Bitching about Eurosport again

[Grazerism]

This time it's not the German-speaking announcers. Much improved with Stefan Franke.

And a disclaimer: a lot of the problem may be the feed, which probably comes from Italian TV (RAI). Does BBC get the same feed?

First, feed-specific complaints: Yesterday almost nothing was shown of a titanic WSP. Instead, all the 800 heats were shown, with long intros, races, and slow-mo replays of all the finishes. Hammert's world-leading (and gold-winning) opener was shown tape delay. None of her 4 subsequent (some monster) fouls were shown. Nor were any of her quali-leading teammate's remarkable series of 19+ getting-closer-and-closer puts shown. This is a FINAL, not a heat. The last round was indeed shown live.

Today's Eurosport coverage was NOT live, and its consistent policy is to simply take a block of time from the meet and show it without any effort to edit. So today started with MTJ silver medalist Yastrebov running thru the pit on his last attempt, and Donato celebrating his victory. Donato's winning (and only valid) jump was never shown. Endless false starts and intros, very skimpy field event coverage, nothing of the exciting concluding rounds of WLJ. The last thing on the screen was a list of the M1500 competitors. Then cut to commercial--and never come back and show the M1500!

[croflash]

Eurosport doesn't produce those feeds themselves, they are dependent on the international feed or other networks to provide the pictures. That can be frustrating at times, however you are also getting used to it over the years.

And I certainly do not agree that Franke is an upgrade, he is more knowledgeable than Heinrich or Thiele, but those have outstanding chemistry and are legendary as a broadcasting duo. Not a knock on Franke because he is solid, the other two are simply better.

[Grazerism]

Nope, disagree strongly. I have been listening to Thiele and Heinrich for years, and while the kidding around is ok, they make so many bone-headed mistakes that I wind up yelling at the TV and my (German) wife tells me to get a announcing job myself.

Yes, I made a disclaimer about the feed--but Eurosport is indeed responsible when it takes the tape of the feed and does nothing to bring out the important highlights. (I know there is not much time to do that!)

[midnightsun]

just a correction, the M1500 list they showed was the summary of the finalists since the heats took place way earlier in the afternoon.

[Grazerism]

Just to finish this off: Sunday's coverage was scheduled for 15:45. Instead, a ski news report was shown, without explanation. This was a news summary, not a live event running late. Track started shortly before 4 pm. Coverage was scheduled until 17:30. But about five minutes early, just after the M60, during Gerasimov's PV run-up, and in the middle of announcer Stefan Franke's sentence, cut to commercial--and never return. (Eurosport would have missed Bayer's 8.71 anyway.)

[croflash]

Just to finish this off: Sunday's coverage was scheduled for 15:45. Instead, a ski news report was shown, without explanation. This was a news summary, not a live event running late. Track started shortly before 4 pm. Coverage was scheduled until 17:30. But about five minutes early, just after the M60, during Gerasimov's PV run-up, and in the middle of announcer Stefan Franke's sentence, cut to commercial--and never return. (Eurosport would have missed Bayer's 8.71 anyway.)

Yeah, that was pretty bad. At least they showed the remaining part at 11 pm, including Bayer's jump.

[midnightsun]

did you guys watch Eurosport on Astra? Because on Hotbird track ended at 6.0x after the 4*400 relay and Bayer's last jump

[dl]

I wish we had a channel in the U.S> like Eurosport which broadcasts enough track meets that I could complain about the coverage... :-(