Bernie please give us UK based race fans what we need...
Discussion
Having experienced your digital feed a few years back now, I feel the time is now right to consider bringing it back because the ITV coverage and production is appalling now.
Maybe the reason it was not successful was you were ahead of your time with the technology but with so much more technology and interactive TV becoming main stream I feel that we die-hard racing fans now want the service, and I'm not alone is saying that we'd be happy to pay for such a service too, maybe £10 per month is acceptable.
Leave ITV to pander to The Sun readers and other chavs who enjoy their reality TV, while those of us who are keen and happy to get more detailed analysis from the race weekends can enjoy the racing as it should be. Pay Martin Brundle a nice salary to come across to the new digital channel as lead commentator and have a 'guest seat' beside him with a different ex-driver or current test driver to bounce comments off during the race.
You can have a studio based team of new faces (not the others from ITV PLEASE) and between races have more programmes such as the 'Inside F1' that appears on MotorsTV which is informative, more so than anything ITV currently churn out.
So if there is anyone from Bernie's empire reading this, you have an ever growing audience just waiting to sign up tomorrow, so think about it Bernie, lets have another go at Digital. After all, you wouldn't want to be associated with a failed project now would you
Maybe the reason it was not successful was you were ahead of your time with the technology but with so much more technology and interactive TV becoming main stream I feel that we die-hard racing fans now want the service, and I'm not alone is saying that we'd be happy to pay for such a service too, maybe £10 per month is acceptable.
Leave ITV to pander to The Sun readers and other chavs who enjoy their reality TV, while those of us who are keen and happy to get more detailed analysis from the race weekends can enjoy the racing as it should be. Pay Martin Brundle a nice salary to come across to the new digital channel as lead commentator and have a 'guest seat' beside him with a different ex-driver or current test driver to bounce comments off during the race.
You can have a studio based team of new faces (not the others from ITV PLEASE) and between races have more programmes such as the 'Inside F1' that appears on MotorsTV which is informative, more so than anything ITV currently churn out.
So if there is anyone from Bernie's empire reading this, you have an ever growing audience just waiting to sign up tomorrow, so think about it Bernie, lets have another go at Digital. After all, you wouldn't want to be associated with a failed project now would you
Am I the only one who doesn't like Brundle either? He always pretends to be more knowledgeable than he really is about the mechanical side.
Allen: 'Looks like one of the STR's is crawling back to the pits'
Brundle: 'Looks like a rear driveshaft failure, sometimes the bearings can be a problem in these hot and dusty conditions' (Problem probably only found once on 1991 Brabham)
Allen: 'We're just hearing over the radio he's lost the brakes'
Allen: 'Looks like one of the STR's is crawling back to the pits'
Brundle: 'Looks like a rear driveshaft failure, sometimes the bearings can be a problem in these hot and dusty conditions' (Problem probably only found once on 1991 Brabham)
Allen: 'We're just hearing over the radio he's lost the brakes'
Eric Mc said:
Sorry, Brundle would not be a good comentator. He is not skilled in that area. He is great at providing comments - which is an entirely different atribute.
In sports coverage there are two types of commentator - the 'play-by-play' commentator tells you whats going on e.g. James Allen, Ben Edwards. Then you have the 'colour' commentator who chips in with comments giving an insight into what is happening. e.g. Brundle, Tim Harvey. Usually someone whon used to be involved in the sport. Brundle does a good job at this and given that he has driven recent f1 cars (he drove the 07 Super Aguri pre season)
I think Bernie would do better to make F1 interesting again before trying to charge to watch it.
However, I'd happily pay £120 a year if BARC/BRDC/MSV could get together and provide a decentish feed from the BTCC, WTCC, DTM, and club events such as pre-90s, Thundersaloons, Historics, Kumho etc from UK circuits.
However, I'd happily pay £120 a year if BARC/BRDC/MSV could get together and provide a decentish feed from the BTCC, WTCC, DTM, and club events such as pre-90s, Thundersaloons, Historics, Kumho etc from UK circuits.
SimonY said:
Am I the only one who doesn't like Brundle either? He always pretends to be more knowledgeable than he really is about the mechanical side.
Allen: 'Looks like one of the STR's is crawling back to the pits'
Brundle: 'Looks like a rear driveshaft failure, sometimes the bearings can be a problem in these hot and dusty conditions' (Problem probably only found once on 1991 Brabham)
Allen: 'We're just hearing over the radio he's lost the brakes'
He gets the prognosis wrong now and again but in general he is very good and there is no doubting he has the ability to explain the cars and their dynamics very well.Allen: 'Looks like one of the STR's is crawling back to the pits'
Brundle: 'Looks like a rear driveshaft failure, sometimes the bearings can be a problem in these hot and dusty conditions' (Problem probably only found once on 1991 Brabham)
Allen: 'We're just hearing over the radio he's lost the brakes'
custardtart said:
Eric Mc said:
Exactly. The number of ex-participants who also make good "commentators" is quite small. I can't think of that many - Peter Allis (golf), Murray Walker (motorcycle racing), Ben Edwards (low level Formulae).
Any others?
steve parish & randy mamola?Any others?
TheOriginalGT40 said:
Martin Brundle as lead commentator and have a 'guest seat' beside him with a different ex-driver or current test driver to bounce comments off during the race.
Great idea. In fact I wrote the exact same thing about a few months ago on another thread (just after Anthony Davidson had done a great job of guesting).I think Martin would cut it as a lead commentator - I always enjoy his grid walk and he's fairly witty, a fairly intelligent talker, and crucially, not annoying.
zac510 said:
Speak for yourself when saying you'd pay £10/month for this F1 coverage. I wouldn't and I don't think many people would.
You are missing the point, I didn't say that I would be happy to pay for the ITV coverage, I'd be happy to pay for the similar feed we had with bernie's original digital offering which was fully interactive, allowing you to watch interviews, replays, choose on-board cameras to watch the race etc...I wouldn't pay a penny for what ITV offer.
Eric Mc said:
I'm not familiar with what Steve Parrish and the others mentioned actually do. Are they lead commentators or "commentors"?
There is a world of difference bewteen what a "commentator" does and what a "commentor" does.
Steve Parrish does what Brundle does. Charlie Cox cracks jokes and has a huge library of appropriate metaphors. I enjoy their commentary and Suzi Perry really does understand what's going on - she adds more value than Steve Rider does...and she looks a damn sight better There is a world of difference bewteen what a "commentator" does and what a "commentor" does.
Ben Edwards irritates me slightly. IIRC he only competed in FFirst - did he follow this up with any other racing before retiring to become a commentator?
I liked Allard Kalf on Screensport yonks ago and Wattie is pretty good too.
The point I was making is that most sporting partcipators who move into TV don't do so as "up front" commentators. They either serve as anchors (e.g. Sue Barker, Gary Linneker, Bon Wilson), pundits (too many to mention) or commentators' assistants (e.g. Martin Brundle, Jonathan Palmer, James Hunt, John Watson Jimmy Armfield, Mark Bright etc etc). Very few aspire to be mainstream commentators.
As I mentioned above, sone DO go on to be commentators, but very few. And sometimes they can be quite good. It's just that they are a rare breed.
As I mentioned above, sone DO go on to be commentators, but very few. And sometimes they can be quite good. It's just that they are a rare breed.
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