I was pretty shocked and angry that that crap network was so cowardly that they couldn’t take 2 seconds away from their obnoxiously bad and grossly repetitive “born from jets” commercials to bring back the team to do some semi-live commentary on the most important cycling news story in years. Or, would they had to have given the announcer team an extra little bit of money? Does anyone else think that their wretched text: “breaking news” message to tune into their website was just the lamest move ever??
I was surprised too, bu hey this is the channel of cagefighting, bull riding, and, um, that’s all they have…If you’ve ever seen the France 2 coverage, it is AMAZING and makes Vs. look like a cable access show.
I was pretty shocked and angry that that crap network was so cowardly that they couldn’t take 2 seconds away from their obnoxiously bad and grossly repetitive “born from jets” commercials to bring back the team to do some semi-live commentary on the most important cycling news story in years. Or, would they had to have given the announcer team an extra little bit of money? Does anyone else think that their wretched text: “breaking news” message to tune into their website was just the lamest move ever??
IMO,
I was pretty shocked to find out people tuned into Le Tour coverage on a rest day. And then expected the network to go live with an unsubstantiated report (the doping hadn’t been confirmed by the lab, the tour, or the uci).
Likely it was logistically virtually impossible to pull the news vans over on the side of the road on a rest day and pull down a feed to record some comments by Phil et al. talking about the “massive” blow this is. I mean, what could they really have said that you didn’t know? Expecting such coverage represents a poor understanding of the money and logistics it takes to put on live coverage of a mobile event.
Are bloody kidding me? This isn’t about a doping allegation, - this about a team with a contender and a pre race favorite, who is doing well in the team competition, being asked to leave the tour… This is HUGE news, and verses is right there. Many claim, and I agree, that this is the best tour in 10 years; with most exciting racing. This is story one of the biggest to come down ever in the more recent tour history, it’s in the middle of the tour, with a giant impact, much bigger even than the post race news of last year with Landis…(because the race is going on)!
I’ve never been on a TV crew, but I did work in a similar field in the past in the Audio/Visual industry. And, especially with the two stages being right near each other, VS could’ve easily ponied up for a few moments to put the NEWS TO THE VIEWERS… These pros don’t need too much time to do a sound and video check. Something… i guess in your mind, asking them to grab a feed from the press conference that everyone else was able to cover was a bit much?
Yes. Unsubstantiated. The word has a specific meaning and I’m certain I used it correctly. I think you agree with me as you refer to is as an “allegation”.
In 2007, nobody looks to the TV for breaking news. It’s on the internet - a medium much more conducive to expansive coverage of a story in flux. That’s one of the reasons Vs. directed you there.
Also, look at the timeline of when the news broke and when Vs. started airing tour coverage. Sure, they could have broken in with a few minutes of Phil and company pontificating, but does that coverage add anything? Not much was known for certain and it wasn’t until later in the day that the team pulled out. Should they keep breaking in like the nightly news? It’s a limited budget and it’s easier to explain everything on the internet.
And again, how many viewers do you think they projected for a rest day?
I was surprised too, bu hey this is the channel of cagefighting, bull riding, and, um, that’s all they have…If you’ve ever seen the France 2 coverage, it is AMAZING and makes Vs. look like a cable access show.
Bob
Better than the damn poker, bowling and cheerleading marathons they have on that “sports” network that starts with E and ends with N.
Their lack of coverage of an important news story during the tour does not equate with whether or not I watch the race.
Two things can be true at the same time, life isn’t always a contradiction.
Even if I think that PART of VS coverage sucks, it doesn’t mean that the race isn’t it great. Or that Paul and Phil are not great announcers,- I think that they are.
The video feeds do not come from VS. The race is still exciting, IMO. And, - even though there’s a lot of VS that sucks, - that are the only game in town.
The benefits to me far outweigh the costs…
The intention of my post was to poll this community to see what their opinions were: (with a very very very faint hope that maybe the community would offer up some kind of mass complaint that would be heard by VS; but i know that that is largely a ridiculous hope).
What’s your position? It is my fond hope that you’re not blindly defending VS; but that’s certainly your right…
I agree with you. I wasn’t really planning to watch the “rest day recap” until this news broke. I was fully expecting them to have to some coverage of this new story before, or at the end of the show.
Yes, the drug charges are still “allegations” but Vino & the entire Astana team has left the race. Some interviews with other racers, organizers or team directors would be expected.
Of course, it’s an allegation. I didn’t disagree with that, - although perhaps I could’ve said a bit better that a “doping allegation” is not the main point of the news story. The big STORY here is the fact that Astana is out. Just like the big story was that the German press pulled their coverage.
You have a good point that people are starting to turn away from TV news. But I think that you’d be surprised at how much time people still spend in front of the TV.
You also have a good point that the ratings may have been down for the recap show, - but how many hardcore fans, or people with just super busy schedules wanted to “catch up.” We watched the stage on Sunday and their were 3 cyclists who ride on my team, who missed 2 stages as they had work, or were out riding.
It might be different if VS didn’t present themselves and set the expectation that they are all things “Tour de France.” Heck, two years ago, - it was “All Lance, All of the Time.” They were even getting into why he was wearing black socks…
Since VS takes the video feeds from French TV crews, - you’d think that they could spend a moment at the end of the French day, - picked up a few snippets from the press conference, - and updated the very interested viewers about this super huge story. Couldn’t they have at least given it a similar weight to the coverage that they gave of German TV pulling out?
I think that it would’ve added a lot of crediblity to their coverage, informed their viewers, and shown that VS really is, - all things tour…
Finally, the argument that they didn’t have enough time to set up and do a little snippet, doesn’t hold water. They have to make some pretty jumps from town to town to set up for coverage when there’s a non-rest day…
My view is that there are litteraly dozens of other forms of media at our immediate disposal. We all knew what had happened going into the recap show last night. Versus had a column online, and they spent significant time this morning reviewing the news. Versus’ budget is certainly nothing like major news organizations. Making their entire crew come back to film an extra day might significantly impact their bottom line. I certainly don’t see it as a “gross incompetent failure”.
Versus is not a sports news channel. They produce “shows” around various obscure sporting events and outdoor activities. They do show regular season NHL hockey games but you’ll never see them breaking into bull riding (or cycling) to report on some trade or suspension. Its not what they do. (BTW - You also won’t see the Discovery Channel breaking into an episode of “Deadliest Catch” and reporting that a crab fisherman just fell off a boat in the Bearing Sea).
The highlight show is preproduced. It was in the can well before the drug story broke. Yesterday, there was one guy on duty, probably somewhere in the US, who hit “play” and that’s it. At the time the story broke, it was pretty late in the day in France. Phil and the boys were on the road or drunk and the 4 or 5 behind the scene guys it would have taken to do a live report were doing the same. Versus is not a 24/7 news operation. If you want sports news, flip over to ESPN. I’m sure ESPN ran a 20 second spot on it at some point yesteday ;-).
Was it bad? Of course; total crap, it always is. Will it somehow hurt Vs.? No - Frankly, putting post-Lance cycling on TV in the U.S. isn’t making anyone rich. The ratings are NHL-ish or worse in the U.S. Outside of a few folks like us, nobody gives a d@mn about the Tour in America.
When your numbers are as low as Vs., - and your American viewers have no other choice (other than to not watch) - then whatever you do has to be OK and you have little incentive to throw good money after bad. I just hope they keep showing the tour after this year. I’m actually doubtful we’ll have live TV coverage in the U.S. after the next year or so.
Your concession that my points are good, even if you don’t agree, along with the lack of support you’re getting should lead you to the answer to your title question: No.
I might be blinded because I’m more new media - I get all my news from the internet and I DVR the tour - so I don’t expect, need, or even want breaking news coverage (which I think is universally awful, even on news stations) in the middle of a rest day highlight reel. I think the hardcore fans and busy people you refer to mostly get their info as I did/do. The “other” sources are just so much better than the LCD presentation on Vs., so that’s where they’re looking. And the casual fan will likely turn off the show as soon as they realize it’s a rest day.
I think you underestimate the logistics and money involved in going live unplanned, but I could be wrong here. I suppose this was part of their thought process, but I don’t know for sure.
In the end, I think the lack of a talking head acting surprised that cyclists dope doesn’t damage their coverage or credibility at all. It’s certainly a big deal, but without the context of the race in progress (so we can see, not speculate about, the effect of the lost team) it’s just mindless blathering - the reason I tune out of cnn, espn, etc.
I have no basis to dispute what you say as I have no facts about the number of viewers that are watching or not…
I guess that it’s kind of sad though that number 1: I live in my own little myopic, San Francisco, “Europe-like,” - world, surrounded by cylcing, cyclists, and athletes…
and, Number 2: that in this land of the promise of cable and satellite TV giving one everything that they could possibly want, - (even obscure programming), - they are grossly underdelivering…