Firestorm 5 Posted October 14, 2007 Well, folks, how does everyone feel about Sky's coverage, those that stayed at home to watch it? After endlessly trailering it, about what a HUGE thing it was, great sport, fantastic action etc etc etc - it was a bit galling to turn over to Sky Extra at the appointed 6pm start time and be met with some obscure South African rugby that I doubt many cared about (apologies rugby fans!). When they finally pulled away from the rugby it was 6.20pm and instead of going straight to Gelsenkirchen they found time to fit in a 5 minutes advert break (of course!) By our reckoning the first 4 heats were nowhere near "live" all recorded (thus including the colossal Heat 2), we also missed the parade of flags and the build up (which they showed in a montage of the evening at the very end of the show! - just to rub in what you missed!!) They'd also spent money making little build up vignettes of each rider which they had obviously intended to show before racing started which instead got crow-barred into the show whilst racing was going on (thus meaning we saw even less live speedway!!) On to the race coverage - the camera angles were appalling! Seeing wee bits of the track, no wide shot so you could see who won but not who was in the places (except of course when Adams won his second heat when they concentrated on the battle for 2nd and 3rd spots thus ignoring Adams going over the line!!) Half the time we didn't know WHO had got the points till the caption came up!! Yes they interviewed the three podium placers (Jonnson, Hancock and Crump) on the night but didn't interview the podium placers for the GP season as a whole (yes, Crump had already had his say - but we heard not a word after the medals and trophies were handed out by Adams and the new world champion Mr Pedersen) I am all for supporting the British boys when we go into these big events (and I do! - Harris at Cardiff was magic!) but when will the Sky team realise that we speedway fans also support riders who ride for our teams at home, there's a big following for Pedersen by Eastbourne, Anderson by Peterborough, Crump by Poole and of course Adams for us Robins etc etc etc. For example in our case, if a Brit ain't going to win then we'd like Adams to! And another thing, why give Laukinnen the wild card, surely it should have been Gjedde? A shame that such an illustrious event was treated so shabbily when Sky are supposedly at the forefront of making speedway massive again - this will not have snagged new people into the sport and annoyed their loyal followers who wanted to experience the whole thing (but couldn't physically be there) Must do better!! OK you can come out now, rant over!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
youngy105 16 Posted October 14, 2007 And another thing, why give Laukinnen the wild card, surely it should have been Gjedde? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Laukannen was riding because he qualified as second reserve. Peter Karlsson qualified as first reserve. I think Karlsson replaced Lindback and Laukannen replaced Hampel. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brummie Boy 61 Posted October 14, 2007 Got to agree, I thought the Sky coverage was appalling. The lack of build up meant the whole programme was very flat and it was without a doubt the worst Sky Grand Prix presentation of the year. Would have thought that with the GP being presented as the "richest minute in motorsport" they could have made more of an effort. In fact, it wasn't only Sky that failed with this event. Surely the track with its total lack of good racing lines made the whole thing a lottery and a complete farce. If this is the best speedway and Sky can do when a $100k is on offer, then perhaps they don't deserve this sort of sponsership. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trees 2,814 Posted October 14, 2007 It's because it wasn't really the richest minute in motorsport, they had to do 7 races, travel over to Germany, prepare machinery etc etc Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brummie Kev 519 Posted October 15, 2007 Good post firestormdax, sky have done so much for speedway in this country but the way they showed the GP in germany was poor. Why didn`t they cut into the rugby, who cares about south african rugby (no-one will next saturday ) to show the first four heats not live was a disgrace, what a way to treat the GP in its hundreth race. Also the presenter, cant remember his name, is totally annoying why cant we have a decent looking female presenter. Sophie Blake possibly Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rabbit 1 Posted October 15, 2007 Why didn`t they cut into the rugby, who cares about south african rugby <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Whilst I agree it was damned annoying can you imagine the outcry if the shoe were on the other foot and Sky were showing some live speedway and then cut away from the last couple of heats because the next live programme was due on? If anything it was shonky programming to put two live events on straight after each other, particularly when other Sky channels were showing magazine-type programmes from 6pm onwards, but I don't agree that speedway has a God-given right to cut across or be treated as more important than a live show already being broadcast. We've often caused other programmes following on to over-run so don't think fans can get too up in arms about Saturday, however much we were probably all screaming at the TV as time ticked on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rob B 1,266 Posted October 15, 2007 By our reckoning the first 4 heats were nowhere near "live" all recorded (thus including the colossal Heat 2), we also missed the parade of flags and the build up (which they showed in a montage of the evening at the very end of the show! - just to rub in what you missed!!) Correct, I rang someone at home and they said Sky were showing heat 3 but at the track heat 5 was just starting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Firestorm 5 Posted October 15, 2007 Yes I agree the programming was shocking (two live events back to back) what I was pointing out that they were building this event up for at least two months beforehand (which they did not do for some wee SA rugby game) so they should have given it the broadcast it deserved and they promised! Even if they'd gone straight to the speedway rather than hauling us through a colossal advert break beforehand it would have made us feel that they were doing it justice! On another point, yes I know Laukinnen was the qualifier - the Gjedde comment of mine was firmly tongue in cheek as a dyed in the wool Robins fan!! End of school report Sky: must do better!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sancho 28 Posted October 15, 2007 Sky coverage crap why wasnt the interviews given to johnathan green after the run off with scott & bomber shown but the one with holta was Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pirate Roxy 0 Posted October 15, 2007 (edited) I think a lot more people pay for Sky Sports to watch speedway than they do to watch some obscure South African rugby. I don't know why they didn't switch one over to SS3 which was showing an old football repeat. Jonathan Green seemed obsessed with asking the riders about what they would do with $100,000. But I guess thats better than asking everyone "Are you hoping to win tonight?" all the time. Edited October 15, 2007 by Pirate Roxy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KEITH M 850 Posted October 15, 2007 Why didn't they just move the last 15 minutes of the rugby to another sky channel as they did with a certain Australian Speedway Grand Prix a few years ago Also don't think any of the racing coverage was actually "live" as did anyone else notice how quick Hans Anderson got from wiping himself down in the pits to standing next to Jonathon Green to do his interview after his semi-final crash Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Jasper 192 Posted October 15, 2007 yes got to agree poor presentation, in fact the whole event was a bit of a let down due to the track. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blazeaway 1,501 Posted October 15, 2007 yes got to agree poor presentation, in fact the whole event was a bit of a let down due to the track. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Absolute cack, that buffoon Heuwen (sp) telling us it was one of the most exciting GP's ever. Who was he tring to kid. One of the least entertaining GP's ever. Although at least the parade of champions saved us from Ermolenko either in the studio or commentary box. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kaz_zr7 0 Posted October 15, 2007 Absolute cack, that buffoon Heuwen (sp) telling us it was one of the most exciting GP's ever. Who was he tring to kid. One of the least entertaining GP's ever. Although at least the parade of champions saved us from Ermolenko either in the studio or commentary box. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Would rather have Sam than have to put up with Lee again Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
