Is Channel 9 trying to kill cycling

[Chuck]

Re the nine ring in. Whenever I see that meathead or any other non cycling chump wheeled out it always reminds me of the clueless commentator in the movie Best in show.

Just my opinion, but I think Tim Gilbert is giving it a good crack. He's got a better handle on cycling than Voss and I don't feel like he's laughing at the sport (my real problem with Voss). I know Tomalaris has a real passion for cycling, but as a host, Gilbert isn't comparing unfavourably.

[doggatas]

Yeh Gilbert is having a real crack, admitted on air that he was new to the sport in terms of covering it and wanting to learn the ins and outs of the pro peleton. Even made a crack about his Belgian cousin Philippe.

Robbie is great value as well, says it how it is and give good insight into a lot of the current riders.

I must admit I am not experiencing the same issues as others because I am not watching the highlights package, I am recording it and watching after work.

My only gripe is not the commercial adds but the advertisements about SA and Adelaide spoken by Phil Ligget during the live broadcast. 1 or 2 would be ok at non critical moments but the producer is throwing them in far too often for my liking and poor Phil, i swear sometimes he doesn't even know they are about to cut to footage of Adelaide and its surrounds.

[AUbicycles]

Good point on the South Australian advertorials, they are pre-recorded and considering the delayed broadcast, and the extra time gained by delaying past schedual, the advertorials could be better integrated.

[Alex Simmons/RST]

The SA advetorials were on SBS too.

Since the SA Govt is bankrolling the event, it's to be expected they will get air time. I don't mind them.
A lot of people who watch TdF coverage do so for the scenery and local interest info as much as the race itself, and so giving public some info about the local region is a plus in my books.

Gilbert is fine - it's not like he's pretending to be an expert. New viewers to cycling need familiar faces and to not feel as though they are the only ones not totally sure about how it all works.

[jimsheedy]

The SA government is also bankrolling the broadcast. The whole thing is packaged up then on sold to nine. Once delivered to nine it is up to them what they do with it. There would be no time to re cut the online and re record the voice over. Any of those issues come down to one thing - budget. The only reason those interstitials look cheap is because they are.

[jcjordan]

Technically the S.A. government is not actually bankrolling anymore. S.A. Major Event is a company (which the government is the owner) put thw money up to establish the event.

Base on the figures put out by KPMG last year 4 million was put in as organising fees and they estimated that around 6-7 came back in state taxes but even more back into the general economy.

[jimsheedy]

I can't imagine the microscope you'd need to split that hair. It is public money maged by the government spent by a company owned by the government. Hence the SA tourism interstitials. No judgement on that just imparting the information.

[doggatas]

Don't get me wrong they need to be there but right on deaths door as they are about to ascend the "Corkscrew"?

Looked up the Corkscrew segment on Strava http://app.strava.com/segments/632509 and the KOM belongs to Damien Howson, who I believe is riding in the TDU but that effort is not from the TDU. There are a couple of efforts on page 2 from the 23rd.

Would have Thomas' VAM for the climb been close to 2000 or way beyond that? I may rewatch the climb and time his ascent to get a rough idea.

[danny the boy]

OK, I own up, the ads annoyed me no end today. I dont know if I was the only one, but they seemed to be throwing an extra one or two onto every break today compared to previous days. Maybe the ratings are better than expected. Agree with others above Gilbert has been pretty good, stripped down to lycra this morning on the Today show and jumped on a Green Edge bike, seems like he's having a ball over there for someone who openly admits he knows little about cycling.

[Mulger bill]

I have tried to be positive about the coverage on Channel 9 however today it was moved back with two episodes of an American Sitcom which are probably reruns.

Which were put back by the cricket ODI running a good 35" overtime. I gave up and went to bed.

[Rex]

I agree the ads are annoying as are the constant hilights where we must see the start over and over again, but besides that I'm more than happy with the several hours we get. Besides reminding us how we we're seeing 'live piccies' Gilbert is fine.
Robbie is fantastic.

Big step forward imo.

[jimsheedy]

Gilbert has been pretty good, stripped down to lycra this morning on the Today show and jumped on a Green Edge bike, seems like he's having a ball over there for someone who openly admits he knows little about cycling.

Yep thats exactly the sort of lowest common denominator morning television buffoonery i'd expect from him. Embarrassing

[RonK]

The coverage of the final of yesterdays stage (Stage 2) was a pathetic. There was no mention about the crash near the finish that took out many of the contenders. I didn't know until I read on Cycling News this morning that Phil Gil had to be pushed to the line by his team, with his bike's rear derailleur broken.

At least 20 riders came to grief, 15 of those hitting the road and the ambulance called. Among those was Gilbert who would be pushed to the finish line by his teammates with a wrecked rear derailleur. Jesse Sergeant, Jens Voigt (RadioShack Leopard), Bernard Sulzberger (UniSA - Australia), and Cameron Wurf (Cannondale) were other casualties. Amaud Courteille (FDJ) was the only rider not to finish the race, taken to hospital with a possible broken nose and mild concussion while Movistar’s Giovanni Visconti was taken to hospital for precautionary x-rays. Ian Stannard (Sky), Jose Herrade (Movistar), Tomaz Marczynski (Vacansoleil), Julian Kearn, Blel Kadri (AG2R), Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel Euskadi) were treated at the finish for cuts and abrasions.

Sulzberger had a dislocated finger which he fixed himself.

Really - all of that and not a peep from the commentary team?

[boss]

It's a conspiracy. Channel 9 is trying to kill cycling.

[Alex Simmons/RST]

The coverage of the final of yesterdays stage (Stage 2) was a pathetic. There was no mention about the crash near the finish that took out many of the contenders. I didn't know until I read on Cycling News this morning that Phil Gil had to be pushed to the line by his team, with his bike's rear derailleur broken.

At least 20 riders came to grief, 15 of those hitting the road and the ambulance called. Among those was Gilbert who would be pushed to the finish line by his teammates with a wrecked rear derailleur. Jesse Sergeant, Jens Voigt (RadioShack Leopard), Bernard Sulzberger (UniSA - Australia), and Cameron Wurf (Cannondale) were other casualties. Amaud Courteille (FDJ) was the only rider not to finish the race, taken to hospital with a possible broken nose and mild concussion while Movistar’s Giovanni Visconti was taken to hospital for precautionary x-rays. Ian Stannard (Sky), Jose Herrade (Movistar), Tomaz Marczynski (Vacansoleil), Julian Kearn, Blel Kadri (AG2R), Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel Euskadi) were treated at the finish for cuts and abrasions.

Sulzberger had a dislocated finger which he fixed himself.

Really - all of that and not a peep from the commentary team?

And what did that have to do with it being on Channel 9, versus another channel that would have broadcast exactly the same feed supplied to it, with commentary based on the information available to them at the time? Like or hate Phil & Paul, I've not once known them to not report on a crash/other incident when they are made aware of it by the race radio.

[jimsheedy]

The coverage of the final of yesterdays stage (Stage 2) was a pathetic. There was no mention about the crash near the finish that took out many of the contenders. I didn't know until I read on Cycling News this morning that Phil Gil had to be pushed to the line by his team, with his bike's rear derailleur broken.

At least 20 riders came to grief, 15 of those hitting the road and the ambulance called. Among those was Gilbert who would be pushed to the finish line by his teammates with a wrecked rear derailleur. Jesse Sergeant, Jens Voigt (RadioShack Leopard), Bernard Sulzberger (UniSA - Australia), and Cameron Wurf (Cannondale) were other casualties. Amaud Courteille (FDJ) was the only rider not to finish the race, taken to hospital with a possible broken nose and mild concussion while Movistar’s Giovanni Visconti was taken to hospital for precautionary x-rays. Ian Stannard (Sky), Jose Herrade (Movistar), Tomaz Marczynski (Vacansoleil), Julian Kearn, Blel Kadri (AG2R), Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel Euskadi) were treated at the finish for cuts and abrasions.

Sulzberger had a dislocated finger which he fixed himself.

Really - all of that and not a peep from the commentary team?

And what did that have to do with it being on Channel 9, versus another channel that would have broadcast exactly the same feed supplied to it, with commentary based on the information available to them at the time? Like or hate Phil & Paul, I've not once known them to not report on a crash/other incident when they are made aware of it by the race radio.

+1

[danny the boy]

The problem was they lost satellite link from the cameras on the motorbikes when they when into the gully so the chopper camera was the only footage they had, of course they followed the lead group.

[Sparx]

Can anyone get the live streaming to work? I've watched the previous stages but it isn't working for me now.

[Shred931]

Can anyone get the live streaming to work? I've watched the previous stages but it isn't working for me now.

Same here.

[Sparx]

Working now!!! I think they just had the times wrong

[Magnum9]

Tried to tivo the second stage highlights but it wasn't on when the guide said it would be and only got 10 minutes.

[Shred931]

Working now!!! I think they just had the times wrong

Excellent. There I was thinking I might be forced to work this afternoon lol.

Edit: Not working for me, oh well, back to work.

[boss]

The coverage of the final of yesterdays stage (Stage 2) was a pathetic. There was no mention about the crash near the finish that took out many of the contenders. I didn't know until I read on Cycling News this morning that Phil Gil had to be pushed to the line by his team, with his bike's rear derailleur broken.

At least 20 riders came to grief, 15 of those hitting the road and the ambulance called. Among those was Gilbert who would be pushed to the finish line by his teammates with a wrecked rear derailleur. Jesse Sergeant, Jens Voigt (RadioShack Leopard), Bernard Sulzberger (UniSA - Australia), and Cameron Wurf (Cannondale) were other casualties. Amaud Courteille (FDJ) was the only rider not to finish the race, taken to hospital with a possible broken nose and mild concussion while Movistar’s Giovanni Visconti was taken to hospital for precautionary x-rays. Ian Stannard (Sky), Jose Herrade (Movistar), Tomaz Marczynski (Vacansoleil), Julian Kearn, Blel Kadri (AG2R), Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel Euskadi) were treated at the finish for cuts and abrasions.

Sulzberger had a dislocated finger which he fixed himself.

Really - all of that and not a peep from the commentary team?

And what did that have to do with it being on Channel 9, versus another channel that would have broadcast exactly the same feed supplied to it, with commentary based on the information available to them at the time? Like or hate Phil & Paul, I've not once known them to not report on a crash/other incident when they are made aware of it by the race radio.

Announcing for that race was a bit of a !! BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING !! up. They completely missed the turn into Corkscrew road. When I was watching it live I was like 'What, they're already on the switchbacks?!?!' It seemed like their calculations were wrong - at 17 or 18km out they said they were 7km from the climb. But watching closely, you see them turn into Corkscrew Rd at 14 or 15km.

You see the guys getting into the first bit of tough stuff (12-13%) on Corkscrew and they're commentating how the Gorge undulates blah blah blah. It isn't till they hit that first switchback that the announcers realized they were on Corkscrew.

[Sparx]

Working now!!! I think they just had the times wrong

Excellent. There I was thinking I might be forced to work this afternoon lol.

Edit: Not working for me, oh well, back to work.

I can only get it it work with the video quality on the 'LO' setting

[Shred931]

Working now!!! I think they just had the times wrong

Excellent. There I was thinking I might be forced to work this afternoon lol.

Edit: Not working for me, oh well, back to work.

I can only get it it work with the video quality on the 'LO' setting

Thanks mate!