ITV tour de France coverage 2014

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  • mavreelamavreela Posts: 4,689
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    Those who think the technical production was amateurish because of the picture breaking up should read this:

    http://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/07/eyes-in-the-sky-how-the-tour-de-france-is-broadcast-to-the-world/

    It is not unheard of for other tours, which do not receive the same investment in production as the Tour de France, to have stages end up going unbroadcast because they find themselves unable to provide usable pictures.
  • deivu74deivu74 Posts: 3,001
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    Fascinating! I wish I had gone into TV technical production for a career.
  • lundavralundavra Posts: 31,790
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    mavreela wrote: »
    Those who think the technical production was amateurish because of the picture breaking up should read this:

    http://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/07/eyes-in-the-sky-how-the-tour-de-france-is-broadcast-to-the-world/

    It is not unheard of for other tours, which do not receive the same investment in production as the Tour de France, to have stages end up going unbroadcast because they find themselves unable to provide usable pictures.

    The mind boggles at what the dreaded 'carbon footprint' must be with all those vehicles, helicopters and aircraft.
  • tedjrrtedjrr Posts: 2,934
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    lundavra wrote: »
    The mind boggles at what the dreaded 'carbon profile' must be with all those vehicles, helicopters and aircraft.

    I don't think that all those aircraft are used all the time, but there are different modes for how the lying conditions are influenced by weather. They wouldn't be able to operate those heights (FL60 etc) in the London TMA, and would have to stay clear of STN approach.

    As for the commentators on ITV, had to laugh at the idea of the "Holme Moss Beacon" being an "important TV beacon". Its a great pity the the race went through Huddersfield, rather than cutting to the east, say through Kirkburton.
  • jwire1977jwire1977 Posts: 490
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    mavreela wrote: »
    Those who think the technical production was amateurish because of the picture breaking up should read this:

    http://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/07/eyes-in-the-sky-how-the-tour-de-france-is-broadcast-to-the-world/

    It is not unheard of for other tours, which do not receive the same investment in production as the Tour de France, to have stages end up going unbroadcast because they find themselves unable to provide usable pictures.

    The weather can be a great enemy of the sport. The Giro d'Italia has had these kind of problems in recent years, 2013 in particular. If the various aircraft can't go up, no signals can be transmitted from the morotbikes.
  • Mark CMark C Posts: 20,726
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    lundavra wrote: »
    The mind boggles at what the dreaded 'carbon footprint' must be with all those vehicles, helicopters and aircraft.

    Still smaller than David Shukman's I suspect :D

    Anyway, how do you suggest they should cover the race ?
  • Party AnimalParty Animal Posts: 1,372
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    I dont care who shows the TV footage
    I live on the route of stage one and the French TV companys provided all the footage of the actual race - they brought over 10 Helicopters from France equipped with the camera's and must also add these were the same Helicopters that provided last years footage as well

    I watch Eurosport Cycling a lot and there live coverage has been worse than appaling in most of this years big races twice in the Giro they cut the footage off with 2 kilometres to go ??? how infuriating is that when you as a TV viewer has been sat there for 5 hours watching it then they do that !!!!

    so dont make me cringe with all this about how good Eurosport is in comparison they use the same race footage as all the other broadcasters
  • lundavralundavra Posts: 31,790
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    I dont care who shows the TV footage
    I live on the route of stage one and the French TV companys provided all the footage of the actual race - they brought over 10 Helicopters from France equipped with the camera's and must also add these were the same Helicopters that provided last years footage as well

    I watch Eurosport Cycling a lot and there live coverage has been worse than appaling in most of this years big races twice in the Giro they cut the footage off with 2 kilometres to go ??? how infuriating is that when you as a TV viewer has been sat there for 5 hours watching it then they do that !!!!

    so dont make me cringe with all this about how good Eurosport is in comparison they use the same race footage as all the other broadcasters
    Was it the linked article that said research in France has said the a large number of viewers just watch the TV coverage for the scenery. Perhaps they tend to switch off near the end because it concentrates on the bicycles?
  • jwire1977jwire1977 Posts: 490
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    I dont care who shows the TV footage


    I watch Eurosport Cycling a lot and there live coverage has been worse than appaling in most of this years big races twice in the Giro they cut the footage off with 2 kilometres to go ??? how infuriating is that when you as a TV viewer has been sat there for 5 hours watching it then they do that !!!!

    so dont make me cringe with all this about how good Eurosport is in comparison they use the same race footage as all the other broadcasters

    I don't think that's entirely fair - Eurosport's coverage of all sports is very flexible and they allow events to overrun. A viewer watching live will not be affected but if you only tape one specific programme then it could be an issue as the Sky EPG (and I assume Virgin too) don't always update to allow for this, therefore the ending can be missed. Having watched every race this year on Eurosport there have been none that they haven't shown to the end.

    However, that doesn't mean the ending is not shown under the name of a different programme which comes down to the EPG again. As a matter of course, I will always tape the live cycling and the programme after it too allow for the overrunning.

    Exactly the same thing happened during the World Cup on the BBC (I think, maybe have been ITV) last week - I taped one of the games that went to ET yet the programme finished as scheduled and I missed the last 20 minutes of ET - I think it was Germany v USA. This is just a problem with EPGs not being updated.
  • Party AnimalParty Animal Posts: 1,372
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    Just trying to get some balance here.. people are slagging off ITV and singing the praises of Eurosport..
    when clearly Eurosport uses the same footage as all the rest and as of yet I have not seen ITV cut the last 10 minutes of a race just yet
    whereas it happens often on Eurosport and I find it infuriating after sitting all day watching the live broadcast they just jump over to something else with not a single word of apology or anything
  • jimmy22jimmy22 Posts: 3,200
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    I was on the Huddersfield route along Woodhead road and ITV decided to throw to a commercial break as they got to Lockwood so never saw from there to Honley, any idea why that was as the Helicopter seemed to start filming again from the Petrol station!?:(
  • Party AnimalParty Animal Posts: 1,372
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    jimmy22 wrote: »
    I was on the Huddersfield route along Woodhead road and ITV decided to throw to a commercial break as they got to Lockwood so never saw from there to Honley, any idea why that was as the Helicopter seemed to start filming again from the Petrol station!?:(

    each TV company get the feeds from various sources and show which ever they want
    as an example the Village of Pool in Wharfedale never got a sniff of footage on ITV
    yet Eurosport showed both aerial footage and the motorbike footage front and back

    so I guess people who dont have access to both channels will miss out
    my Town Otley got good coverage from both channels
  • mavreelamavreela Posts: 4,689
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    as of yet I have not seen ITV cut the last 10 minutes of a race just yet

    Although it you want to be petulant, you could say they cut off the last 60 minutes on Saturday. And ITV4 is not broadcast to the the minority of people covered by a Freeview Light transmitter.
  • deivu74deivu74 Posts: 3,001
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    each TV company get the feeds from various sources and show which ever they want

    That's incorrect, there is only one single feed that France TV provide to all the other broadcasters. It's up to ITV and Eurosport whether they slot in their own sequences over it or go to adverts, etc.
  • Ginger DaddyGinger Daddy Posts: 8,507
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    jimmy22 wrote: »
    I was on the Huddersfield route along Woodhead road and ITV decided to throw to a commercial break as they got to Lockwood so never saw from there to Honley, any idea why that was as the Helicopter seemed to start filming again from the Petrol station!?:(

    Probably already been said but commercial breaks are dictated to by the commentators who are in effect working for a "world feed", to put it in its simplistic terms. There is only one set of pictures provided to all broadcasters, as already been said.

    You do realise ad breaks have to be taken on a commercial station? Means some of the racing will be missed, and therefore one or two villages may not have been shown.
  • hyperstarspongehyperstarsponge Posts: 16,563
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    It would be nice if they could drop daytime TV on ITV when the Tour De France is on, As the ratings prove there is a keen interest in cycling :)
  • GeorgeSGeorgeS Posts: 20,039
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    It would be nice if they could drop daytime TV on ITV when the Tour De France is on, As the ratings prove there is a keen interest in cycling :)

    ITV4 is the channel that is most associate with cycling. The ratings for the simulcast prove that with an average of 908k watching itv4 on Saturday for the live coverage which was almost the same as the 1m watching on itv.
  • ariusukariusuk Posts: 13,411
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    You do realise ad breaks have to be taken on a commercial station? Means some of the racing will be missed, and therefore one or two villages may not have been shown.

    I'd also add that the timing of ad breaks is based on when you are least likely to miss something happening in the race - you won't see breaks on a categorised climb for example. Also ITV showed 25% fewer ad breaks during the Tour de France coverage than it is allowed to.
    GeorgeS wrote: »
    ITV4 is the channel that is most associate with cycling. The ratings for the simulcast prove that with an average of 908k watching itv4 on Saturday for the live coverage which was almost the same as the 1m watching on itv.

    Not a great statistic to use, as ITV didn't show the end of the stage, so ITV4's average was artificially high and ITV's artificially low.

    The audience yesterday peaked at 2.7 million, with an average of 1.1m on ITV and 600k on ITV4.
  • Paul GraysonPaul Grayson Posts: 572
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    You can watch the whole of every stage free of adverts via the ITV Player iOS app, if you pay a modest subscription fee. The same may also be the case with other apps too.
  • hyperstarspongehyperstarsponge Posts: 16,563
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    You can watch the whole of every stage free of adverts via the ITV Player iOS app, if you pay a modest subscription fee. The same may also be the case with other apps too.

    They need a android app too. Also I think 1.1 million is good for the main channel on the weekend.
  • mavreelamavreela Posts: 4,689
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    Probably already been said but commercial breaks are dictated to by the commentators who are in effect working for a "world feed", to put it in its simplistic terms.

    The broadcasters pick their own breaks which the commentators work around. It is very noticeable when it happens because of the long pauses to enable the broadcaster to cleanly leave and return to the coverage. Then when welcoming back an audience because they start with some kind of summary statement they seems slightly out of place otherwise.

    And if you hear Paul speaking on his own for a prolonged period it is usually because Phil is providing an NBC specific commentary at the same time.
  • deivu74deivu74 Posts: 3,001
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    mavreela wrote: »
    Phil is providing an NBC specific commentary at the same time.

    AKA reading out a list of sponsors. Thank god we don't have that here.
  • Galaxy266Galaxy266 Posts: 7,049
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    I'm getting very fed-up with all these adverts. I think I've seen more adverts than cycling!

    Aren't the BBC showing it?
  • Ginger DaddyGinger Daddy Posts: 8,507
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    Galaxy266 wrote: »
    I'm getting very fed-up with all these adverts. I think I've seen more adverts than cycling!

    Aren't the BBC showing it?

    The BBC dont have the rights to it, why would they show it?

    Commercial channel = adverts, just a part of life.
  • VincentHVincentH Posts: 363
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    Ads are a necessary evil...just glad itv have the rights now till 2019.

    Only saw highlights at the weekend, and watching live now, and itv's coverage as excellent as ever. Back in the 80s channel 4 used to show half an hour of highlights only, so I'm just grateful for live coverage at all.
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