Setanta F1 Commentators

holidaysong

Thinking of getting Setanta/BT Sports and was wondering who does the F1 commentary on Setanta?

Jordan 199

holidaysong wrote: »

Thinking of getting Setanta/BT Sports and was wondering who does the F1 commentary on Setanta?

They get the commentary from the BBC, so it's David Coulthard, Ben Edwards and Gary Anderson.

sockpuppets

Its the BBC feed. David Coulthard and Ben Edwards

holidaysong

That'll do for me. Cheers for the responses.

Setanta is okay when you have no other option but be aware that its barebones coverage, starts immediately before the race and then cuts off immediately after it. So no grid-walk or post race discussion etc.

donspeekinglesh

And an ad break after an hour regardless of what's happening on track.

holidaysong

Ok, that sounds less good...

donspeekinglesh

Oh yeah, it compresses the rest of the screen, looks awful.

And the ad breaks in qualifying are preprogrammed too, so any delay in Q1 and you'll miss chunks of the later sessions.

paddy147

donspeekinglesh wrote: »

And an ad break after an hour regardless of what's happening on track.

But Setanta have to keep Allianz happy so that they can show their TV ads.:pac::pac::rolleyes:

ITV F1 used to be the same with ad breaks every half hour.:mad:

Dravokivich

The ad break is fairly short in fairness. The only thing I don't like too much about it, and will be the same on BBC, is that I seem to notice things a lot quicker than Ben Edwards.

lertsnim

It's a pity that they don't do what some European broadcasters do for an ad break. Show the ads but have the race pictures continue in a small window on the screen.

Myrddin

lertsnim wrote: »

It's a pity that they don't do what some European broadcasters do for an ad break. Show the ads but have the race pictures continue in a small window on the screen.

Akin to witchcraft in Setanta HQ. It really can be a poor channel to enjoy a race weekend, the ad breaks, the absence of thought behind where to put ad breaks, the way they cut coverage in order to show over decade old football matches etc

I remember one time they showed nothing but silent world feed between Q2 & Q3, then took a break mid way through Q3.

PowRTocH

I see Setanta do not have Practice 2 live this again Friday - they have P1 live, and then it is repeated around midnight, followed by P2, so if you want to want P3 live on Saturday you will have to get up early to watch both, or stay up late.

But if you look at their website tv listings for Friday, Football is shown, but one of their recommendations on the same page is Live P2 at 12:55

I did phone them but no one knows which is correct.

Cool_CM

lertsnim wrote: »

It's a pity that they don't do what some European broadcasters do for an ad break. Show the ads but have the race pictures continue in a small window on the screen.

RTL do it in Germany and whilst it is still quite annoying it's a good compromise. When I was living in Switzerland it was broadcast on 4 different channels that i could pick up so that I was always able to flick when one went on break:D

lertsnim

Yeah Switzerland is handy with all the different language channels.

Myrddin

This race summed up the Setanta coverage for me:

A big chunk of the start of the race was unwatchable due to coverage breaking up. May not have been a Setanta problem, but hard to believe the FIA system remained faulty for so long.

Extended ad break which caused the leaders pit stop to be missed, & several other overtakes too.

Live podium celebrations cut off in the middle, losing out on interviews etc, in order to screen a 17 year old football match.

Really, an appalling way to watch a race, & I'm lucky in that I can switch to Sky GO when needed.

Rascasse

Make sure you complain to UPC to put pressure on them to offer Sky F1. They think they can get away with Setanta and BBC but with the likelihood of no BBC next year they need to understand that Setanta is no good.

Charlie-Bravo

UPC will be receiving this complaint tomorrow. I urge all others affected to get in contact too. Mass complaint last year about a race not being broadcast live on Setanta Ireland certainly got them an investigation from the BCI (advertising standards or whoever the complaint went to!).

flazio

Chances are, if BBC pull out, then Setanta will have to do likewise. I can't see Sky allowing Setanta to carry their commentary nor Setanta pulling Declan Quigley and David Kennedy out of retirement.

rizzodun

Rascasse wrote: »

Make sure you complain to UPC to put pressure on them to offer Sky F1. They think they can get away with Setanta and BBC but with the likelihood of no BBC next year they need to understand that Setanta is no good.

I think it may be missed that if Setanta pull out of F1 it's pretty much leaving Sky with a complete monopoly with regards to F1 in this region, with no onus on them to make Sky F1 on offer to UPC, this doesn't bode well for consumers.

Rascasse

rizzodun wrote: »

I think it may be missed that if Setanta pull out of F1 it's pretty much leaving Sky with a complete monopoly with regards to F1 in this region, with no onus on them to make Sky F1 on offer to UPC, this doesn't bode well for consumers.

Sky F1 is available to Virgin Media customers (UPC's equivalent in the UK) and from Sky's point of view there is no reason not to have it on UPC as more viewers = more money in subs and higher advertising rates.

UPC just don't need to spend the money as they have BBC and Setanta. BBC quitting, plus no more ESPN channels, might be enough to make them flash the cash.

rizzodun

Rascasse wrote: »

Sky F1 is available to Virgin Media customers (UPC's equivalent in the UK) and from Sky's point of view there is no reason not to have it on UPC as more viewers = more money in subs and higher advertising rates.

UPC just don't need to spend the money as they have BBC and Setanta. BBC quitting, plus no more ESPN channels, might be enough to make them flash the cash.

I'd much rather have another broadcaster have the rights all the same, I get your point about viewers = more money but still not great to have one broadcaster holding all the cards

Charlie-Bravo

1.5 hour build-up is a bit mad TBH. And that's filled with filler segments, along with ads. What I'm interested in on a Sunday morning is what will happen in race, possible strategies, news since qualy, etc. The filler stuff can be interesting but all of that can be put on at another time as its all recorded. The build-up needs to be live for a good 45 minutes before race start, they can take breaks during the ads - That'd be a proper show.

Myrddin

I created a thread here - http://www.boards.ie/ttfthread/2057004572/1#post85772659 in the UPC forum. Everyone feel free to back me up

ScumLord

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Not to mention that annoying banner ad that appears every so often!

I don't mind that so much but the ad break was atrocious. They seemed to take it at the worst possible time, it felt like I'd missed ten laps the top 10 had changed so much.

My problem with the Setanta coverage is that there's absolutely no effort put into it. I'm not too bothered with the long intros Sky do, I've stopped watching it because it's mostly filler, all I want to see is the race. It would be fairly easy to appease me.

Charlie-Bravo

Sent an email to UPC about the issues of coverage of the race and this is the response:

Dear XXXX,

Thank you for contacting UPC Customer Care.

Please accept my apologies for the issues you outlined below regarding the quality of the picture during the F1 Grand Prix last weekend.

However, UPC are not responsible for the programme been cut short. This would have to with Setantas scheduling of the programmes to which UPC have no control over.

For more helpful information or to contact us again please visit the Help & Support section of our website

Kind Regards,
Elaine
UPC Customer Care Support Team

Lame. UPC are starting to lose interest in Setanta. Something is up...

Rascasse

astrofluff wrote: »

Sent an email to UPC about the issues of coverage of the race and this is the response:

Dear XXXX,

Thank you for contacting UPC Customer Care.

Please accept my apologies for the issues you outlined below regarding the quality of the picture during the F1 Grand Prix last weekend.

However, UPC are not responsible for the programme been cut short. This would have to with Setantas scheduling of the programmes to which UPC have no control over.

For more helpful information or to contact us again please visit the Help & Support section of our website

Kind Regards,
Elaine
UPC Customer Care Support Team

Lame. UPC are starting to lose interest in Setanta. Something is up...

They've never cared about providing decent F1 coverage. I called them last year when there was just a black screen instead of qualifying for Malaysia. I called them again when there was golf instead of an F1 race too. Both times they claimed they were not responsible for Setanta's coverage despite their head of TV, Simon Kelehan, claiming in a press release that

each viewer will be able to watch every possible minute of the Formula 1Grand Prix 2012 season

With the F1 coverage and the current BT Sport/ESPN debacle, sports fans should realise that UPC doesn't care about them. I got a sweet deal from UPC when I called to cancel but I will be cancelling and going to Sky when the 12 months is up.

If you have a twitter account I suggest you get in touch with Simon directly via twitter and let him know your views as we don't know if our comments to UPC customer care actually make it to him.

lertsnim

I don't see how UPC can be to blame for Setantas coverage. UPC do not own Setanta.

Myrddin

lertsnim wrote: »

I don't see how UPC can be to blame for Setantas coverage. UPC do not own Setanta.

They're not directly to blame, but as cable providers, & if the rumour about the BBC dropping F1 is true, then UPC will as it stands not be able to offer F1 coverage for 2014. Setanta would have to do a deal with UTV assuming they pick up coverage, & personally speaking, I wouldn't watch F1 on UTV. So it's in UPC's best interests in terms of customer retention, to get the finger out & offer Sky F1 to existing customers

Charlie-Bravo

lertsnim wrote: »

I don't see how UPC can be to blame for Setantas coverage. UPC do not own Setanta.

It's not blaming UPC, it's just putting pressure on them as they are a client of Setanta. It's just like going to the shops and buying mouldy Brennan's bread well within its best before date. Bread is already bought, opened it up and found it to be rank. Who are you going to complain to?!

recyclebin

If Setanta don't have the rights next season could one of the Irish channels not go for them on the cheap?

I think we should concentrate our efforts on telling Setanta to sort out this years viewing before worrying about next season.

Charlie-Bravo

For the moment what we know is that Setanta currently use the world feed from FOM with provided with audio from the BBC (also world feed). Now if the BBC pull out of broadcasting F1, then FOM will probably seek another broadcaster to cover the English commentary as part of the world feed.

I don't see Five Live stopping their coverage. But I also don't think Five Live coverage will work with the normal broadcaster picture as it gets too descriptive (possibly good though as an audio descriptive alternative for the visually impaired). While it is probably a good setup for some people here, picture + five live, I don't see FOM going for that as a solution.

So where does that leave FOM? They'll need an English language audio world feed from someone. Is there any other English speaking countries already covering F1 (Canada, States??) that will possibly slot in just like the BBC do at the moment?

Does Setanta have any contract beyond this year?

Dravokivich

EnterNow wrote: »

They're not directly to blame, but as cable providers, & if the rumour about the BBC dropping F1 is true, then UPC will as it stands not be able to offer F1 coverage for 2014. Setanta would have to do a deal with UTV assuming they pick up coverage, & personally speaking, I wouldn't watch F1 on UTV. So it's in UPC's best interests in terms of customer retention, to get the finger out & offer Sky F1 to existing customers

I'm sure Sky would have more of a say in it, than you to UPC. Don't forget it's their channel. It'll be in their interest that you use their broadcasting service to receive it.

I think it's madness that this is all being directed towards UPC, for what ever shortcomings their were from Setanta. The channel Setanta provide F1 on, is not a subscription channel, so they need to put ads on when people are watching. And their ads are fairly short anyway.

Myrddin

Dravokivich wrote: »

I'm sure Sky would have more of a say in it, than you to UPC. Don't forget it's their channel. It'll be in their interest that you use their broadcasting service to receive it.

Sky are happy to subsidise the channel out to Virgin Media in the UK, I'm sure they'd be happy to do the same here.

I think it's madness that this is all being directed towards UPC, for what ever shortcomings their were from Setanta.

Again, there's no direct blame being put on UPC. However, it's in UPC's best interests to retain customers. If the BBC rumor proves true, then UPC customers may find the provided coverage of F1 really affected, & look to alternatives.

The channel Setanta provide F1 on, is not a subscription channel, so they need to put ads on when people are watching. And their ads are fairly short anyway.

Do they need to cut podium celebrations & interviews off mid sentence in order to screen football matches that were played fifteen years ago too? Do they need to take ad breaks in the middle of race & quali action, & then show five minutes of silent world feed? Could they not repeat practice sessions at reasonable times, and throw the two decade old football matches on after the practice replays?

calanus

astrofluff wrote: »

So where does that leave FOM? They'll need an English language audio world feed from someone. Is there any other English speaking countries already covering F1 (Canada, States??) that will possibly slot in just like the BBC do at the moment?

The US had been broadcasting the F1 races with Speed TV which was surprisingly alright and have watched it the few times where it was the only option. They didn't(couldn't) renew it for this year but I believe that they or at least its new incarnation have signed a deal. I still couldn't see it as being any alternative though for an english language audio feed