WSBK on Channel 4 for 2005

[ATF]

Channel 4 has stepped into the world of Superbikes by securing the highlight rights to the 2005 World Superbike Championship.

The deal means that terrestrial viewers will get to see 90 minutes of programming from every round of the World Championship, with a regular late night broadcast
on each Sunday that an event takes place.

An extended 1 hour highlights show will be broadcast within C4' s Sunday night sport zone and there will also be an extra show broadcast the Sunday after, within the early morning zone at around 8am.

The highlights coverage will be produced by BHP SPORT, a production company with many years motorsport experience. Each round will be presented from a London based studio, and, in the case of the British races, from the event itself. A presenter and guest pundit will introduce each round and Jonathan Green will provide the commentary.

David Kerr, Head of Sport says "World Superbikes is a terrific spectacle and it will be great to watch a British World Champion defending his title. This is a genuinely exciting addition to our weekend output and we hope fans will enjoy our coverage."

Steve Saint, Exec Producer at BHP says that "BHP Sport are thrilled to be producing the highlights coverage for Channel 4. The World Superbike Championship not only enters a new era for Britsh viewers, 2005 brings British Rider James Toseland, the defending World Champion, a personality the country can get behind."

Paolo Flammini, Chief Executive of FGSPORT, the company which owns the Rights and provides the World Feed said: " we are delighted to start a cooperation with Channel 4. Our agreement will keep a terrestrial window open to the British World Superbike fans and we really hope that this can be the first step of a wider involvement of Channel 4 in the future editions of our Series.”

The first round of World Superbikes takes place in Qatar, Doha on Saturday February 26th and Channel 4 will screen 1 hour highlights on Sunday, February 27th after midnight.

There will also be a chance to watch this again a week later and to see an introduction to the sport and its stars in a specially extended show that will begin at 7.30am the following Sunday.


Not as good as the live stuff the BBC did but probably more regular and less mess about. But will it still be on Motors?!

[DanJR1]

lets hope they do a better job than with WRC

[alesi95]

they'll kill it for sure.

[chunder]

Oh no, I had no idea WSBK was being dropped from the BBC, why is taht I wonder, they have done such a good job.
I bet it is coz the viewing figures were down last eyar as the chamnionship has been weak for a couple of years despite a double for British riders winning the series, if so it is typical shortsightedness as this years championship looks very bright.
As for Channel 4, you might as well forget it guys, they look like they are gonna show it past mindight and at ungodly hours in the morning, total waste of time, stick to eurosport, better coverage, good news show on men and motors after every round and the best commentators, what the hell does Charlie Cox know about bike racing by the way!
Best out of it!

[SALEEN S7R]

Nothing wrong with Channel 4's commentry IMO, they always have excellent coverage of British GT and British F3, give them a shot and im sure they will do equally as good a job with WSBK. And as has been pointed out the BBC's coverage was more than a little irratic, at least Channel 4 arent in the habit of changing their scheduling, as for the programmes being on late at night, dont u have a VCR?

[N I Tram]

I've got a VCR, but why should I have to wait until midnight to see a race when I used to be able to watch it live? I don't know whether the BBC did bid for the races or not, but surely they should've put more in, as they're missing out on a potentially great championship. No racing championship that Channel 4 have covered has increased in popularity, and notice that the Saturday races won't be on until SUNDAY evening..... why do the exciting forms of motorsport always get third-rate coverage while F1 is shoved down our throats?

[SALEEN S7R]

Did the BBC cover every round of the WSBK championship LIVE in 2004 anyway? I dont think so. And did they even give complete coverage of both races? Often I remember having to wait until the evening to see their meagre coverage, at least with Channel 4 u will get a in depth look at each round with the studio and presenter and guests, just like Eurosport. One thing I will say about Channel 4 is they dont change their scheduling, unlike the BBC and they have one of the best commentators in the business in the shape of Johnathan Green.

[BootsOntheSide]

They did something like 11 or 12 out of 14 though, which is more than 0 out of 14. Their highligh shows were always a full hour - less studio analysis means more of the actual racing, so it's not automatically a bad thing.

[Kicking-back]

If you're a motorsports fan - get a dish.

There's no real alternative.

[Ian Sowman]

Yes there is an alternative - it is called leaving the house and getting along to an event. Hundreds to choose from...

[SALEEN S7R]

Yes but Ian that means u miss 1 race or another, if like me u follow maybe 10 series avidly even the VCR cant do it all, especially when theres often 4 or 5 differnt series racing on the same weekend, hence I dont attend many meetings during the season.

[BootsOntheSide]

Going to an event isn't really an option for me very often, for medical reasons (especially when that event is in Qatar or Australia). And my mum (who I'm stuck living with) is one of those people with an aesthetic hatred of satellite dishes. Still, who cares about people like me when there's money to be made? This si the kind of short-sighted thinking which kills sports.

[Kicking-back]

Usually the revenue streams which come from having events on satellite TV actually enhance sports.

You could go for the cable option if Mrs Boots won't allow a satellite dish.

[BootsOntheSide]

Maybe on a radio presenter's salary that would be an option..... incapacity benefits only stretch so far (which is surely why so many people take less than £80 a week and lots of free time over £200+ a week and 40 hours work....)

[Kicking-back]

Sorry to hear of your situation, Boots.

[SALEEN S7R]

Boots I know how u feel, im on Incapacity benefit and Disabilty living allowance myself. Although Im doing "permitted work" so maybe im a little better off, but still, £147 a week dosent strech very far. Even when u live at home.

[BootsOntheSide]

I didn't mean to complain, but I just found a few of the posts on here a little condescending. Still, time I started turning crises into opportunities.

[chunder]

I have to say I just think it is a very short sighted move by the BBC, coz they are surely not gonna get much of a view rating for MotoGP as Eurosport get the vast majority of UK viewers I would say, and why? Coz you know ehen its on, its on live every time, only time that is a problem is when its from Oz or Japan or summat.
I re-itereate a thread from earlier in that yes the C4 coverage might be good but it is gonna be on the graveyard hours when no-one is goona watch, not doing sponsors or anyone any favours, just what they ended up doing with rally footage.
Just think the Beeb are leaking over british success again, we have a world champion for chris sakes, and we are certainly not gonna get one in GP, so come on get behind them Beeb, doesnt bother me eitehr way coz commentators and timong are better on Eurosport (as usual), but just think it is shoddy!

[chunder]

see what i mean, five past bloody one in the morning on monday morning, what a complete and utter waste of time and effort, they will get a few thou=sand live viwers and anotehr few thousand video recordings, total waste of time, i am embarassed to be english ad feel totally gutted for viewers in this country who dont want to line murdochs pocket, it is an insult to british fans and an insult to James Toseland and all he has achieved!

[BootsOntheSide]

Those are exactly my sentiments Chunder. The least they could've done was to show the highlights actually on the day. I had no chance of avoiding the results for nearly 36 hours, and I'm sure casual fans didn't either - no doubt the Channel 4 execs are currently scratching tehir heads over why the viewing figures are so low. Origianlly they were talking about showing the highlights at Midnight on Sunday every time, but this week they had 2 old episodes of South Park at that time. Nothing against South Park (although like the majority I prefer The Simpsons) but couldn't they have shown those any time?

[luke]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

Those are exactly my sentiments Chunder. The least they could've done was to show the highlights actually on the day. I had no chance of avoiding the results for nearly 36 hours, and I'm sure casual fans didn't either - no doubt the Channel 4 execs are currently scratching tehir heads over why the viewing figures are so low. Origianlly they were talking about showing the highlights at Midnight on Sunday every time, but this week they had 2 old episodes of South Park at that time. Nothing against South Park (although like the majority I prefer The Simpsons) but couldn't they have shown those any time?

Some very good points here. Boots - I would have to agree, although South park is a good show, as far as I know, it hasn't been on Channel 4 for ages, so I can't see the point of randomly showing it, when some world class bike racing is on.
I'm a big bike fan, but at the moment I'm finding it hard to catch action of the races.

Will the British races be at least live or at a decent time?

[BootsOntheSide]

It's sad to look back on the early posts in this thread and feel that I might've been right. The coverage was a shambles really, quite poorly edited, with some utterly anodyne comment from James Haydon, no explanation as to why Laconi was still 3rd when the race resumed (fortuantely I understand the aggregate race system, but new viewers won't), and the choices of 'favourites' at the start was poorly-chosen.

[chunder]

Is a real token gesture isnt it, you have to think they hardly paid a penny for it and maybe someone ought to send a mail to Flammini and tell them that the current world champion's home country have relegated his reign as world champion to nightime television whic gets less viewers than any other time on tv.
I really do feel strongly about this and would be happy to send mails and stuiff to those concerned if enough people feel as strongly as i do.
It is a total shambles
Imagine if say... the GB bobsleigh team started winning, would that get a mention?
If we suddenyl started creating skaters and boarders, would that get on tv, Answer is no because unless there is some corporate mug fotting the bill modern television is all about reailty tv and sitcoms and 100 best cat food adverts shows that last four hours!
Let us speak and ******* these idiots who put our riders to shame in the sports most popular homeland, For Gods sake we pull 80 thousand people every year into a meeting, what the hell are they gonna do then!!

[ATF]

I agree the programme was a bit cheaply made and they wasted too mcuh time talking when they should have been getting on with racing. And i agree with boots - the selection at the beginning was really random - didn't even mention Haga with the top guys!!!

Also at the end of the show it said BSB was to be shown on C4. I suppose if they do the same as with WSBK, at least it will be shown on the same day, rather than the week-delayed highlights BBC did last year. And maybe even 1 hour instead of 25-30 mins! But if they are going to show BSB at that time in the morning, it's just stupid too!

I hadn't heard anything about it until they announced it on that programme! Does anyone know any more?

[BootsOntheSide]

1 hour of highlights at midnight-ish on raceday would be good for BSB, considerablt progress from last year's deal, but it's not progress or positive for WSBK. As for WSBK, at least most of the other highlights programmes will be on raceday.