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Archive: Wimbledon

How committed to F1 is the BBC?

12 March 2011 13:57

Categories: *, Formula 1, Media, Sport, Television

There was some alarming news for F1 fans yesterday. According to The Guardian, the BBC is considering ditching F1 coverage as a result of budget cuts.

Easy target

I used to think the chances of the BBC dropping its F1 coverage at the end of the current contract were fairly high. For critics of the BBC, F1 is an easy target.

For one thing, the image of F1 as a glamorous, expensive sport for rich men doesn’t help. Nor, indeed, does the perception that it is environmentally unfriendly.

There is also a myth that Formula 1 can be adequately covered by commercial broadcasters. Anyone who actually tried to sit down and watch a race on ITV will know that this is simply not true. But the fact that it has only been back on the BBC for two years so far means that it is not seen as a BBC jewel.

Hugely popular

But since it regained the rights in 2009, the BBC have done such an exemplary job of covering the sport that it has become a matter of even greater importance to many F1 fans. It’s not just about the lack of advert interruptions, which was a huge barrier to ITV gaining acceptance from fans. It is the sheer breadth and depth of the BBC’s coverage.

The quality of the programme itself is top-notch, despite apparently having a much lower budget than ITV. All practice sessions are broadcast on the red button or online. And post-race analysis often goes on for as long as the race itself. There is plenty of archive footage on offer too.

As a result, ratings for Formula 1 are generally much higher than they were by the time ITV was finished with it. A recent BBC Trust report revaled that Formula 1 coverage was exceeding all of its targets and enabled it to reach a young male audience that the BBC otherwise finds difficult to reach.

The other sporting event that was regarded as a ‘hit’ by all measures was Wimbledon. This is the other sport apparently being considered for the chop.

So are the BBC planning to do a 6 Music, and demonstrate that BBC coverage of these events needs to be saved as a result of strong viewer opinion? Or is F1 genuinely being lined up for the axe?

Budget cuts

It’s pretty clear that the BBC’s F1 coverage has faced a budget cut for the year. The BBC took the odd decision of removing the well-respected commentator Jonathan Legard, and failing to properly replace him. Instead, the rest of the existing team has been reshuffled and each member of the on-screen team will be spread more thinly.

David Coulthard and Martin Brundle

For instance, it is expected that Martin Brundle will continue to do his pre-race gridwalk, do a full race commentary, and participate in the post-race analysis. David Coulthard will continue in his punditry role both before and after the race, in addition to being the co-commentator during the race. This would normally amount to four or more hours of continuous live broadcasting (more if the race is delayed for some reason), without much in the way of a break.

As former grand prix drivers, there is no doubt that Martin Brundle and David Coulthard have stamina. But I think even the most seasoned broadcasting pros would find this sort of workload to be a tough act.

So why not bring someone new on board? Is it just a case of a salami slice budget cut, or is the BBC preparing to wind down its coverage of F1 altogether?

10 comments

A bad day for media hype

10 July 2007 13:19

Categories: Current affairs, Entertainment, Formula 1, Newspapers, Radio, Sport, Television

I think Sunday was quite a bad day for media hype. A good thing, I’m sure you’ll agree.

First of all there was Jamie Murray’s victory at Wimbledon, which I find absolutely hilarious. It certainly puts the past two years of hype surrounding Andrew Murray to shame a bit. Of all the people who could usurp saintly young tennis genius media darling Andrew Murray, it would be his brother who has not received even a fraction of the attention. Well done MSM!

Then of course, there was the British Grand Prix, where Lewis Hamilton put in a frankly lacklustre performance. It was by far his worst of the year, which is also absolutely hilarious because the media was getting into a frenzy over the prospect of a Brit winning the British Grand Prix. Ha ha!

My favourite part of the British Grand Prix coverage was actually just before the race started. The usually bearable Martin Brundle had fallen into the Lewis lovey-dovey-vortex. “There is a massive crowd here at Silverstone,” he said, “and they are all hoping for a…” Just in time, a man with a Spanish flag stood up to dominate the camera shot. Brundle battled on. “Errr. Err. Man with a Spanish flag there. Brave man.” Hahahah!

Of course, Hamilton’s poor showing at the British Grand Prix could not possibly have had anything to do with Hamilton himself. The media were already making his excuses for him — even before the race was finished. After the race, ITV pundit Mark Blundell was adamant that Hamilton must have had a problem with his car.

Well, I have not heard anything about what this problem with his car is — probably because it didn’t exist. That was just the media trying to cover its sorry arse.

There probably was an issue with the set up of the car. But guess whose job it is to set up the car? That’s right, Lewis Hamilton’s. Fernando Alonso didn’t have any trouble setting up his car, did he?

We have also seen that Lewis Hamilton does crack under pressure. To be honest, the fact that he could stick to the racing line when he was put under pressure by, say, Alonso, was the most impressive thing about Hamilton. Alonso could have stripped naked and Hamilton wouldn’t have batted an eyelid.

Not so at the British Grand Prix, where Hamilton got so wound up that he ended up trying to leave the pits far too early. He managed to stop before causing an Albers-esque situation, but he was close to doing that. (Incidentally, Albers has lost his job — but it’s nothing to do with the pitlane incident, oh no!)

The media’s story is that Hamilton had lightning-quick reactions to stop his car before anything worse happened. But the point is that he shouldn’t have had his car moving in the first place!

The rest of Hamilton’s race wasn’t much better, and once again he had a fair bit of good luck on his side. If Felipe Massa hadn’t stalled his engine and had to start from the pitlane, there is no way Hamilton would have finished on the podium. Imagine that. The first time he would have failed to get on the podium. Golden boy Lewis had his worst race at the British Grand Prix!

Hamilton still has an intimidating lead in the Drivers’ Championship. But all of his main rivals — Fernando Alonso, Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa — have had more than their fair share of bad luck. The second half of the season will be much more difficult for Hamilton. It will be very interesting to see how he copes with the pressure from now on.

6 comments

Sæglópur delayed (+advert music, ITV’s F1 title sequence)

8 July 2006 23:59

Categories: Current affairs, Entertainment, Formula 1, Music, Sport, Television

The new Sigur Rós EP, ‘Sæglópur’, has been delayed yet again. Which is a bit annoying.

It was originally meant to be coming out some time in spring, but was delayed because of the belated success of ‘Hoppípolla’, with the single having to be re-issued after it was used on trailers for ‘Planet Earth’ until everybody was well and truly sick of it and we were all practically held at gunpoint and made to buy the single until they promised to stop using it.

Now it has been delayed for a second time because of “a delay with the artwork”. This isn’t the first time this has happened to Sigur Rós. The thing is, because of this delay they have completely missed out on the opportunity to capitalise on the fact that the BBC have been using the A-side in every. single. trailer to do with Wimbledon. Ho-hum.

(At least there is still ‘The Eraser’ to look forward to on Monday…)

(Update: Seems as though the delay is affecting the USA only…)

Check out Leyton’s post on advert music.

I always feel quite chuffed when I recognise a piece of music in an advert, especially if it’s from somebody more obscure. Saab are, I think, using one of Aphex Twin’s tracks (”Shiney Metal Rods”, from Selected Ambient Works Vol 2)

He also talks about ITV’s Formula 1 theme tune. This current Moby one is rubbish — it sounds nothing like F1. Infact, ITV’s entire F1 title sequence this year is absolutely ridiculous. Snakes? Scary oriental women? David Coulthard in a tuxedo playing roulette? An owl?? What is it all about? And as for the stings at the break — an F1 car being dramatically launched from a giant helmet? What kind of drugs were they on?!

Previous efforts for ITV’s F1 theme tune from Jamiroquai and Apollo 440 just didn’t hit the mark. Personally, I was hoping that they would keep using that cool remix of ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’ forever. That had the potential, in my view, to become as famous as the BBC’s use of Fleetwood Mac.

2 comments

Wimblogedon

29 June 2006 15:53

Categories: Blogging, Current affairs, Scotland, Sport, Technology

Apparently the craze sweeping the tennis players at Wimbledon this year is blogging.

…for many of the players, the [rainy] weather meant the chance for many to turn to their favourite pastime — blogging.

Is that a recipe for disaster? Usually when public figures and celebrities try their hand at blogging it is absolutely shit.

Andy Murray’s blog is attracting a fair bit of controversy, which is a good start for a blogger. I cannot stand Murray myself. What a miserable bastard he is. Have you ever seen him smile? I haven’t. Infact, most of the time he is just grumping about a journalist or something. He seems like the sort of person who would frown when he hears he’s won the lottery. Cheer up man! You’ve got a career playing tennis, not bloody toilet cleaning!

Nevertheless, I do like this man’s blog.

I realise my hair’s a bit of a state but it doesn’t really phase me too much. Why get a hair cut when you can just put a cap on? Its cheaper to buy a cap than pay for half a dozen haircuts a year!

Quite right! Even in this post about haircuts and autographs he is still getting a barrage of comments from chippy Englishmen who can’t understand why Murray won’t support a foreign football team (beats me!). For instance, stats is a charming fellow:

typical scotman wont get his hand out of his pocket, get a haircut you tight git!!!

Now who is the racist between Murray and stats? All I can say is, at least Murray is man enough to have unmoderated comments on his blog.

Rafael Nadal is “blogging” for the ATP’s website, but I am taking one look at it and saying, “that is not a blog”. I know that’s getting into the boring old debate about what is and isn’t a blog, but face it: this is a static web page with no comments and not even permalinks.

All I can see is a load of boring photographs and some totally banal writing, completely playing into the stereotype of bloggers writing about their breakfast (for the record, I had two Weetabix today, but I am still bloody shattered). Just as well he was only writing it for the French Open.

All of the many ATP blogs follow along the same lines. I have never heard of Bob and Mike Bryan but apparently they are revolutionary doubles players. Their “blogging” is anything but revolutionary.

Dmitry Tursunov’s “blog” is much more like it. I like his sense of humour. And he is a bit of a typical blogger in that he uses far too many exclamation marks. Good on him I say.

So ATP has asked me to tone down on exclamation points! Oh really?!?! You don’t like them?! Maybe that’s how I feel! Maybe I feel like putting exclamation points!!! Maybe I just like them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It smells like Bryanne [Stewart]’s hand has been in it. She’s been turning ATP against my exclamation points!!! The only way to battle it is to put more exclamation points!!!!

But now I am just wondering what Bryanne Stewart’s hand smells like it’s been in… She has her own blog, but hers is a bit different because she is videoblogging, vlogging, vodcasting, whatever the hell you want to call it.

The problem is that it’s quite wooden. It is like watching James Rubin again. “Sorry I missed yesterday,” she says monotonously, “but I had other priorities. Um. Australia was playing in the soccer yesterday.” It ends rather abruptly. There is no goodbye. She just looks at somebody to the right of the camera with an expression that says, “Can I be finished yet?”

So the Wimblogedon revolution hasn’t quite been the complete disaster it threatened to be. Just like all blogs, it is a mixed bag and there are good and bad ones. If this was a tournament it would be a close final between Tursonov and Murray. Unfortunately Tursonov hasn’t written a single word since May, so victory goes to Andy Murray!

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