BTCC goes LIVE

[Croft fan]

Just seen the news on the Toca homepage that some of the races will be screened LIVe on ITV. What good news this is. It does mean however that if u are there U have to set the video for it, as it seems that no matter where I stand most of the actions is on the other side of the track lol.
Lets hope this brings afew new veiwers and then poeole to the race track.
Well done toca and ITV.

[Les]

Might just add a hand held TV on the Xmas pressy list. Then I can watch all those bits I miss from the other side of the circuit.

Mind you - I cannot believe they will show all three races live

[Paul Rayner]

Ahhh, that explains why the meetings are on Sundays instead of Bank holiday Mondays for next year!

Les - it'll probably be something similar to what BBC used to do sometimes - highlights from the first (two) race(s) before showing the last one live.

[Croft fan]

What a good idea Les. Might get one myself
Thats something I never thought of, still on last years 2 race format, wonder how it will work with three races??

[Amanda]

This is great news for the series and should encourage lots more people along to the circuits. Well done TOCA!

[Alan]

The press release actually answers, sort of, the question about rounds being shown live - it says:

"with planned live coverage of up to 50% of next seasonÃ*s rounds on the broadcasterÃ*s prime network terrestrial channel, ITV1. Those rounds not being screened live, will be shown the following Sunday afternoon in a one hour BTCC highlights programme. "

So we will see one/two rounds live - the rest the following weekend.

More live coverage will hopefully encourage more sponsors to come along too.

Looks good to me.:)

[tvgod]

Originally posted by Alan


So we will see one/two rounds live - the rest the following weekend.




You obviously missed the bit about 50% live - that indicates to me that five races will be shown live.

[ATF]

Originally posted by Alan
"with planned live coverage of up to 50% of next seasonÃ*s rounds on the broadcasterÃ*s prime network terrestrial channel, ITV1. Those rounds not being screened live, will be shown the following Sunday afternoon in a one hour BTCC highlights programme. "

So we will see one/two rounds live - the rest the following weekend.

I think what that means is that they will show 5 full rounds of the championship in their entirity live.

Not show a race or two from each round and then replay the remainder the following weekend.

[Peter]

This is fantastic news. Live television really is the only effective way to capture all the excitement.

We should be in for the best ever season as far as television is concerned, as the BBC only ever showed a maximum of three races live per season.

Now the question is which 5 rounds are live?

[codename_47]

Well, I think the reverse grid race will be a good one to show live....no doubt plenty of action there.

So the Motors TV live thing this year was just an experiment in seeing if they could do it live (of course they could! :) )

If you've watched the show on Motors TV this year you'll know the "show" is excellent, nothing is missed and it is all excellently managed for such frantic racing (Take THAT Eurosport! :p ) so it should transfer pretty well to the mainstream next year! ;)

What of the live support races though....still on Motors? :confused:

[Peter]

Originally posted by codename_47
Well, I think the reverse grid race will be a good one to show live....no doubt plenty of action there.

So the Motors TV live thing this year was just an experiment in seeing if they could do it live (of course they could! :) )

If you've watched the show on Motors TV this year you'll know the "show" is excellent, nothing is missed and it is all excellently managed for such frantic racing (Take THAT Eurosport! :p ) so it should transfer pretty well to the mainstream next year! ;)

What of the live support races though....still on Motors? :confused:

I believe Motors will continue to show all the races live and all the support races. However, ITV will also carry all the BTCC races from five meetings live..

[codename_47]

Originally posted by Peter
I believe Motors will continue to show all the races live and all the support races. However, ITV will also carry all the BTCC races from five meetings live..

Hope so....can't miss those crazy Clio's! :D

Good news all round then! :)

[Alan]

Well - since when has 5 been 50% of 30?

There will be 30 rounds next year (3 at each meeting remember).

There were 20 rounds this year!

IE a round is not a weekend - it is an individual race. There will be three races each weekend which they could show live.

Doesn't really add up yet does it? I am sure it will all become clear by the time we are at Thruxton!!!:D

[Les]

sounds as if 1 race at a meeting is shown live and the other two shown a week later or (more than likely) 2 races from selected weekends shown live.


come on Westie - what is it?

[Sarah]

Excellent news. I'm glad the highlights show will be on a Sunday too.

[tvgod]

Originally posted by Les
sounds as if 1 race at a meeting is shown live and the other two shown a week later or (more than likely) 2 races from selected weekends shown live.




No.

On five weekends, where there is also F1, two races will be shown same-day delayed on the Sunday, after the live F1 race, followed by the final race live.

For the other five weekends (where there isn't a European F1 race, all three races will be shown as highlights the following Sunday.

So, 50% of the race weekends will have live coverage, and 50% will not.

[Alan Gow]

Allow me to clarify it for you all;

It is planned, at this stage, that 5 of the 10 BTCC meetings will feature live coverage.

In normal terms it will mean that, because race 1 happens before we are able to begin our broadcast live from the track (due to their late-morning/lunchtime scheduling), this will be shown as edited highlights, of about 15 minutes duration, in the lead-up before the live coverage of race 2 kicks-in at it's scheduled time. Race 3 will then also be shown live at it's scheduled time.

In total, our live ITV coverage will therefore consist of between about 1.5 and 2 hours on each of those race days.

With the meetings that are not being broadcast live, the races will be shown in the 1 hour highlights package the following Sunday.

So for 5 race meetings that will mean between 7.5 - 10 hours of live coverage, with another 5 hours of one-hour highlights from the 5 meetings not being shown live. A total of between 12.5 to 15 hours in 2004 (as opposed to 10 hours in 2003).

[thommo_fan]

this is really fantastic news for the BTCC.
this should boost the popularity of the series and also increase public awareness too.
i only hope the live TV coverage on ITV is advertised properly.

[bramble]

good news, but lets hope they can produce a nice glossy programme.

I really enjoyed the Motors TV coverage this year, they always got the best action as it was happening, and the commentary was top notch.

the only thing that was missing for me was a nice studio, where they could analyse the race afterwards.

[Le Mans]

The MotorsTV programs this year were brilliant, I hope they keep the same team.
I Believe the production was done by Granada and there have been a lot of changes in the company since the season ended, hope this will not affect the BTCC coverage,.

[Paul Rayner]

So which rounds is it that'll be screened live?

I agree that I think it would be good to have studio analysis - just to bring it in line with other sports like football, and let uninformed people know what's going on. Also fills in the gap between the two live races nicely (especially if they need to clear the track).

[tvgod]

As the teams have been promised a minimum gap of 2 hours 15 minutes between races, that's a lot of studio analysis!

...I suspect they'll put something else in the middle.

[The Stig]

Thanks Mr Gow for your clarification. Was begining to be quite puzzled until your intervention, at what point will we know the live events ? What fantastic news. On a selfish note would be good to have live coverage of those meeting I cannot make.

It's so good to have that information now, what a tonic for those boring motorsport free winter weekends.

[Novastar]

Is it true that Motors Tv will keep showing the BTCC?
Here in Belgium we can't resive ITV, it would be very sad if we can't see the best touringcar races in the world anymore!

Bye!

[Le Mans]

Originally posted by Novastar
Is it true that Motors Tv will keep showing the BTCC?
Here in Belgium we can't resive ITV, it would be very sad if we can't see the best touringcar races in the world anymore!

Bye!

This from the man himself:

Author: FrÈdÈric VIGER
Date: 11-19-03 23:40

Cannot tell much more before a few days, but we will be showing the supports in 2004 and all BTCC races Live.... More news in the next few weeks...

FrÈdÈric Viger

[Novastar]

Fantastic news!!!
Thx!

[Le Mans]

You're welcome.
Tell me, do you have english commentary from Ben Edwards and Tim Harvey on the continent or do you have your own commentators?

[Paul Rayner]

Originally posted by tvgod
As the teams have been promised a minimum gap of 2 hours 15 minutes between races, that's a lot of studio analysis!

...I suspect they'll put something else in the middle.
Didn't realise that about the 2 hour gap, it's just the way I read what Alan Gow said, both the 2nd and 3rd races of the afternoon will be live. Are they going to have Touring Cars/supports on live for 3 hours? I'd be surprised. Wouldn't complain! I'd just be surprised.

[Novastar]

Thank you!

Yes, Ben and Tim are the commentators.
It happened that Motors Tv had two other commentators but normally it's with Ben and Tim.

I'm watching the Btcc many years, even visit Brands Hatch one time, (planning to go again next year!), and I'm crazy about it!
But if I could make one wish it would be that they bring back Charlie Cox!!!

Btcc is fantastic but it's even more fantastic with a commentator like Charlie!

Maybe in the future...?

I hope you can read everything, i'm doing my best. ;)

Greetz from Belgium!

[tvgod]

Originally posted by Paul Rayner
Didn't realise that about the 2 hour gap, it's just the way I read what Alan Gow said, both the 2nd and 3rd races of the afternoon will be live. Are they going to have Touring Cars/supports on live for 3 hours? I'd be surprised. Wouldn't complain! I'd just be surprised.

As I said, I suspect they'll put something else in between.

[Freddie]

Thanks Novastar, for your comments on our native series. I think that most of us are rather proud of it.
I agree that Charlie Cox is good and brings out the best of the racing.
By the way your English is a lot easier to understand than many of the natives.:p :D ;)

[Renualtman]

Absolutly fantastic news as it means that we will be getting F1 and BTCC on sunday afternoons on ITV cant get much better that that pat on the back toca and itv

[Novastar]

Thanks Freddie for the compliment!

I hope that the most of you are proud of the BTCC, if we would have a competition like this we would be more than proud!
You can't compare it with any other championship.
I like the DTM very much but if I had too choose it sure would be BTCC.
The cars are amazing in de DTM but they haven't got the "real" (if you know what I mean) racing action like BTCC, and two pitstops in one race is too much if you ask me.
I don't know what you all think of the decision to have three races without pitstops but i'm looking forward too it!
Hard too imagine but maybe it can still be better?!
:)

Bye! ;)

[The Stig]

Novastar, hello
Your comments about the BTCC are very kind. Hopefully 2004 will be even better than previous years, especially with the new races format. If you're at the circuits next year come and say hello.

[Novastar]

Thanks for the invitation Stig!

When I visit Brands Hatch again I will give a sign.

;)