ITV to drop WRC coverage?
Discussion
I've just read posts on the Unofficial WRC forums that ITV1 are considering dropping terrestrial coverage of WRC 2007. They may broadcast WRC rounds only on their digital freeview channels but judging by their past record that hasn't exactly been consistent. Imagine the outcry if ITV1 were to scrap coverage of F1 porn. I'm not going to buy a Sky subscription and wait for ages until the DVD comes out.ITV's output of self developed program quality has been going downhill for the last few years to the extent they are losing money, Which is why they are ripe for a takeover. So they are culling things to save money that they think are not watched because Mr & Mrs Coronation St viewer who have one of their viewing ratings boxes never watch it. Plus it was on late at night so they will want to replace it with more money making phone in gambling programs for the stupid.
In fairness the current coverage is so poor if you take out all the time spent on trailers, lead in/outs for commercials, its been pretty non-existent for a while, not to mention some of the silly times it has been on the schedule.
It seems if it isnt people kicking dead cow round a cows field, they are not interested.
its funny how it almost exactly mirrors the way WRC was treated by channel 4 before ITV.
they started off full of big promises, but after a couple of years the time slots stared to get scattered, sometimes being shown weeks after the event, at hours when the only people awake were students or insomniacs.
ITV have gone the same way, and this years programmes have been awful, with not even any live coverage of the british round.
hate to point fingers here, and am happy to be put right. but apart from prodrive rally cars, does Dave Richards have the reverse midas touch?
everything he is involved with seems to suffer from a lack of pazzazzzzzzzz!!
I used to watch wrc ( i presume on itv, coz I ve not long had sky) a few years ago when Dicky Burns was hot (R.I.P. dick) I loved the graphic over view that nicky grist used to voice over showing who had been fast where etc realy looked good. plus the special stages, and in car footage. It was a good show, Then DR got the promo rights to it and it seems to have gone down hill since
Good point earlier about itv revenues, but DR and his people should be mindfull of that and either jump ship ( to motors tv?) and or promote it heavier in magazines, vip trip prizes to monaco etc, get a buzz going about the sport, but no nothing, even the manufacturers are jumping ship!!???
pauses for some one to reveal that DR is no longer in charge of rallying rights etc
IIRC the WRC compilation used to be shown on a Tuesday or Wednesday night at 3am or thereabouts.
Well ITV are in such a bad state that at 12 midnight Chav TV comes on, with some Gelhead or C*ckteaser pausing a lot,staring in to the camera, and waiting for mugs to guess answers to questions like, how many cherries? [onethousand seven hundred and forty two ?--- lets see, no your wrong, why don't you try again]
How they get away with some of the answers is totally beyond me, but it keeps the potheads and DHSS claimants up and happy all night, and if that keeps them off out of the way in the daytime, Im happy. Saw similar in the States recently, they use it to suppress Cleetus and Lateesha et al and keep them trailerbound.
Micheal Grade has just been poached from the BEEB for a huge amount of money to sort it out ITV and it looks like he has got quite a job on his hands. Channel Four seem to be okay, and ITV must be more than happy of the revenue they screw out of them. This is hugely ironic as the contracts drawn up around its inception were geared so that the cash could flow the other way to support C4
With this huge expansion of airtime and available programmes, the dumbing down predicted by Victor Lewis Smith is upon us. I can't remember the time I seriously looked forward to any programme on the ITV network other than the rallying. Hopefully Michael will sort out this dross.
Eurosport show exactly the same footage, but ITV's presenters were far superior and its a real loss for it not to be on.
Market forces are seriously at play, and I don't think the blame can be squared on David Richards shoulders.
spectatorsam said:
.......Jim Rosenthal? James Allen?
Sorry Sam, we seem to be talking at cross purposes here.
When I watched it late there were two guys, and that bird off Fifth Gear, and I thought they were very chirpy. The coverage I watched may have been the C4 stuff.
Totally agree with your sentiments about Cheesy and Jug Ears.
I think I done it wrong agin Dayd.
Edited by stuttgartmetal on Tuesday 26th December 20:46
Very disappointed to hear that ITV may be considering their position. As others state above, it's not particularly surprising given that they are rubbish at covering the WRC.
Where would it be shown as an alternative? I have Freeview but don't subscribe to any of the extra channels so fear I'm likely to miss out. It's about time the TV companies got their act together and listened to what the viewers acutally want to see. I have no interest in your crappy soap operas or talent contests (very loosely used in respect of X-Factor et al), but I do want to watch an exhilarating sport. It only takes place 14 times a year for goodness' sake! When BBC2 can get away with showing snooker for hours on end, and live cricket takes over Channel 4 and causes subsequent programmes to run late, why can't ITV show a little respect to the WRC?!
Where would it be shown as an alternative? I have Freeview but don't subscribe to any of the extra channels so fear I'm likely to miss out. It's about time the TV companies got their act together and listened to what the viewers acutally want to see. I have no interest in your crappy soap operas or talent contests (very loosely used in respect of X-Factor et al), but I do want to watch an exhilarating sport. It only takes place 14 times a year for goodness' sake! When BBC2 can get away with showing snooker for hours on end, and live cricket takes over Channel 4 and causes subsequent programmes to run late, why can't ITV show a little respect to the WRC?!
the bottom line is that wrc is not worth televising at the moment, the rallies are shit, the cars are shit, it's dominated by a french driver, there' s limited british interest, and so i am not suprised the coverage is poor, itv would have to be a bloody genious to make that little lot worthwhile covering... unless they did reruns of 1980's rallying...
stockhatcher said:
the bottom line is that wrc is not worth televising at the moment, the rallies are shit, the cars are shit, it's dominated by a french driver, there' s limited british interest, and so i am not suprised the coverage is poor, itv would have to be a bloody genious to make that little lot worthwhile covering... unless they did reruns of 1980's rallying...
Totally agree, all the brits are in the lower classes of rallying at the moment, there are a few talents top flight but is dominated by either a Finn or a frenchman. give it 2 years and it will be back on.
stevieb said:
stockhatcher said:
the bottom line is that wrc is not worth televising at the moment, the rallies are shit, the cars are shit, it's dominated by a french driver, there' s limited british interest, and so i am not suprised the coverage is poor, itv would have to be a bloody genious to make that little lot worthwhile covering... unless they did reruns of 1980's rallying...
Totally agree, all the brits are in the lower classes of rallying at the moment, there are a few talents top flight but is dominated by either a Finn or a frenchman. give it 2 years and it will be back on.
Wot Group B 4uck yeah
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