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UK TV - Back To The Future? - Johanna (@writebend)

11/2/2013

9 Comments

 
Picture
Photo: ESPN
So after many anxious months, waiting with baited breath we finally have news about  the UK TV coverage of IndyCar, with ESPN coming out on top. The news has inevitably and understandably caused a lot of debate and a fair bit of consternation amongst fans, as for most it will mean yet another subscription fee. Whether ESPN’s coverage will be worth this extra cost only time will tell, but I do worry that it may isolate even more people from a great racing series that is already under-reported and broadcast here in the UK. 

It will certainly be interesting to see how ESPN approach the job after so many years of Sky Sports coverage. Personally I always rather enjoyed Sky’s Indy Car programs. The excellent Keith Heuwen and various studio guests gamely filling the numerous US ad breaks with insight or, more often, banter. On this note special mention must go to Johnny Mowlem, Marino Franchitti and Thomas Sheckter as they always seemed to brighten up proceedings, and not just with an array of dodgy shirts! Seriously though, the presentation package couldn’t really be faulted. In particular the way they handled the impossibly difficult circumstances and emotion following the ill-fated Las Vegas event that took the life of Dan Wheldon was both sensitive yet professional. The shared sense of grief, loss and shock resonated with all stunned and devastated fans watching the tragic events unfold and earned a great deal of respect among the IndyCar family. I know I for one will miss Keith and co come 24th March and I thank them for their involvement in and passion for the sport over the years. It will be very strange without them after so long.

Picture
Sky Sports Indycar Studio
Having said all that though, it also has to be said that Sky Sports could and should  have treated IndyCar a whole lot better than they did. Most weeks it was tucked away on SS4 whilst they showed re-runs or old programs on the three main Sports channels. And far too often it was relegated to red button, causing havoc for people attempting to record the race. On several occasions I have come home looking forward to watching IndyCar only to find the program ‘starting’ on lap 40-something as they’d begun broadcasting on red button. It always bemused me that they had a dedicated F1 channel that on all but 19 race weekends shows nothing but re-runs of old races or interviews. What was stopping them making it Sky Motorsports and showing other forms of motor-racing as well? Indy & F1 very rarely clashed due to the time zone differences, so it wouldn’t have been too difficult to do. 

No, I’m afraid apart from the actual presentation, Sky’s treatment of IndyCar was bordering on contemptuous, chopping and changing, pushing it aside for Tiddly Winks Championships or some such non-event. On one occasion I actually missed a rain delayed race completely as they, without any notification to fans, showed the rescheduled event on SS4 red button with no replay on normal broadcast or red button. Everything else was reshown ad infinitum, but not IndyCar. 

There’s no reason that a major sporting series with such a large British involvement should be so poorly covered and publicised in the UK. We have several high profile British drivers competing, including a four time series champion and three time Indy500 winner, yet still it’s treated with less respect than Poker and Darts! It really does beggar belief as there is a huge UK fan base that would no doubt grow given better TV and media support. 
 
Of course poor coverage and the lottery of TV rights is nothing new to Indycar fans sadly. Back in the days of ChampCar & CART every off season felt like Russian roulette as to which minor Satellite channel would crucify the races ahead. I still have nightmares about the British Eurosport days, with its unpredictable start times, lousy commentary, disappearing feeds/signals and heavy emphasis on Icelandic Ski-Jumping that didn’t have a Brit in sight. 
 
We IndyCar fans are certainly a resilient lot, let’s face it, with year after year of sub-standard coverage of the sport we love, we’ve had to be. Getting used to taking whatever we can get when we all know IndyCar and its numerous UK fans deserve far better.

At present details of ESPN’s plans are still rather vague and sketchy, so we don’t know whether we’re looking at live or delayed coverage or even how many races will be shown. So for now, yet again, we can do little more than wait to see what develops, hoping that our subscription fees take us closer to the quality coverage we crave and not back to the future.

(Ed. ESPN UK have announced they have live rights, but if there is a clash with a 'high profile' event, the coverage could be delayed.)


9 Comments
Steve Mann
11/2/2013 05:25:26

Whilst I am really angry about this, like you I put a lot of the blame on Sky Sports rather than ESPN. With a whole channel dedicated to motorsport(ish) I was expecting great things but they treated Indycar with the same level of contempt that they have treated it for many years (as, like you say, did Eurosport beforehand) and ruined a perfect opportunity to create a whole new level of Indycar fans in the UK. But it would seem they've got their F1, they don't care about the rest (Nascar hightlights gone too).

I, for one, will not be paying the £13 extra just to watch Indycar on ESPN. Again, if their coverage of that is as bad as their coverage of DTM then no thankyou.

I won't even be able to watch any streaming on the net as my broadband speed is not good enough.

So, I'm afraid it's goodbye to Indycar, I will miss you.

Reply
TommyB link
11/2/2013 06:39:59

The fact that Sky would miss races when their F1 channel would be showing repeats of old features from the start of the year as a complete joke.

Reply
JimG
11/2/2013 12:26:13

Hmmm. Haven't seen any suggestion yet that part of Sky's deal with F1 might have been that minimal to zero coverage of Indy was a requirement, and certainly no sharing of the F1 Chanel.

That's pure speculation by the way, but it wouldn't surprise me at all. In fact it would surprise me if there was no truth in it.

I'm pretty sure that Bernie has previously been dismissive of the Indy car series and wouldn't do anything to improve its credibility.

Reply
Chris Davies
12/2/2013 02:02:56

Dude, you got a bang on. I wrote an e-mail to Sky (and sent via Keith Huewen) to the same effect about Sky F1 and how it would be better as SKy Motorsports (what with Porsche Carrera cup of all things actually being shown on there).
Good riddance to sky - the only good things was Keith Huewen and the studio team.

Reply
Howard Sanders
16/2/2013 09:38:57

Sky as usual have missed a great opportunity. As already said they seem to think there are 2 sports, Football and now F1, instead of an F1 channel make it a motorsports channel, the many repeats of F1 output shows there is not enough of that for a full channel. Saying that Motors is a dedicated motorsports channel and look how rubbish that is is, Eurosport doesn't know what a schedule is.
Never watched ESPN and won't be anytime soon, as I'm not paying anymore a month, in fact seriously thinking of pruning back.

Reply
Chrissie
26/2/2013 07:04:31

It has just been announced that BT are going to buy ESPN's UK channel. Does anyone know how this might affect coverage of Indycar in the UK?

Reply
Adrian
26/2/2013 07:08:29

I wish I could answer that! I hope not, but its a guess...

Reply
Kevin Henderson
22/4/2013 03:34:42

As a BT Vision subscriber I can confirm that as part of their catch-up TV service (BBC i-player; ITV player etc...), there is also an ESPN player. On the ESPN player at the moment are the full races from the first two of this season's schedule - I dare say yesterday's race from Long Beach will be on the ESPN player after the highlights programme has aired this week.
BTW - in order to receive the ESPN player, you need to subscribe to ESPN through BT.

Reply
Aido
20/5/2013 15:25:46

Yes, I was horrified when I found out that SKY would no longer be covering the Indy Car series. Although glad the series is back under one organisation, I did prefer CART. The cars certainly looked and sounded a lot better. Nevertheless I prefer Indy car to F1. Why? because of the variety of circuits they race on, and because there does not seem to be any team orders, that turned F1 in to a farce.
I echo all the previous comments about Keith Heuwen. Despite the fact he was a former motorcycle racer, he put a lot of enthusiasm along with his extremely knowledgeable studio guests in
presenting the programmes. Interesting as well, that SKY did not sign the contract to screen the Speedway GP Series? Yet found the money to show the NBA.
Bernie Ecclestone made a grave mistake in my mind, by ditching the F1 Grand Prix at Indianapolis. Not that I have a great deal of time for Tony George either. What I think would have made the GP there an ever better event is if the they had run in a anti-clockwise direction. After all, what could be better than having both the Monaco, and Indianapolis circuits on your racing schedule.
Because of the love I have for the Indy 500, I will fork out the £13.00 required. I'm afraid that SKY have left a very bad taste in my mouth.

Reply



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