In thjis week's Motorsport News Alan Gow tells us theat "Theres too much motorsport on TV" and that "live coverage is overrated" also he expects that "only F1 and Superbikes" to be shown on ITV

Sounds like he is setting us up for what has been mentioned here - NO btcc on ITV 1 and NO LIVE btcc at all..

Strange change of tack - seems like only yesterday that Gow was trumpeting "the best TV package ever" with ITV1 - and "the Live network coverage is very important to the manufacturers, the sposnors and the teams..."

Odd how things change...I bet Vauxhall and Seat are mega upset... going for over a million v iewrs on Network TV to under 200,000 on a satellite/cable service available to under half the country is a distaster for them...

Bye bye BTCC - now what we need is for the BBC to pick up WTCC and BTCC is officially dead!

JAS

BBC would never pick up WTCC.

Motors TV seemingly has this big chance to gain more UK viewers with ITV seemingly not showing BTCC and they won't take it, we were all told that part of the reason it was dropped was because ITV had more viewers

Come on Motors TV, do the right thing for once.

Eurosport owns WTCC basically. There TV package is already announced so.

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What he actually says is that within the next ten years "the only motorsport on the terrestrial TV channels will be F1 and MotoGP"

Which is something very different.

I still maintain he has failed to get BTCC on ITV 1 live - a feature that Gow himself has presented as "the cornerstone" of the series in past years.

I don't disagree with his assessment of where motorsport will be - in 5 years though at most not 10 - but I think he is being more than a little disingenuous by not coming clean on the TV package for 2007.

And despite what you say he also said there was generally too much and specifially too much live motorsport on TV and that it's not always good for the sport.

he said who wants to watch some asian championship at 1am in the morning - not him clearly but if you check out the viewing figures you will see that some of the most obscure championships get the best audiences -

Race and Rally Uk is a perfect example - all hobby drivers, not a 'professional' championship in sight but it continues to be one of the best watch shows on Motors.. check out the BARB figure if you don't believe me.

Remember as well as being boss of TOCA Alan Gow is the head of the MSA - he should be singing the praises of the coverage of smaller championships not dismissing it!

I just think that he is positioning the story so as to take the pressure off his failure to deliver new manufacturers, new investment and any kind of decent TV coverage to what is, let's remember, the UK's most important race series...

I think that the manufacturers, sponsors, teams and to a lesser extent the fans of the BTCC are being short changed with the current shameful move to ITV4 with no live coverage for the first half of the season at least!

JAS

No, he should be doing what is best for British motorsport.

The only people who get any benefit out of televising club motorsport are the companies making the coverage.

The competitors (who ultimately pay for it, either directly or through their entry fees) don't.

No Nascar Busch Series, No BTCC on Motors TV...

The BTCC is certainly for me the 3rd biggest Touring Car Series in the world,
and it is also popular in the rest of Europe, so it is for the fans outside the UK a big dissapointment not see it anymore on Motors TV or elswhere.

Replacement series?
The support races for the DTM for example ..that would be good news, Euroseries F3, german F.BMW & F.Renault championships, ....
Maybe other series live on Motors, WS by Renault, FIA GT?
Still it's nice to notice V8 Supercars will be back!
Anyway it's off-topic.

Tin Tin

Sorry i got the continent wrong for the example - geography was never my strong point.

My point about UK Race and Rally was not quality related - actually i wholeheartedly agree with what you have said about production values - I'm the one who bangs on about poor Commentators and dodgy camera work - however the fact that RRUK is one of the most watched shows on Motors is proof positive that there is an audience for it - sad or not - even if it is just the competitors and their 'mates' watching.

I actually laughed out loud about your mobile phone comment as I have had it suggested to me (by a well known race series) that 'Fan Cam' style of broadcasts - particularly on the Internet - would be a valuable addition to their inventory... maybe you have been talking to the same people.

The problem is that for motorsport TV above club racing level - which as you rightly say is effectively paid for by the competitors from their entry fees - there are no sponsors/advertisers that will support the high-quality of production required for more prestigious series. (In fairness one of the biggest problems with all national level - and even some international motorsport is that the competitors pay for everything - not a great business model - but that is a bigger discussion for another day)



The BTCC coverage is a perfect example - on ITV 1 it failed to make a reasonable audience (ITV network will not countenance a show that can't attarct 10% of the total audience available to it in the timeslot) - on Motors TV there was a dearth of advertisers and sponsors within/around the BTCC content. Not even a Vauxhall or Seat ad it seemed to me! I suspect that Auto Express was a contra deal (no cash) in return for page space in the magazine.

One could argue that ITV could/should justify airing the series if they were being paid large amounts from the BTCC, I'm sure that's not true by the way. Unfortunately the reality is that in a TV advertising market that is shrinking share of audience (and therefore potential ad revenue - which is still mostly sold on overall numbers) is the single greatest indicator of success.

Motors TV would have been in a very difficult situation as even if they were not paying "rights fees" (which I am told they were not) they would be contributing to the production and technical costs of ITV Sport (who in this context were the production company for BTCC and support races).

Assigning large chunks of airtime to a broadcast that was failing in commercial terms is not great business as, clearly, if that show is on then you can't be using that time to show other shows which make a financial contribution. In the case of BTCC and the support package it was even worse as Motors were actually paying money out (production and tech costs at least) for the priviledge of 'giving' that airtime away!

Now I'm as unhappy as anyone that we have lost this content - however I don;t think you can blame MTV for their decision. Maybe - just maybe now - we should be turning the spotlight on BTCC and support series sponsors (all the manufacturers, RAC, Halfords as so on) who have not supported their considerable investments in the series with TV advertising.

Ironically the people who stand to lose most from the loss of Motors TV's small but highly targeted demographic, and more significantly the million or so network ITV viewers, are exactly those I have mentioned above. Bad news for us is it's not likely the sponsors will decide "let's buy lots of TV airtime to support our BTCC team" but more like "BTCC doesn't offer us the expossure we bought into so let's pull out!"

JMHO

JAS

Addition, yes.
...but replacement to proper coverage, no.



But if you can't do it properly, surely it's better not to do it at all.
Poor TV coverage isn't making the championships look good.



Generally they wouldn't keep a show which got less than 15%. (And the BTCC has been getting 12-14%).

However the BTCC is slightly different in that it does attract a programme sponsor, so even if there are not enough viewers to make it attractive to advertisers, it is still generating some revenue.



I suspect you may have been right about Auto Express, although there may have been some money as well.

I did also see SEAT advdertising on Motors. Presumably for Vauxhall, whose main market is the UK, pan-European advertising isn't very cost-effective.



ITV would have had to have most of those facilities anyway though, so it is only the elements which were specific to Motors that would have been a cost - satellite feeds, commentators and reporters, etc.



RAC and Halfords (and SEAT and Vauxhall for that matter) advertised during the breaks on ITV last year, so perhaps it is more about Motors' sales team that they weren't also advertising on Motors.

The Motorsport News story which broke the news about the end of the Motors coverage included a quote from one of the support series saying that the live coverage wasn't that important to them, as ITV made up the vast majority of the audience.

Also, it's probably not fair to say the live coverage has been lost, as there have been rumours of other broadcasters wanting to take it - and of course there will still be live BTCC races on ITV.

Quote from Tin Tin

"Also, it's probably not fair to say the live coverage has been lost, as there have been rumours of other broadcasters wanting to take it - and of course there will still be live BTCC races on ITV."

Unless you know different there is no plan by ITV to show any live BTCC coverage at all for at least the first five events. Those five will be shown as highlights only on ITV4.

If there is to be live coverage on ITV it will only be for the end of the season, as has been the norm it will be race three only and then only if the championship is close. At the moment the plans are for ITV4 not ITV1.

As for other broadcasters - Setanta have been mentioned on this forum and others as wanting to take the support series but no mention has been made about live coverage of the BTCC.

I hope you are right though.

JAS

I'd like to know where that information came from. I certainly don't belive it's true.

TT

the press day is coming up - maybe I'm wrong - but I was told - quite categorically - that there is no plans for live ITV coverage of the first five BTCC events. ITV 4 will have highlights later on the same day - only likelyhood of live coverage (on ITV4) is the later rounds if the champiosnhip is still alive...which I'm sure TOCA will ensure..

I have this information from an impeccable source that deals with the broadcaster, obviously I'm not saying who or where.

I originally heard this news some time ago and the situation was the same up until a week or so ago. It is true that the talks are ongoing, apparently there's no deal in place as yet, pehaps Mr Gow has some budget tucked away or another card to play... I have said all along I hope this gets sorted.

In truth the live coverage is not what is the biggest issue - if the situation remains as is with no network coverage, as I have said before, the future of the BTCC as a Big-Money, top class, manufacturer supported championship is at risk - surely none of us wants that...

I am only telling you what I have heard - and of course it's your choice to believe it or not. You clearly have a background in broadcasting - if you have other/better/more up to date information then I bow to that.



JAS

Well this thread makes for depressing reading....

Jas, thanks for the info, though to make me feel better can you just lie and tell us that yes, the BTCC and its supports will be live from here to eternity please? Because the threat of no live BTCC...well...*sigh* I hate 2007

Seriously, what no-one has mentioned is if any of this affects Motorsport UK, which I read was doing quite well for it's timeslot.

Baring in mind the Supports won't be live, they'll still be shown on Mspt UK...right? :

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Paul...codename_47...whatever!

OK here's the latest

First to answer Paul - Motorsport UK is not and has not been in jeopardy, it has averaged 600K viewers and peaked at over 1 million, perfectly acceptable for midnight time slot.

The only question is how many of he support series will be covered as at least one of the manufacturers are not willing to put money 'in the pot' for production. Obviusly the remaining car makers are not happy at subsidising them - expect to see Porsche and both Renualt series, I expect BMW will give in but as Seat only have 4 new cars in the series maybe they will not be such a loss anyway.

I have now found out - for sure - one of the sticking points for the ITV coverage. I had a meal with my contact on Sunday night and apparently at present before 6pm on Sunday they are not allowed to broadcast anything other than kids shows on ITV4. If the Regulator allows that to change then the first 5 events will be shown on ITV4, races 1 & 2 in highlights and race 3 will be live. The shows will start at 4pm so race 3 will be pushed back through the event schedule to accomodate this timeslot.

The second half of the season may be shown on ITV1 - same deal, highlights of races 1&2, then race 3 live.

Great news eh!

Also the full day will be shown live on Setanta Sport and I hear there will be two ITV F1 presenters on duty for the Setanta broadcast- neither of them are James Allen.

One of these will also be the new face of Motorsport UK and the other is contracted by Setanta as a presenter/expert. I bet you can guess - I did!

As ever I'm only passing on what I have been told but there's no reason for the person who told me to be making any of this up....unless you know different.

JAS

Thank you very much for the update JAS, much appreciated. Might jsut have to sign up to Setanta sports then: BTCC + supports and NASCAR aswell as some Scottish football just abou makes it worth £15/month