[AlanPerry]

I guess last year will have to be remembered as the glory year of WRC coverage in the US. An hour of same day coverage each day. A pre-event show and a post-event show. Multiple re-airing in case you missed it. With all of the re-airing of events, it was literally more coverage than one could watch.

Well, I checked out the Speed Channel program guide to see when the coverage of the Monte Carlo is on (since it is being held the same weekend as Sno*Drift) and discovered the Monte will get a half-hour RallyXS show on the Wednesday after the rally and a single two-hour show on Thursday, days after the event is over.

Similarly, for Sweden, RallyXS will air on the Thursday after the event, then re-air again on that Saturday followed later in the day by the two-hour show aired twice.

Of course, despite the Speed Channel being named the "Official Racing Network" of the SCCA, that does not seem to translate into the Speed Channel actually airing SCCA ProRally events any closer to the actual event date than before. Sno*Drift does not air before Feb 16 (the furthest out date in the Speed Channel program guide).

alan

 

[MDBodnar]

I would not expect to see Sno*Drift until closer to May -- big gap in the calendar --

just personally I'd rather see consitent air times month by month -- easier to keep track and follow the season.

What we need is 9-10 events evely spaced over the year, so a monthly show could be created.

opinions,
Mike

 

[AlanPerry]

>I would not expect to see Sno*Drift until closer to May --
>big gap in the calendar --

Well, this gets back to Toni and Pat's comments. Having a 3 month gap in the calendar is kinda dumb for a series that claims to be striving to become a big time sport.

>just personally I'd rather see consitent air times month by
>month -- easier to keep track and follow the season.

Back when I thought F1 was great, I was one of those folks who got up at 4:30a to watch the races live. I would rather see an event closer to when it happened.

>What we need is 9-10 events evely spaced over the year, so
>a monthly show could be created.

A monthly show that is longer than 30 minutes. Look at how much time the SCCA run-offs got.

The thing is that there are dramas that go on at a rally that would make really compelling television, but all of the rally coverage (even the super-slick WRC coverage) tends to be "look at this car go quick", which all starts to look the same unless you are REALLY REALLY into rally. Even in situations where there was some tension about what might happen, you didn't get any sense of that in the TV coverage.

I think there is so much TV potential in this stuff and it is too bad that no one with the ideas and money is willing to do something with it.

Oh, excuse me. I got off on a rant.

alan

 

[warwick]

I'm actually looking forward to seeing the 2-hour programs. Although I enjoyed the daily WRC coverage, most of the time I didn't have time to sit through them all. Giving the ISC editors time to put together a well thought out, and slick production may turn out to be better. More time to source amateur footage of incidents, more time to sort through footage of interviews and in-car (to get the best stuff), and perhaps they'll show some Production class incidents/highlights if they have time to go through all that footage too.

Video production and same-day editing is extremely time consuming - just sorting through the raw footage takes ages. They did an amazing job with the editing this year...but you could tell that they were rushed. They obviously felt that it was too demanding, and not the high-gloss presence they were looking for. Wait and see before ye judge...it will be good.

Warwick
www.MTBFilms.com

 

[AlanPerry]

BTW, most of my whining was concerning the SCCA coverage.

On the other hand, the Rally Xtra show didn't seem to use its extra editing time to much advantage. The script didn't change much from the nightly show.

alan

 

[Bergstrom]

And what was the deal last night with the 'Year in Review' coverage of the WRC at 11:00pm? It just never came on. Speed is kinda screwy sometimes.

 

[Morgan]

From what I have been told, the SCCA Pro Rally show will be 1 hour this year and will be edited by someone new.

I for one think the new WRC format of a 2 hour show will be fantastic, I feel the 2001-2002 shows had taken a big dive in quality since the previous years. And now I may be able to convince someone to record it for me http://www.protegeclub.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

 

[Lancia037Rally]

>From what I have been told, the SCCA Pro Rally show will be
>1 hour this year and will be edited by someone new.

I'd heard SCCA had talked to TV2Go who does the Canadian coverage. Hope TV2Go gets it as their coverage is excellent.

 

[Morgan]

I believe it is production company at Speed Channel that will be doing it

 

[Roger Jackman]

Huh, maybe we will get coverage of the rest of the field now that there will be more time to fill!

 

[Trevor Donison]

>Huh, maybe we will get coverage of the rest of the field now
>that there will be more time to fill!

When they come with the drug sniffing dogs... RUN

Whoever pays for the commercials will get 99% of the Rally face time (face & car on television time).

What most people don't realize is that Hyundai subsidized the Television coverage for years. Now that they are gone, are Subaru and Mitsubishi fully prepared to step up to fill that void? After all, they are the ones that chased Hyundai away with escalating costs (More specifically Subaru, can you say WRC car at Rim in 2001?).

If Subraru and Mitsubishi are willing to pony up for Television (and I imagine that at least Subaru has the last 2 years) and full scale factory efforts, why are they not able to do the one thing that would help the average competitor out the most and co sponsor the ProRally series for say 100k each per year? That would show that they at least care that they have caused an increase in cost for every competitor in the ProRally series. 200k would pay for a lot of things, perhaps bringing the insurance cost down or free notes?

 

[Morgan]

I think US Airforce is paying for the other third, don't know if that is true. And in a way they are helping by getting Rally on TV which, we hope, will eventually pave the way for other sponsors. I also think that the manufacturers do pitch some money to the series, although I am not sure.

 

[Bruce]

The manufacturers did contribute to most - if not all - of the rallies in the series...mostly with contributions toward parties and worker perks.

Bruce