How lucky were we that Channel 10 decided to grace us with their very own race commentary today
Nice of them to not show the post race press conference for the last two races either.
Disgraceful 3rd world level coverage we have.

Kinda puts ITV coverage in to perspective.

Dismal coverage. Crompton isn't bad, I can't stand Woods.

Crompo is great

I would prefer to listen to him than James Allen.

If they wanna commentate it themselves they need to get Darrel up in the box

I swear Cromly lurks in the forums/is an atlas member a few times he has said stuff on the air and I have remembered seeing the exact same quote on the bb

Shh, just don't tell anyone I'm here okay?

Yeah the decision to not go with the ITV call was a weird one (made stranger by still having Louise to cross to in the pits) but I am just glad we got to see the race in the afternoon and not at 11pm as we had to with the previous broadcaster.

I'm positive he checks the front page and it's likely he visits the forums too, he's actually referred to his news coming from Atlas on TV before.

Yeah the Channel 10 guys do check Atlas. I remember Greg Rust referring to an article here and giving the site credit for the story.

Crompo is certainly better than James Allen but he is not a patch on Martin Brundle for techinical input.

Martin makes the ITV broadcast IMHO

Paul

I could see this one coming and i hate it.

When channel 10 first started coverage, woods and crompton had a bit of banter about rumours and qualifying and then they threw straight to ITV on the warm up lap, for the start of the race. Much like channel 9 did.

Then they started talking during the warm-up and throwing to ITV just before the start.

Then they started commentating for a couple of minutes after commercials during races before throwing to ITV.

All the while I would sit there thinking to myself - shut up and get ITV back on audio....

Recently, they started commentating on the first couple of laps, and now today they did the unthinkable and have decided to commentate themselves. This is all about channel 10 trying to be the home of motorsport - and build their own personalities up. They are warming us up to it by trying it on the last race of the season - if there is any backlash they can drop it for next season without egg on their face.

I fucken hate it. I want to hear Martin Brundle commentate. I dont want to hear two guys who read atlas f1 and formula1.com regurgitating other peoples work. I want to hear from the guys who are in the thick of it. The guys who actually walk up and down the pit lane talking to the drivers and the team.

And frankly, Woods is boring as batshit. I would take 2 James Allens before Woods anyday. Crompton is better than woods but isn't a patch on Brundle.

So Crompton, Woods et al, if you do happen to read this. Do the Australian viewing public a favour and keep your mid race thoughts to yourself. Leave it to the experts.

I went to a wedding today and got back home to watch the Ch10 coverage between the church and reception. Usually i watch the races at the CDT but didnt have enough time to today. What a dissapointment! Did they even mention why there was no ITV commentary??

As for ITV coverage - I just recently watched the Brittish broadcast of the Belgian GP which i was at and it was fantastic. Before the race they had discussions about Alonso vs Kimi, a report on Alonso, a report on the constructors championship and team bosses, report on James Blundell trying out Kimi's diet and training regime, Martin Brundle's grid walk, wrap up of qualifying etc. It was brilliant! We are robbed here in Oz. I feel for you guys who dont have a place like the CDT to go to.

ScudBoy, superbly put. And I shall now spend the off season with my knees knocking in fear that they will foist that on us for the whole of 2006.

This is what I should like to see Network 10 do for 2006 and beyond. I believe these items are both practical and affordable.

1) For the races, give us the ITV feed ONLY. That is, no local intro, talking heads or wordage at all.
2) Start the cross from Martin's grid walk. I know there's more, much more, in the ITV coverage; I'm merely trying to acknowledge the cost of the satellite in suggesting only part of what ITV shows. At the same time, I'm making the assumption that most of the viewers have discovered this internet thang ... and have a fair idea of the goings-on during the previous week/couple of weeks. Note to Mr. Crompton who I understand may lurk hereabouts - I doubt you've ever mentioned a bit of 'news' that I hadn't previously unearthed on the net, normally from Atlas. At least when James and Martin prattle on, it's reasonable to assume that they were walking around the paddock hours/minutes before coming on air.
3) Give us Qualifying IN FULL - again, the ITV feed. Qualifying is an integral part of a Grand Prix and it infuriates me that we in Oz are one of a handful of countries who don't receive it already. As a sop, N10, show it any damn time of the day or night you choose. Many of us have discovered these VCR devices nowadays.
4) Commit to doing, say, 10 station promos during Zone 1 in the three days leading up to each GP.

Oh and a final thing, N10, in case you don't feel inclined to do any of the above ... please, please!!! don't commentate again. Ever!

Note that when they are commentating after an ad break on the delayed telecasts that's because our coverage resumes where the ad break started, and we hear them up until ITV finishes their ad break. This is only advantage of the delayed telecasts - we don't miss any of the race at all. Sometimes if something interesting happens during this time, you hear the ITV folks when they come back talking about the replay while we continue with the live feed.

For today's race, I'd rather miss out on the driver's press conference while they cut to the news than have the race delay by 6 hours. It's not as if we get the whole conference anyway

Personally, I can't wait for Foxtel to pick it up and show it live without any ad breaks (like they do with the A1GP), and even with some luck maybe show qualy live too.

Also, we were watching the formula1.com live timing feed, and a lot of Wood's comments were coming straight off there. So next year we have to boot Allen out and send Compto over to commentate with Martin

Even worse than the commentry was the picture quality, the worst I have seen for a F1 race in a LONG LONG time.

http://www.myacen.com/media/whirlpool/1.JPG
http://www.myacen.com/media/whirlpool/2.JPG

pathetic effort by channel 10.

(Images nicked from http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=25038)

im living away from aus for a while and one thing i dont miss is the fuckin ( i wont even disguise that word in this instance because its fuckin deserved) is the absolutely woeful international motorsport coverage. CH 9 was the worst and after several letters without a reply all i got from the head programer (once I got her on the phone) was "there is too much sport on tv anyway" I wish I got her name because i would make it my lifes aim that she never got another job in tv ever again. I hope she reads this BB! I didnt really get to see what ch 10 would make of it but it sounds crap too. the biggest crap is lack of live coverage and most of the time they used to show some ancient repeats that only someone on drugs with nothing else to do than perve at their own navel would bother watching instesd of putting the race on at a half reasonable hour. No I really dont miss going to work bleary eyed every second monday!

now i spend alot of time in what we would consider third world countries and where most of the population wouldnt even know what F1 is and i see not only the race live but also practice and qualifying.

ITV doesn't show press conferences half the time either.

I have to say that it took me a few laps to realise that Martin and Allen weren't commentating. up until that point i was to busy watching the race and then it hit me. i was frustrated not to here the itv feed and it ruined my whole afternoon. Thanks 10. I don't mind Crompton and woods but not in the races please. keep to the super v8's that's where you guys are best.

LOL you know what until I read this thread I hadnt even noticed

All aussie viewers have my sympathies. After living down under for the last 3 years it drove me mad with all the bloody ad breaks every 5 minutes (do they still have that scottish git flogging shannons car insurance?) then followed by the Mark Webber fan club that is some local news presenter & some bloody touring car driver. If James or Martin ever criticised Webbo then they went into overdrive in the post race roundup, forgetting whoever won the race.

For all those who slag off ITV, you have no idea how bad it could be. At least ITV do some decent pre race interviews, martins grid walk etc, all the aussies get are these 2 buffoons who just blurt on about webber constantly. Although ITV are getting close with their Button worship..

c10 always seem to commentate the races they show of an afternoon. if it werent from them doing bathurst all day last weekend i bet theyd of done japan too.

i bet its some scheme about making themselves look good to the casual viewer who only ever watches races that are on at a decent time....almost giving the impression to people who dont know better that c10 has people going to the gp's to commentate.

i have to say though, i dont mind woods, and i like cromley. i have no real beef with their comms, infact it didnt even click we were staying with them till about lap 4.
but what shits me is that any time you have people commentating from the other side of the world (and fox are guilty of this with superbikes), you never get the full picture.

things happen that unless you have 'men on the ground' you dont know whats going on...why did driver X really retire? whats the story with incident y?

the best example this year was fox's superbike coverage from germany. a race was redlfagged due to rain (drizzle, you couldnt really see it) and murdoch and magoo spend 10 mintues talking about some mystery incedent that must of happened to cause a red flag..... thats the kind of shit that doest happen when you take coverage from the track.

How fucking simple is that???????

i'll bet billy was the first commentator in the world to realize that JPM had hit a drain cover ;)

yeah, remote calls always suck (they were just filling dead air for the first four laps, obviously had no idea how the start had panned out) and i thought the ad breaks were too long, but sadly the ratings just don't justify the expense of a better coverage. and if you think the ch10 boys ream MW, you should hear ITV lining up to suck JB off.

Maybe they're planning on sending Bill and Neil to every race next year to commentate on location, meaning more live coverage.

surely you meant to put a in there: as nasty said, they just let them talk to make the casual channel-surfer think that 10 has a presence

i'm afraid MW has be in contention for the WDC to get sufficient ratings to justify decent coverage and omens aside (AJ finished 11th in his first WDC for williams compared to MW's 10th) that ain't gonna happen anytime soon

i missed Brundle's comments. I have respect for his knowledge and like his style.

But as an F1 fan, I think that the coverage has improved dramatically over the past 3 to 4 years .... especially since they now make a huge effort to show the Pacific races on Sunday afternoons .... C9 didnt ever give a rats.

So it means we now have 4 races on Sunday afternoons. Im happy with that.

So you have no problem with the other races being shown at midnight? later than channel 9 ever did?
Gotta love those reviews of the previous weekends race they always do at the start of telecasts, at near midnight while everyone is waiting to watch the race and try to get to bed before 2am to work the next day.
Morons.

midnight? they're usually on by 11pm, aren't they? and the broadcast goes for so long because we see every lap of the race

that said, i agree that the preamble is mostly pointless - except for when they review quali - and should be shortened or even cut

Many third world countries like India get excellent F1 coverage. I was really shocked that there is no way to get saturday qualifying here, even on cable.

They are usually on between 11-11:30.

I hate Sunday afternoon races. I cant think of anything worse than sitting inside on a Sunday and watching the races. I do it, because i cant miss it, but I prefer to have my sunday's to myself, and evening for F1.

Guys I know we're all probably descendants of those whinging Poms, but can we try and refrain from emulating their ITV thread?

AWN, I, too, have an "Whinge Alert" filter so I appreciate the point you're making. But, as I'm sure you know, a decent sized army of people has, over the years that N10 have had F1, written, phoned and cajoled N10 in the interest of getting some reasoned, honest response to this type of request for better coverage. Some explanation of why a prosperous, advanced, motor sport loving country cannot get a standard of F1 coverage enjoyed by many less fortunate countries ... and the usual response is either no response or some smokescreen which implies no respect for the genuineness or intelligence of the enquirer.

So what harm is there in people sounding off? If there's the merest chance that someone at N10 will mention at an internal meeting that the natives are restless at AtlasF1, surely that makes constructive discussion/whinging/ranting here worthwhile.

BTW, my position is that I understand and have enormous sympathy for any commercial television network's need to give priority to major properties during prime time. I loath Big Brother or whatever it's called but I'd never deny that it hauls in advertising dollars. And there's a lot of competition for the advertising dollar.

So I've never joined the call for live F1 at any race, except, perhaps, the AGP.

But all that said, the undeniable fact remains that Network 10 is doing a shoddy job of covering Formula One. As the saying goes: "If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well."

What a bunch of Girls..... ITV coverage sucks arse just as much, Id rather Foxtel did it. Then atleast we can get the race Live. Qualifying lets face it......even if Foxtel did get the rights for F1 they probably WONT show Practise or Quali.

I dont mind how Chan 10 is doing it atm. Far better than 9. Atleast the last two I saw during NORMAL hours, instead of after LOTR Extra Extended - Uber Directories Collections Edition with 8 hrs new footage, like what Chan 9 did REPEATEDLY.

Problem is, some people think it is their god given right to have all the F1 they crave and more. That simply isnt the way it works, and if someone really does think they deserve and need F1 then go and buy a satellite dish and your worries are over forever.

Exactly lets face it. The Channels are only after Ratings and lets face it F1 in AUS DOES NOT RATE SHIT!, so they wont put it on in Prime time.

Er, right!

The Channel 10 coverage wouldn't be anywhere near as annoying if the telecasts actually started at a time somewhere near what it says in the TV guide. In reality you need to wait a good deal more than that because the bloody station always runs late on a Sunday night... thank Big Brother/Australian Idol/Contrived Live Reality Show #837/etc. for that, I guess :\

I can't think of a time this year where I've tuned in for the start of the telecast, and haven't had to wait through at least 15 minutes of Big Brother or some cop show that's yet to finish. I don't mind having to wait till 11.00 or 11.30 for their latest money-spinner to finish, but I do mind being told it starts at 11.00 and having to wait till 11.20 (sometimes longer)

Their commentating effort wasn't half bad in China, though the 'at the track' news bits that the ITV crew weave into their commentary was noticably missing.


For what it's worth, back in Optus Vision's heyday (late 90s), they showed F1 qualifying on the Sunday mornings.

I'm not expecting them to show it live or anything but GET THE FUCK ON WITH IT. It's Sunday, we have to work, SHUT THE FUCK UP AND START THJE FREAKIN RACE YOU TURDS ... JUST SHUT UP.

It's listed to start at say 11pm, it starts at 11.25, then 15 to 20 minutes of GIBBERING SHIT ... it's nearly Monday before it fucking well starts.

JUST START THE BLOODY THING.

rek is right. The biggest problem is the Sunday night reality TV shit which causes the telecast to be delayed.

Word.

CH10 please note: I also agree with all of Vanwall's comments above. Woods and Cromwell - you are great with local Oz motorsport, but your knowledge of F1 is not up to it. Please at least revert to ITV commentary, and ideally gives us live ITV F1 audio + video broadcasts. If you don't want to do it properly, give it to Foxtel !

totally totally [SIZE=4]agree.

Damn right. Bloody big brother uplate also pushes most of the Monday night Champ car races to 2 in the morning.
Heaven forbid should people sleeping not be shown every other Monday
Alfisti

I was angry when I first realised that we weren't getting the ITV commentary for the final race but in the end the lack of Brundles input was more than balanced out by the fact that we didn't have to listen to James Allen

I could handle the Woods (enthusiastic) and Crompton (knowledgable) commentary if the race directors would get a clue. I don't know about everyone else but I don't need to see every pit stop in the race (particularly when something is actually happening on track).

Kevin

I completely agree with everything vanwall and alfisti have said. except for the showing live thing. It should be live.

what a complete joke our f1 coverage is. i dream of the day foxtel get it.

well i know showing F1 live is a dream but as so many have agreed, cut the sh1t in the beginning and get on with it.

i think they have less sh1t before the start for motogps but they never stick with the scheduled time and have to endure the News and Sports Tonight.

My thoughts exactly!!!

Over at Network 10's RPM Live forum - http://www.rpmlive.tv/pitboard/forums/47123/ShowPost.aspx - the RPM producer is saying this: "Dear all, Like any organisation we constantly review what we do.

"In defence and in response to some posts that are not factual, both Bill & Neil have the experience & credentials to commentate Formula 1. It seems that some prefer the ITV 'English' commentary. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and TEN values your right to it.

"TEN will take both critical and positive feedback from the weekend into consideration for future broadcasts of Formula 1."

Oh dear. Sounds ominously like corporate speak that they favour the sounds of their home grown talking heads from a studio on Sydney's North Shore over the ITV commentators at the track.

Anyone know how to set up a satellite dish to get ITV direct from Oz? :\

I agree that out telecast over the whole year isn't very good, but man, all I see is complaints about the Chinese telecast. Sure, the commentary from Australia wasn't as good as it would have been on site with the ITV crew, but I've yet to hear one comment, just one that praised Channel 10 for actually showing the race live in prime time for once, people are too caught up in complaining about the ITV commentary, maybe they won't bother with Live telecasts anymore.

I've even seen some comments complaining about losing coverage of a number of laps during the ad breaks for the Chinese GP.

If I was Channel 10, I'd hope to be told what I'm doing right along with what I'm doing wrong. At the moment all I'm hearing is what's wrong, and nothing about what's right. All the complaint was about the commentary suggests that people didn't really care about the live coverage. I might just move it back to a delay coverage with ITV instead of possibly showing China live next year with ITV commentary because there's been no comment on that.

Comparing the Chinese GP telecast from last year to this year it has gone backwards. Last year they had also shown the race live, but with ITV commentating the race!

The Suzuka telecast was probably the equivilent to last year also with the race having to be squeezed into the timeslot after bathurst and before aus idol.