regional boards, and as seen from RallyAustralia in Perth, at the whim of these backers. Look what happened when WAG pulled their funding in 2009, the very future of RallyGB was in doubt.
When the big money sponsors return, we will know the sport is on the way back. Until then, it must cut it's cloth accordingly.
When you accept that it is minority, you can set the sport up accordingly.
How many WRC events are commercially sponsored? Neste Rally Finland, Vodafone RallyPortugal, Brother Rally NZ? A pretty damning indictment of a World Championship. The rest are backed by tourist/regional boards, and as seen from RallyAustralia in Perth, at the whim of these backers. Look what happened when WAG pulled their funding in 2009, the very future of RallyGB was in doubt.
When the big money sponsors return, we will know the sport is on the way back. Until then, it must cut it's cloth accordingly.
EDLT said:
Emeye said:
zeb said:
sad but true....
It may be a minority sport in the UK, but I suspect there is much more interest in other countries.Just look at the stage turn out in some countries - just like the good old days in the UK
Rallying is a minority sport - with a very hard core of support. During the days when the championship was in better fair than it is now, when the wrc arrived on our shores, and went all over the UK, the casual observer, could then pop down to the local spectator stage with the family and enjoy the show. These two groups combined to make it the biggest spectator event of the year. As the WRC lost it way, so it lost the casual spectators.
Loeb was complaining at the start of this year about the lack of coverage in France for the WRC, depsite all of his championships and a french team winning everything, it still can't get decent TV coverage in France. Rallying is not a good TV sport for the casual observer, you can't see the cars 'race' each other, and you really don't get how amazing the top drivers are from the TV, only being there in the forest rally gives this impression.
The WRC was starting to head in the right direction, but sadly the wheels have totally come off this year, and they need to have it sorted by the time VW joins next year, and that in turn may make MINI start to play ball again.
The FIA need to grow a pair and take the sport back to it's routes, and stop listening to the teams moaning about long days, hard routes, tricky conditions, hostings sponsors, blah, blah. I am a hard core fan and always watch it, no matter what. This year even the IRC seems to be struggling (I got Eurosport just so I can watch it)there is not room for both championships, so they should stop biggering and combine, make the whole sport stronger and take a minority sport, make it a spectacle again and intro it to the masses again, if only once a year....
I still maintain that it would attract more fans if they had more power (300ish bhp just seems pitifully low in this day n age) and fewer restrictions. Then it becomes a wonderful fantasy motorsport that I for one would be far more willing to follow.
Edited by dtrump on Thursday 8th March 03:47
Gassing Station | General Motorsport | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff