I'm hearing from a friend at the Channel that Setanta are interested in airing the BTCC Sunday support package live although this is dependent on all of the series contributing to ITV's production costs.

Seems like there are two series that are happy to shell out and two other who want to ride on their coat tails - as they have apparently tried to do in previous years.... Probably best not name names but as it stands there is a tin-top and a sportscar series not prepared to put hands in corporate pockets.. you work it out!

As for BTCC - expect to see recorded highlights of all three races on ITV4 on race Sundays - seems that ITV4 is being positioned as a bit of a refuge for ITV Sport commitments that doesn't draw big enough audiences for the main network. WRC, British Superbikes and now BTCC all featuring there this season.

It's possible there could be live BTCC as the season draws to a close - thrid race of the day as season 2006 - but only if there is room in the ITV schedule and the championship is close...

Fingers crossed

JAS

Problem with Setanta is it's an extra £15 a month. To be forced to pay that makes me even madder at Motors TV for dumping it

wrc was on itv 4 this week, i do hope that itv can think of the fans and put it on either 1 or 2

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So Jaas what youre saying is taht there may not be any live coverage of the BTCC on ITV?

Motors relly did drop the ball if thats true

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Agreed!

Sabuka, agreed, but it makes the £14 for NASCAR even more worthwhile as theres actually some other use for the subscription!

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Steve Pearce - COME ON JIMMIE #48 D

Correct; Same-day highlights on ITV 4 for at least the first half of the season.. if there is room in the schedule and if the viewing figurs hold up - and if the championship is close...then perhaps some ITV1 outings (with one live race per event as this year), later in the year.

My worry is that by heading to ITV4 the audience figures will plummet...

For comparision the Monte Carlo Rally coverage this time last year had about a million views on ITV1 - The '07 event show - one hour long on ITV4 of course - had 148,000 tuning in...

This will KILL Wolrd Rally in the UK - Wales Rally GB has struggled to attract spectators and sponsors when the championship was on ITV1 - this is a disaster for all concerned with teh Rally and BTCC could go the same way.

For 15 years Network TV has been the cornerstone of the BTCC value proposition - Manufacturers cannot justify the expense for a National series if there is no exposure in the home market - also there is no sense in building and racing a car in BTCC when the same cars can be campaigned in WTCC and the costs spread across multiple territories...

If BTCC numbers drop to 150,000 of thereabouts every team and sponsor will have to re-assess their commitment. Now don't get me wrong - I do think there are other ways to exploit a BTCC sponsorship/entry - however no-one has had to look for that whilst the races have been covered (live or highlights) on either BBC or ITV terrestrial networks - Vauxhall and Seat cannot justify their race programme on TV exposure alone - Privateers will not have the big TV numbers to justify their sponsor investment... tough times for everyone I think...

JAS

Couldn't agree more. TV coverage is such an important feature for nearly all forms of motorsport these days and the BTCC is no different. I'm sure the BTCC has been without live TV coverage before, but there has always been highlights on terrestial tv and if this isn't going to be the case this year then I fear bleak times ahead for the series as not many sponsors are going to want to be part of a major national series if there is no coverage on terrestial tv as the potential audience is down an awful lot in one stroke.

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Come On You Stones - Maidstone United FC
DTM @ Brands Hatch - 31st August 2008

It will be a disaster if ITV shove the coverage onto any of the digital channels, popularity wise, and if thats the case then Alan Gow needs to do some serious work to get it back on terrestrial tv. I remember BTCC before the Beeb started airing week later highlights of the races back in 88, the in car cameras and spectacular action back in the Sierra Cosworth and BMW M3 days made the BTCC, along with the characters like John Cleland. It wasnt until 1997 that the Beeb ventured with any live coverage, and its only recent years that we have had every round live.
BTCC fans will still check out the race action pretty much no matter what, but all the casual fans the sponsors want on a Sunday afternoon will have pretty much gone.
Look at WTCC, one of the few series Eurosport tries to show on schedule, and with a 2 times (plus 1 ETCC title) British champion to boot, no one apart from the serious race fan has heard of Andy Priaulx, which is criminal really, but thats because its on a satellite/digital channel, not mainstream tv.
If BTCC is to maintain and improve its popularity it needs to be on a decent terrestrial tv slot.

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In the Daily Telegraph, Kevin Garside made the well-received point that even if Mosley had criticised JYS's comedy music hall trousers, at least they remained round his waist, not his ankles...

*sigh*

I've been looking forward to 2007 for a long time now but now that it's here it looks like it's going to be one of the worst seasons in memory....

Champcar exiled to Eurosport 2, F1 in a single tyre "no overtaking please" holding pattern and worst of all my main fix of all day BTCC offerings bumped down first it seems to ITV and now apparently even ITV are getting cold feet....

Oh, and Motors TV excluding anything good from their schedules in favour of focusing on endurance racing.....whoopee....

2007...the year Motorsport tried to hide itself amongst the channels no-one watches....

And yet ironically there's more motorsport channels around than ever before. (Or at least channels with a motorsport skew in their mission statement)
Motors TV, Men and Motors, Bravo 2 (formerly Player) ESPN loitering with intent around Europe....it's just none of them want to do anything regarding the actual showing of Motorsport...

With regard to the Sentana thing, I'm guessing that means it's Renault that's up for it and SEAT and Porche not so Keen, but TBH I hope it finds a better home. OK, if it's a choice between that and nothing, yay for those willing to shell out for Sentana, but alas I'm a cash strapped student who can't even afford to pay for anything more than Telewest and I'm not even sure Sentana is on there, but even if it was...no dice

It's better there than no-where though, I'm just hoping some other channel steps up at the very last minute.
If the BTCC itself is having a hard time clinging to ITV1...well, I guess that's not going to happen then

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Paul...codename_47...whatever!

Yeah i was really looking forward to this year but looks like the coverage will be all over the places.Lets hope what we do see is awesome

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what about highlights packages?

last year motors were doing a 2 hour highlights package on a tuesday (ish). Is there any news of when and where (or even if) there will be anything similar (anywhere)?

It looks like being a great year too.

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motorstv

ummm not sure

alan gow says he is talking to someone about live suport races ( come on motors shock us all :lol

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http://www.goldencrumb.co.uk/index.htm

That would be great, hoping that clio's dont clash with dtm like last season tho

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if someone shows them thats fine by me. maybe just maybe we will get the races.


vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv down there! vvvvvvvvvvvvv

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motorstv

ummm not sure