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Channel 7’s 2009 Bathurst 1000 coverage

The 2009 V8 Supercars Bathurst 1000 has been run and won, by the best team on the day. They drove a faultless race and kept their heads throughout the day. There are many others out there who can write up the story very well, however I decided to dedicate this post to the TV coverage provided by Channel 7 (in Sydney).

In no certain order, here are my thoughts to Channel 7:

  1. Use one of your un(der)used ‘digital’ channels to broadcast the ENTIRE race non-stop – Have your ads picture-in-picture with the sound, BUT keep the main part of the screen active with the race. We may actually see some of incidents you happened to miss whilst showing the ads.
  2. Please provide a run-down of how each car is doing instead of switching to another ad break. A 5-10 second update on each car would be great. During your hourly update you told is how the FPR car caught fire, but little of the other players who struck trouble. Jason Bright got back onto the lead lap. How? We won’t know from your telecast because it barely rated a mentioned!
  3. Since the race is not beamed 100% live to our telly (2-3 mins delay from what I have heard, this is not substantiated, but we all know it’s a little behind) surely you could have timed your ads better. There were a couple of times where you had 3-min ad breaks sandwich 1 min of racing (albeit under the safety car). One way to think of it (courtesy of @erkpod on Twitter) “Ch 7’s ad campaign keeps getting interrupted by some car race #bathurst1000
  4. You had so many little cameras in great places but did not use them enough!
    • The wing-cam on the Kelly’s car was great, would have been great to see more.
    • Whatever happened to cameras out ‘over’ the track as in days gone by?
    • The camera in the footwell of the car, complete with external footage and the V8 sound is phenomenal – we need more of it. One great comment by @StevePizzati: “Dear Ch.7 please please show more on-board laps (with footwork) where all commentators shut the hell up! Signed V8Supercar fans #Bathurst1000“.
  5. Mark Beretta and Matthew White aren’t adding value to the commentary so feel free to deploy them elsewhere.

Many Many thanks go out to a number of Twitterers who helped make the 2009 Bathurst experience better than just watching it on telly: @VSSSCOM, @themolk, @queenslandchic, @FJBurlinson, @alikat2k, @erkpod, @stevepizzati, @TonySearl, @awhisper, @neop26, @obliterated, @talking_Stones, @TouringCarTimes, @Wakdem, @VenessaHunt, @terryicarter, @GTRoberts, @SherieheartsRob, @swgn, @psycik, @KeithSteelAU, @stevebiddle, @missmoochacha, @rosscity, @mavric35, @jodes77, @FraserIsland, @jimmysmalls, @sweeeet__x, @paul_marshy64, @gleno_, @eskimo_dan, @rhettblanch.

5 replies on “Channel 7’s 2009 Bathurst 1000 coverage”

Andrew, A great summary of Our Great Race. The tweets made it more interesting, especially during the endless,poorly timed ad breaks. With today’s technology I do expect better from the host broadcaster. Often less is more and silence IS golden. I still say AUDI coulda won, if they really wanted to.

Andrew- Great points. Ads are a scourge but without them we wouldnt get 10hrs of ‘free tv’ coverage. Chan 7 should ‘unleash’ the no-ad function on TIVO as it is in the US.
My things to add
1. Chan 7’s commentators need to keep up with the FUSO starting grid. Their intros get behind from row 3 because they go off on details which they repeatedly tell us again throughout the race. On Sunday, they missed announcing 7 cars & 8 drivers. It happens very V8 race – Crompton is the worst but Matty (BTW I think adds fun) is starting to be bad at it as well.
2. Love the explanations that Larkham does on racing technalities. So keep that
3. But please get the commentators to drop the need to have a ‘fun’ one-liner go at each other. It was fun when it started as a thing between Skaife & Larko but its NOT FUNNY to have it every segment

Someone had to say it. Channel 7 you sucked! Please admit it and let Channel 10 run the show.

I knew the telecast was going to suck when on the very first corner (as for the last few years) there was a massive “off” and every reply channel 7 went to didn’t even capture it. 40 mins later they eventually show footage in a highlight that showed what happened.

140+ cameras around the track != good coverage. It may be a weekend, but for one of the countries biggest sporting events you think they could get a producer that knows what they are doing?

I agree with Andrew. Start using your extra digital channels. You could ticker-tape zinger ads all day along the bottle of the screen; I don’t care, just as long as you don’t miss a stack for an ad.

If channel 7 gets the rights again next year – at least we know ticket sales at the track will be strong.

I second Julie’s 3rd point. Those guys might rib each other like that socially (why, I don’t know), but it gets embarrassing and unprofessional once Skaifey starts getting stuck into someone. Quite childish and immature.

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