Joined Apr 2008
7K Posts | 3K+
Out of Nowhere
This one goes out to all the Brit members and concerns the worrying news that Dorna are pursuing existing national/terrestrial stations - one notably in France - at the possible expense of the continued relationship with Eurosport. The thinking behind this being, that the sport can be brought to wider mainstream audience. That the excellent comprehensive coverage on British Eurosport might be in jeopardy from next season, and that we would have to rely on the BBC's ..... truncated coverage is unthinkable. The commentary team of Parrish and Cox lacks the drama and passion and arguably the anorak type encyclopaedic knowledge of Toby and Julian. Parrish may be a bit of a lad, but I'd so is Mamola ten times over, and I'd rather trust his insight and analysis. BBC dropped superbike like a stone when it became the Ducati Cup, and unconvincingly muscled in on Moto GP to compete with F1 figures on ITV. They'd already hired Cox for Superbikes hoping that people would think he was Leigh Diffy, and while highlights of GP were handled by Nick Harris and Matt Roberts - Parrish and Cox were always waiting in the wings to handle the eventual live coverage. Sure Suzi knows her stuff, and loves the sport, but overall BBC can't hold a a candle to the blanket weekend coverage from Eurosport. If we loose this, then no more live two stroke racing, no more live qualifying and most importantly no more messrs Moody, Ryder and Mamola. BBC and national TV networks around the world may introduce GP to a wider audience, but how thinly spread and watered down does the product become in the process - (witness ITV's attempt at BSB in comparison to Sky Sports). Mainstream is always a bad thing -leave it to the specialists. Bike sport will always be marginalised outside of Spain and Italy, the BBC is no exception to this. Your thoughts please....
