Sky's coverage of the Masters

Warper

God, it is hard to bear. The show started at 7, showed old clips for the first hour whilst talking the usual crap. They were boasting about their 3D and that the ad breaks were shorter this year, problem is there are ad's every 10 mins - Oh Georgia. They show the scoreboard every 3 mins which lasts for at least a minute. God it is awful coverage. Thank God the BBC have it on Sat/Sun as Sky are hapless. A 5 hour show with just one hour of golf.

irishtoffee

It's absolutely dreadful. They keep showing the leaderbord every two minutes and then take an ad break.

Vurnon San Benito

"Go top up your glass, or mug, because we're back in just one minute"

Awful.

rednik

Normally I'd be hoping they show the leaderboard and not just the first page, but this is beyond a joke. Should have advertised it as The Masters leaderboard in splendid 3D.

jackal

Also the "Oh Georgia.." singer bit is really annoying. Monty's teeth also unsettle me!

rednik

The only good thing is the Sky logo being removed from the picture.

Legwinski

Yeah it's fairly annoying but the red button allows for continuous golf really.

And they did share the coverage out well i.e. not too much Woods

Speak Now

Oh Georgia i can't wait for BBC coverage over the weekend.

mike12

I thought the coverage was great stay on the red button and by pressing 1,2,3,4 its continous golf got to see every one of Rorys shots yesterday from the 12th onwards and you can follow the groups you are interested in thru 11,12,13 and the 15 and 16. The red Button is the way to go.
Mike

Trampas

The red button is great on sky

NoelAPM

The oh georga song at every add break has my heart broken! Feel like firing the remote at the tv! Other than that I think the coverage is ok! Up until monty got in the commentary box! Talk about jibber jabber. I may be being bias tho considering I have a personal dislike towards the man!

rednik

NoelAPM wrote: »

The oh georga song at every add break has my heart broken! Feel like firing the remote at the tv! Other than that I think the coverage is ok! Up until monty got in the commentary box! Talk about jibber jabber. I may be being bias tho considering I have a personal dislike towards the man!

Leave Mrs Doubtfire alone.:D:D

AGC

It was better than I was expecting. The ad breaks don't go on for as long as normal and got to see most players in the field and as has been said you can follow away on the red button.

BBC won't be much better, when the American network they get the pictures from Peter Alliss will just talk about the colour of flowers they constantly show.

Only golf coverage that is near flawless and constant golf is the Open

sweetswing

Skys red button is the way to go , mcilroy was in the featured group yesterday got to see every shot from the back nine, with the technology they have these days we should be able to follow who we want on course in real time with the press of a button.

Swingguru

This is the worst golf coverage ever. Because The Masters is new to them, they assume that none of us have ever seen the event before! The commentary is 'jumpy', patronizing and all over the place. Since when was Monty a good commentator? An analyst maybe, but not for proper long-term commentating. Lets hope BBC shows the Masters committee what a mistake they made by letting Sky in.

Dan man

Annoying coverage with way too much talk and very little action and made worse by that awful singing at each ad break intro/outro. Watching via the red button is essential.....can't wait for the coverage to begin on BBC.

Johnny_Fontane

Have to disagree.

Sky's coverage has been excellent. Their Sky mobile coverage on the ipad is unreal - I was watching live golf at 4pm yesterday following mcilroys group and seeing every single shot. It was epic. The great thing about it, was there was no breaks and you only got to see those three golfers.

Montgomery does get to me a little bit. Did anyone hear him yesterday talking about how its easiest to go third in the group on a par 3? He said, you get to see how the wind reacts to the shot and have a look in their bag as to the club. Madness!

PhilipMarlowe

You can look in someones bag if you have a mind to... you can also see the number on the bottom of their club as they hold their finish.
You don't have to close your eyes while they play.
You can't ask them and you can't root around in their bag to check but you can observe what you observe. Information via observation is not advice.

D Hayes

sweetswing wrote: »

Skys red button is the way to go , mcilroy was in the featured group yesterday got to see every shot from the back nine, with the technology they have these days we should be able to follow who we want on course in real time with the press of a button.

I watched that group for the last 6 holes on Sky Interactive too. Nice feature. One thing I really noticed though is that the pace of play is painfully slow when you're just following the one group. Jason Day must take an average of 60 seconds from the time he addresses the ball to actually hitting it. In fairness to McIlroy, he's ready to hit once it's his turn, no nonsense.

abouttobebanned

I'm fooking loving this red button stuff. I'd love it every week. Following groups..particular holes...also highlights how far behind the usual coverage is. Phil had played his amazing cut shot from the trees and it wasn't on the main coverage for another 4-5 minutes. At which point they described it as "live"

Sean Bateman

Sky's coverage is putrid.

They're treating the viewer like an imbecile who's never seen the Masters before. "This is Amen Corner." Really? Thanks for that, Robert Lee (clown).

In the space of two years, they've gone from trying to gloss over any mention of the Masters by Butch Harmon to glorifying it beyond belief.

And as for the nonsensical claims like "Mickelson's 6 iron last year, probably the greatest shot ever". Eh, what about Gene Sarazen holing his second shot on 15 for an albatross to make up a 3 shot deficit in the final round ("the shot heard around the world"). And if I see Woods' chip on 16 again, I think I'll throw the TV out the window. Yes it was a great moment but the shot itself is overhyped. 1/3 of the green feeds towards that hole location - It's just a matter of chipping it into a certain area and it ends up close (and on occasion, it goes in).

sweetswing

Anyone know who is in the featured groups today ????

pauldoo

my favourite bit of skys coverage is the song in the Heiniken add, and its on every 6 minutes so thats pleasing

SSK

Sky Positives:

Red button coverage
Monty
Di (not on screen enough though )
Butch

Sky Negatives:

Bruce Critchley & Rob Lee (a pair of utter buffoons, particularly Lee)
Ad breaks every 5 mins
That feckin song
Ian Poulter love-in

So overall its probably 50-50, but come the back nine on Sunday, I'll be firmly in the BBC camp

dastardly00

My postitives and negatives of Sky

SSK wrote: »

Sky Positives:

Red button coverage (I have UPC so no red button functionality)
Monty
Di (not on screen enough though )
Butch

Sky Negatives:

Bruce Critchley & Rob Lee (a pair of utter buffoons, particularly Lee)
Ad breaks every 5 mins
That feckin song
Ian Poulter love-in
Butch

So overall its probably 50-50, but come the back front nine on Sunday Saturday, I'll be firmly in the BBC camp

DH2K9

It is not as bad as people are making it out to be and I kind of like Butch's commentary.

MisterAnarchy

Its not really Sky's fault,the main problem is the Masters committee who strictly limit the amount of coverage .
Its really only worth watching on Saturday and Sunday as you get to see the leaders ,on Thursday and Friday you really only get to see 3 hours of coverage showing the late tee offs, alot of whom are out of contention.

FlawedGenius

Sky have stopped playing the "oooooo Georgia mmmmm"..think theyve been reading this thread!:eek:

Myksyk

More non-coverage from sky at the moment. 45 minutes and have seen about four strokes. I know it'll kick in more comprehensively later but they should wait til then before calling it "The Masters - Live".

LuckyGent88

Thank god for the red button coverage because there "live" coverage is pathetic.

Benicetomonty

As if this could be possibly any worse than the bbc coverage...a company that kept letting Alex Hay in the booth years after senility had taken hold!

I could take or leave Monty tbh, he says eh..eh.. and fantastic a lot but if you find him more infuriating than 'Ken on the ******* course' then you've a screw lose. Ewen Murray knows more about golf than any other commentater in the business, you can only criticise him so much for being a bit of a romatic. Livingstone is perfectly fine at what he does. Rob Lee is an idiot, nobody is going to deny that.

In agreement also with the James Brown intro to and from ads last evening which has been done away with. Kudos.

Aidric

SSK wrote: »

Bruce Critchley & Rob Lee (a pair of utter buffoons, particularly Lee)

Fully agree. Profoundly annoying.

Benicetomonty

buysellswap wrote: »

I watched that group for the last 6 holes on Sky Interactive too. Nice feature. One thing I really noticed though is that the pace of play is painfully slow when you're just following the one group. Jason Day must take an average of 60 seconds from the time he addresses the ball to actually hitting it. In fairness to McIlroy, he's ready to hit once it's his turn, no nonsense.

Agree 100% with this. Since when did Luke Donald get so slow? He was painful on his second to 17 Don't know what they do be thinking...

Lavattack

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Its not really Sky's fault,the main problem is the Masters committee who strictly limit the amount of coverage .
Its really only worth watching on Saturday and Sunday as you get to see the leaders ,on Thursday and Friday you really only get to see 3 hours of coverage showing the late tee offs, alot of whom are out of contention.

You have no idea what you are talking about. They make sure in America and Canada that there is no adverts during coverage/play. If a network refuses to agree to those terms they are NOT allowed to show the Masters. Do not blame the committee for limiting the coverage when in fact they strive to do the opposite!

Smyth

they must be listening in. Haven't heard "oh georgia" or Monty since I started viewing. Here's hoping Monty ****s off

Trampas

Lavattack wrote: »

You have no idea what you are talking about. They make sure in America and Canada that there is no adverts during coverage/play. If a network refuses to agree to those terms they are NOT allowed to show the Masters. Do not blame the committee for limiting the coverage when in fact they strive to do the opposite!

The club mandates minimal commercial interruption, currently limited to four minutes per hour (as opposed to the usual 12 or more); this is subsidized by selling exclusive sponsorship packages to three companies.[66] In the immediate aftermath of the Martha Burk controversy, there were no commercials during the 2003 and 2004 broadcasts,[67] although international commercial broadcasters continued to insert their own commercials into the coverage.

WHIP IT!

Trampas wrote: »

The club mandates minimal commercial interruption, currently limited to four minutes per hour (as opposed to the usual 12 or more); this is subsidized by selling exclusive sponsorship packages to three companies.[66] In the immediate aftermath of the Martha Burk controversy, there were no commercials during the 2003 and 2004 broadcasts,[67] although international commercial broadcasters continued to insert their own commercials into the coverage.

Martha Burk controversy???

Do tell...

tang1

Why as a Nation do we feel the constant need to moan and complain about everythin, be glad you have a t.v to watch the Masters:D:D, if you've 3D all the better. Millions worldwide dont.

dastardly00

Why is it that Sky's 3D coverage only became available from 10.30pm onwards and not when the live coverage started earlier at 7-8 ish?

Jimmy Iovine

WHIP IT! wrote: »

Martha Burk controversy???

Do tell...

She's a feminist who took offence to women not being allowed to become members of Augusta and had a protest in 2002 I think. Fair enough but it is one of the strictest and most prestigious clubs in the world. When the richest man in the world, Bill Gates, has to wait to be invited then you know it's a fairly old-fashioned club

Sean Bateman

Lavattack wrote: »

You have no idea what you are talking about. They make sure in America and Canada that there is no adverts during coverage/play. If a network refuses to agree to those terms they are NOT allowed to show the Masters. Do not blame the committee for limiting the coverage when in fact they strive to do the opposite!

You're wrong.

There are adverts, but they're limited.

Fair play to the committee though for maintaining standards (e.g. insisting that fans are referred to as patrons, celebrating the achievements of amateurs in the Jones tradition etc).

Jimmy Iovine

dastardly00 wrote: »

Why is it that Sky's 3D coverage only became available from 10.30pm onwards and not when the live coverage started earlier at 7-8 ish?

As far as I know it's because the Masters committee have regulations in place to restrict the coverage to only 2 hours per day. They are notoriously strict about the coverage shown. Also I'd love to see it in 3D. I've seen a few soccer matches but it's too fast a sport I think to fully benefit from the 3D qualities

dastardly00

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

As far as I know it's because the Masters committee have regulations in place to restrict the coverage to only 2 hours per day. They are notoriously strict about the coverage shown. Also I'd love to see it in 3D. I've seen a few soccer matches but it's too fast a sport I think to fully benefit from the 3D qualities

Seems odd that they want to restrict the 3D coverage to only 2 hours per day. What's the point in that?
If you had a 3D TV you'd be pretty annoyed. Especially since Sky have been advertising the Masters in 3D non-stop for the past month!

MisterAnarchy

Lavattack wrote: »

You have no idea what you are talking about. Do not blame the committee for limiting the coverage when in fact they strive to do the opposite!

I'm afraid you are talking though your behind.

Significant restrictions have been placed on the tournament's broadcast hours compared to other major championships, perhaps to increase the tournament's Nielsen ratings, or to reward ticket-holders. Only in the 21st century did the tournament allow CBS to air 18-hole coverage of the leaders, a standard at the other three majors. Only three hours of cable coverage is scheduled for the early rounds each day. International broadcasters do not receive additional coverage, although they may take commercial breaks at different times from CBS or ESPN.

Anyway I thought the coverage was much better today ,using the interactive feeds allowed for uninterrupted coverage.

Jimmy Iovine

dastardly00 wrote: »

Seems odd that they want to restrict the 3D coverage to only 2 hours per day. What's the point in that?
If you had a 3D TV you'd be pretty annoyed. Especially since Sky have been advertising the Masters in 3D non-stop for the past month!

I know pretty odd alright. See the post above me though. We should be glad that we are even able to see the rounds in normal 2D nevermind in 3D

DH2K9

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

I know pretty odd alright. See the post above me though. We should be glad that we are even able to see the rounds in normal 2D nevermind in 3D

dastardly00 wrote: »

Seems odd that they want to restrict the 3D coverage to only 2 hours per day. What's the point in that?
If you had a 3D TV you'd be pretty annoyed. Especially since Sky have been advertising the Masters in 3D non-stop for the past month!

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

As far as I know it's because the Masters committee have regulations in place to restrict the coverage to only 2 hours per day. They are notoriously strict about the coverage shown. Also I'd love to see it in 3D. I've seen a few soccer matches but it's too fast a sport I think to fully benefit from the 3D qualities

dastardly00 wrote: »

Why is it that Sky's 3D coverage only became available from 10.30pm onwards and not when the live coverage started earlier at 7-8 ish?

It is because only the back nine is in 3D. They only have 3D cameras on 10-18.

JerryHandbag

A lot of what goes on on Sky annoys me, but I'm finding their coverage alright tbh. I like Monty as an analyst. I hope they never get the British Open though, not having BBC cover that would be sacrilege.

Warper

After all the people on here crediting the Red Button on Sky, it was again woeful last night. The Featured Groups were immaterial with guys out of the tournament playing as it is right now. Wow they have certain holes like Amen Corner and 14-15 but who really cares. What i want is to see the leaders play, not some no-hopers tee off on Amen Corner. Really after all the hype and adv. costs Sky put into the event their coverage has been piss-poor. Roll on BBC at 8.30.

WHIP IT!

Why the f*ck is the first shot we see of McIlroy his putt on the first?? We saw Tiger's tee shot, his approach - why are we missing any of this??

irishtoffee

Back to the BBC for me.

Speak Now

WHIP IT! wrote: »

Why the f*ck is the first shot we see of McIlroy his putt on the first?? We saw Tiger's tee shot, his approach - why are we missing any of this??

Because host broadcast coverage only started from 8:30 (same time as BBC went on air)