F1 Coverage

zap

Well I watched a few minutes on setanta and their coverage was equally as bad as RTÉ were. ITV are doing a fantastic job the Button mania isn't as bad as it was now it's a bit over the top but it has improved.


Anyway were is Jim from ITV gone I know he was doing 6 nations rugby so that's why he missed the 1st two races but I expected him back this weekend but maybe they just left Steve in charge for the last fly away and we will see Jim back in Europe or is Steve there for good?

m_stan

agreed - ITV are doing a good job, but the Button mania is still a little too much for me. Imagine what it will be like when he finally becomes a GP winner !

BFassassin

itv coverage is very good but the whole button thing is a bit over the top i couldnt stop laughing at the end of the race tho

Jonny Arson

zap wrote:

Anyway were is Jim from ITV gone I know he was doing 6 nations rugby so that's why he missed the 1st two races but I expected him back this weekend but maybe they just left Steve in charge for the last fly away and we will see Jim back in Europe or is Steve there for good?

Steve Rider is there for good.

I like ITV's coverage but I don't love it. I don't see the point in having a whole 1 hour build up for grand prix's, I find that stops me from watching the build up for races for than anything. Like everyone else the whole Button mania pisses me off especially since he's quite the overrated driver in the first place.

Idleater

BFassassin wrote:

itv coverage is very good but the whole button thing is a bit over the top i couldnt stop laughing at the end of the race tho

I will keep watching ITV now in the hope that Button does that again. I was laughing at Button and James Allen crying into the mic for him to get out and push it over the line. The despair in his voice as the other cars passed him was priceless.

ITV has to be watched with a grain of salt. The F1 team are as bad as the CL team, with Tydesley and his manusa being robbed crap.

I also liked Ted Cravitz saying he thought Webber had run out of fuel...

...Whats that in the background I hear? A revving engine is it?

L.

aidan_dunne

Okay, I've really and truly, completely and totally had it with James Allen and his Button lick-arsing at this stage! :mad: As I said in this thread here

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054905550

he really doesn't care anymore that he's being listened to in other countries and how pissed off those listeners must be with it all the time. He is completely biased towards Button, doesn't care who knows it and, as a commentator, he's not supposed to be. He's supposed to maintain at least even a smidgen of impartiality (especially if he's being heard all over the world) but he doesn't and he doesn't care either. Even Murray Walker, who often championed the cause of the British drivers like Mansell and Hill when they were racing, was never, ever as bad as this and at least remembered he was being listened to outside Britain and at least tried to remain as impartial as possible. James Allen, though, just doesn't give a toss who's listening to him.

What really got to me yesterday was when, just before the race, there was a shot of Button sitting in his car and Allen turns around and exclaims "and there's OUR JENSON on POLE POSITION!" I think he was almost about to cum on himself..... whilst I almost got sick! :mad:

Now, imagine you're a listener in Canada or somewhere and you have no choice but to put up with hearing Allen scream almost orgasmically "OUR Jenson!" How pissed off would you be at that? And then his "Oh no, Jenson, Jenson, get out and push Jenson!" at the end of the race. How f**king sad was that? I thought he was almost going to shout out "NOOOOOOOO!" and fall to his knees crying in the commentary box or something. It was almost sickening to listen to. :mad:

I've completely had it with James Allen at this stage. This twat has just GOT to go! And the sooner ITV realise it, the better. :mad:

m_stan

wow, you are p1ssed off aren't you

Running Bing

Tbh itv do go a bit overboard with Buttonmania but i think people are overeacting just a wee bit. Its not half as bad as sky sports A1 coverage. Also I would say that hes not really supposed to be neutral. When a brit team is playing a foreign club in the champios league commentators make no bones about cheering for the brit team. Its the same for Button. Im not defending it im just saying its not as bad as people are making out. Also it must be annoying for DC.

I also agree that the hour build up is a bit silly. Why not make it a half hour and add some time to the rushed post race analysis? You dont even get to see the conference.

Scober11

Turn over to Setanta and you will get some serious Ass licking from Kennedy about Montoya.

aidan_dunne

Babybing wrote:

Its not half as bad as sky sports A1 coverage.

Well, I'd have to disagree with you there. Yes, in terms of the in-studio stuff they are very pro-Team GB/Robbie Kerr, that I will agree with you on, but, in terms of the actual commentary itself, Ben Edwards and John Watson seem to try to remain as impartial as possible and try to give pretty much equal coverage to all the teams and drivers. As the international English commentary team for A1GP, they know they have to try to be as impartial as possible (ok, sometimes a little British bias slips in there but it's not too bad) because their voices are being heard in other countries as well as the UK and I think they do a pretty good job in giving equal mention to all the teams.

Babybing wrote:

Also I would say that hes not really supposed to be neutral. When a brit team is playing a foreign club in the champios league commentators make no bones about cheering for the brit team.

Well, this is my point, you see. If James Allen was only being listened to in the UK then, yes, like the football commentators I could understand him being very pro-British/pro-Jenson Button. But he's not, he's being listened to all over the world and therefore has a job to at least try to remain somewhat neutral in his commentaries. But he doesn't, he very much wears his heart on his sleeve when it comes to Jenson Button and he, quite simply, doesn't care whether the people listening knows it or not. He really needs to take a leaf out of the aforementioned Ben Edwards' book of commentating regarding this whole area.

Babybing wrote:

I also agree that the hour build up is a bit silly. Why not make it a half hour and add some time to the rushed post race analysis? You dont even get to see the conference.

Apart from James Allen and the whole pro-Button aspect of ITV's coverage, I agree that this is the one area I think they need to change. They end up repeating features that they already showed in the the qualifying pre-show just to fill time (take the interview with Mark Webber last weekend, for example) and it sometimes feels as if Steve Rider and Mark Blundell are struggling to come up with things to say in order to fill up that hour or so before the race and they seem to end up repeating themselves a lot as a result. If they cut it back to half and hour or so, make it snappier and more fast paced as a result, and then allow more time for post-race analysis and to show the post-race press conference in it's entirity I think it would be much better.

Apart from that (and James Allen! Please, PLEASE, ITV get rid of him, I'm begging you!), I think the ITV coverage overall really is quite good.

Running Bing

aidan_dunne wrote:

Well, I'd have to disagree with you there. Yes, in terms of the in-studio stuff they are very pro-Team GB/Robbie Kerr, that I will agree with you on, but, in terms of the actual commentary itself, Ben Edwards and John Watson seem to try to remain as impartial as possible and try to give pretty much equal coverage to all the teams and drivers.

Actually I agree with you there, the commentating is quite good its that women(as fine as she might be:cool: ) that drives me mad. And I take your point also about the international aspect. It is a less than ideal situation and it can be very aggravating at times but Im just saying a lot of people (Not only yourself aidan Ive heard this complaint from a lot of people) seem to blow it out of proportion. Did you get any respomse from ITV? sometimes when dealing with things like this you really do feel absolutely powerless.:(

aidan_dunne

Babybing wrote:

Did you get any respomse from ITV? sometimes when dealing with things like this you really do feel absolutely powerless.:(

Never got a response at all. I've e-mailed them many times over the years complaining (particularly about James Allen, who really is a useless commentator. He was good as a pit lane reporter but, as the main commentator, he's dreadful) but I've never gotten so much as an acknowledgement of receipt of my e-mails. Which leads me to suspect that any e-mails ITV get from people either complaining or criticising their coverage get swiftly ignored and deleted. The only time I can ever recall them actually taking e-mails complaining to them seriously was after last years San Marino GP debacle, and I think the only reason they took them seriously then and acknowledged the complaints was because some of the advertisers brought up with them the fact that some of the viewers contacted them directly complaining and saying they were never going to buy any of their products again as a result. If it hadn't been for that, I think the e-mails sent to ITV complaining over that incident would have probably been ignored then as well.

Anyone here who remembers or were members of the forum on the ITV-F1 website will recall, like myself, the numourous times threads and posts complaining about the coverage were ignored, locked or, more often than not, just plain deleted. Particularly after James Allen took over as main commentator, the complaints on that forum came thick and fast to the point that, not long afterwards, ITV just simply removed the forum from the site altogether. It definitely seems ITV don't listen or care about complaints and do not take criticism well whatsoever.

oneofakind32

I dont even bother with ITVs coverage during add breaks for fear I would forget to change back. They are biest and the commenty is usless. During the race Satanta is the only waty to go IMO. Gary Anderson, Declan Quigley and David Kennedy all have great knowalage of F1 and it shows in there commentry. Anderson offers far more insight into tacktics than anyone in ITV ever could.