I don't know about anyone else, but I am seriously ticked off about the TV coverage! Are re-runs on Speed better than the best sports car series in the US (I know, debateable). So long to the sponsors, you idiots!!! Their PR/Media department needs to be FIRED! I watched on my computer while my great HDTV was blank... And yes I know about the xbox/ps3 streaming, I haven't PAID for that yet! 
I don't really see the downside. The avid fan gets to watch it live (if you don't like it on your computer, connect it with a cord to your television) in it's entirety, while 1000% more passive viewers get to watch the highlights (the exciting bits) with the hopes that they will become avid fans.
I don't understand what all the whinging is about!
I'm with you on this one for sure. What could they have possibly been thinking . I refuse to get any more channel pkgs or an xbox just to watch a race series. Hopefully they wil see ther error of there ways and come to there senses.
ALMS works awesome on my computer which I then hook up to my TV with a $25.
Cable is for people who have extra money burning holes in their pockets. Do you expect sympathy on grm? really?
The GRM approach is to watch it on your computer, which is free. Or, go to the event live! There's a novel idea!
Err, the dual coverage on both espn3 and abc not only set a ALMS ratings record, but also a record for any racing event on ESPN3.com ever.
http://americanlemans.com/primary1.php?cat=news|15679
Second, as others have said, its so easy to plug almost any computer into your tv that it should be illegal not to 
. The quality for me was awesome, even on my 32" hdtv. I think it will be (already has?) proven to be a great decision.
I agree with the OP. I was there and coverage at the track sucked so I really wanted to see the race but couldn't.
But since ALMS is a competing series to Rolex and since Rolex is now part of Nascar and Nascar & Speed are in bed, well . . .
Gonna be honest..I haven't had cable in 5yrs. Been watching the big sportscar races during all that time through websites with questionable legality (although I'll admit it was worth it to see European coverage of the Le Mans 24..not as much "explain it to the unwashed masses" as you got on the US coverage). Only problem I had with Sebring this year was that I was trying to keep an eye on it at work, and ESPN3 asked me for my Comcast account number when trying to log on. I don't have that problem at home, I watched most of the 2010 World Cup on ESPN3. I was surprised to see that even though Atherton said the streaming coverage would be availible on ALMS' website as well..the only link there was back to ESPN3. Grr. I guess it's a work in progress.
I have cable internet, but not cable TV. I don't miss it a bit. Anything I actually want to watch, I either watch on DVD (owned or Netflix) or watch on the computer (Netflix, streaming, downloaded) hooked up to the TV through the VGA port. It works much better for me, even if I have to wait a day or two to watch something. It keeps my Media Induced Tourette's Syndrome at bay. 
The real issue is going to be sponsors for the teams. Yes, the coverage sucked. And yes, for the most part people still watch with their TV's, not the internet. Ratings are what brings in the sponsors, not potential viewers on the internet. In the long run, this is going to really, really hurt a large portion of the teams if a more suitable TV package is not implemented. The first question every potential motorsport sponsor wants to know is what the series TV ratings are; especially considering the cost of participation that is ALMS. Having crewed on a team that was always on the hunt for a sponsor (aren't they all), I can assure you this is by far, BY FAR, question one.
And I also worked for 12 years on the other side, in TV production. Ratings are everything, and currently, the Internet has no real verifiable ratings system. And I can't imagine the replay shows drawing a very big audience.
I just got rid of my cable during the winter and realized that I cannot get many good races on the basic channels, I know this is a bit off-topic, but where do you guys all go to watch racing on the internet? All I saw over the weekend was the Indy race in St. Petersburg and it made me .
racefans.tv
ESPN3.com (check out the replay under AutoRacing)
AmericanLemans.com
Generally you can get quite a bit from the websites for the individual series.
I would also head over to Hulu's forums to suggest they look into more Motorsports related content. Figure if enough people are interested they may try to dip their toes in (I would prefer they try to corner the market, oh well)
Is it History Channel or HDTV that's putting more motorsports shows on? Maybe they'd be interested.
I'm simply not going to stream a race or watch it on the internet. Too many glitches, not enough resolution, awkward pauses, etc. etc.
At Sebring this year all the cell phones and internet was maxed out due to the number of people there, multiply that by all the hits worldwide and I can't even imagine any type of real time race being an easy watch.
We couldn't even make phone calls or text pictures reliably anywhere in Sebring, not just at the track.
If someone put ad-supported ALMS on the Internet somewhere I'd buy from their advertisers out of sheer appreciation.
Lets not get into what I would do if you could watch rally for free...
Carguy, it sounds like the track at Sebring was having connectivity issues, but that is completely unrelated to the worldwide stream. Lots of people bogging down the track's internet has no effect on espn's coverage.
Lots of people on this board have spoken up (myself included) that quality was great on espn3, even when connected to a full size HDTV. In 12 hours straight, I had to reload the stream ONCE, losing about 45 seconds of coverage. Seriously, don't assume problems that really didn't exist. Besides, you and about 100k people had the best stream available...
I am with you on this one. If I can not sit down on my couch click on the tv and watch it I will not watch. Yes I do go to the local race at lime rock. It is by far better than any nascar race I have been to. So unfortunately ALMA has probably lost a fan unless they bring it back to mainstream cable.
The speed coverage was very good (I know it is scary to have speed Chanel and good in the same sentence). I would have been much more likely to support the series and there sponsors if I can actually watch it and see who they are.
ALMS needs to re think this. The cool novelty factor of watching on you computer wares off fast.
See, I haven't had 'cable TV' in a long, long time. I've been watching all of my TV shows over my Internet connection for years now. It's a waste of money to buy TV service! For the price of TV service over the past few years, I've built a home entertainment system that allows me to watch hulu.com (or whatever) TV shows from the comfort of my Lay-Z-boy and then pop over seamlessly to my computer chair to complain on the Internet.
racerdave600 wrote: The real issue is going to be sponsors for the teams. Yes, the coverage sucked. And yes, for the most part people still watch with their TV's, not the internet. Ratings are what brings in the sponsors, not potential viewers on the internet. In the long run, this is going to really, really hurt a large portion of the teams if a more suitable TV package is not implemented. The first question every potential motorsport sponsor wants to know is what the series TV ratings are; especially considering the cost of participation that is ALMS. Having crewed on a team that was always on the hunt for a sponsor (aren't they all), I can assure you this is by far, BY FAR, question one. And I also worked for 12 years on the other side, in TV production. Ratings are everything, and currently, the Internet has no real verifiable ratings system. And I can't imagine the replay shows drawing a very big audience.
I am going to juxtapose this with the fact that this years Sebring was the most watched ALMS production in the history of the ALMS. It was also the most watched program on ESPN3.com in the history of ESPN3.com. Sounds like a win to me! The teams shouldn't have any problem selling sponsorship!
racerdave600 wrote: The real issue is going to be sponsors for the teams. Yes, the coverage sucked. And yes, for the most part people still watch with their TV's, not the internet. Ratings are what brings in the sponsors, not potential viewers on the internet. In the long run, this is going to really, really hurt a large portion of the teams if a more suitable TV package is not implemented. The first question every potential motorsport sponsor wants to know is what the series TV ratings are; especially considering the cost of participation that is ALMS. Having crewed on a team that was always on the hunt for a sponsor (aren't they all), I can assure you this is by far, BY FAR, question one. And I also worked for 12 years on the other side, in TV production. Ratings are everything, and currently, the Internet has no real verifiable ratings system. And I can't imagine the replay shows drawing a very big audience.
Dave, you make some very good points. But I have to say that television is an industry that is, at the very least, "in transition"..and at the most-in decline. IMO, the sponsors and the networks (I work for one of the best, until this Friday..I've been thinking about this kind of stuff a lot since I found out I'm being laid off) are clinging to the past. Of course, I say this as an MCO..even networks with good content are combining Master Control operations to reduce costs. The technology is out there to do so, and they're using it. Sometimes, I wish I'd actually stayed in production (I only went back to MC to get out of a smaller market and make a living wage 
). Regardless of how an event is broadcast, there will still be a need to produce it, shoot it, and mix it.
Sorry for the tangent. I guess what I'm really saying is that the industry (and the sponsors as well..those companies are not immune from the normal addiction to the status quo, either) is a little slow when responding to what's actually going on. They still care about ratings, when much of the audience (especially in the younger demos) is used to getting what they want when they want it online, and through DVD if it's not online. The old rules just don't apply anymore.
Again, IMO..the only thing that will stop the migration from television to the internet would be the death of "net neutrality".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_neutrality
Apologies for posting up a Wiki article (it ain't really really evidence), but that one's a pretty good summary.
And even if ISPs telecom companies are allowed to once again charge by bandwidth, I'm not sure if people would go back to television. To me, it's like when the big media companies bought up all the little local FM radio stations starting about 30yrs ago (have you listened to a station owned by Clear Channel lately? ), and made any station playing anything interesting change their format to a "Lowest Common Denominator" thing to get the number of listeners up. In the short term it worked, but in the long term It backfired, a lot of people installed cassette decks in the car because ther was "..nothing on the radio.." (again, IMO..). I think the same thing's going on in TV right now.
Anyhoo..apologies for another off-topic tangent. But I think the reason so many of us didn't get to see much of Sebring was because of reasons that go far Atherton's decisions about how ALMS is going to be broadcast. Only reason I'm angry with him is because he implied that there'd be coverage on the ALMS homesite (during this transitional period) for folks that couldn't get ESPN3. When I went over there looking for it, all I found was a link back to ESPN3. Grr.
Man, I vent on here and I'm getting lessons on the world of tv production, etc... (friedgreen) I've hated the radio for a LONG time, your opinion is NOT encouraging. The internet is great (this site is a great ex.), but I loved DVR'ing the ALMS races (WRC before)! I can't enjoy it in privacy anymore, when the wife/kids are sleeping(boys aren't into yet) I'll end up streaming it to my xbox... I do PRAY that our great sport gets bigger and better!!!
It'll be a long time before I'm watching live sporting events off the internet. I love DVRing the shows I watch and viewing them at my leisure.
Fast internet will be a long time coming to my area.
I can see that one day internet TV will be the way to go, but not any day soon for most of the people.
I'll say it again. For an internet community, ya'll are a bunch of Luddites.
doorman wrote: Man, I vent on here and I'm getting lessons on the world of tv production, etc... (friedgreen) I've hated the radio for a LONG time, your opinion is NOT encouraging.
Dude, I'm an old guy. I was there when it happened. I'll bet you have a CD player in your car because the radio sucks..
doorman wrote: The internet is great (this site is a great ex.), but I loved DVR'ing the ALMS races (WRC before)! I can't enjoy it in privacy anymore, when the wife/kids are sleeping(boys aren't into yet
Our sport is bigger than these piddling problems. Always has been, always will be so. Hell, when I was young, all I saw was pix in the magazines, and heard the results on shortwave radio. With the internet, I have a weird habit now..I search for videos of those races that I never got to see here in the US on youtube. I was amazed at how much stuff was out there, if you search the site for a particular race.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3vWhhxTxiY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngxD5wxJwCA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLllUb41
Our sport is bigger than the problems with how it's being covered. Regardless of how all this stuff about broadcasting comes out, the races will go on.
In reply to Maroon92:
This luddite had to buy a $100 converter box to get the laptop to stream into his tube type TV. This luddite didn't like it. This luddite is part of the core audience of ALMS (semi affluent middle aged engineer types - that spend money on cars). This luddite thinks Grand Am has ratings and ALMS does not.
ESPN3 coverage was very good, althought I'd rather have listened to Diffey, Fish & Schroeder in the booth. I'll speculate that short term webcasting is a loss for all the reasons listed by others above. Long term it will probably work out.
Dashpot wrote: In reply to Maroon92: This luddite had to buy a $100 converter box to get the laptop to stream into his tube type TV. This luddite didn't like it. This luddite is part of the core audience of ALMS (semi affluent middle aged engineer types - that spend money on cars). This luddite thinks Grand Am has ratings and ALMS does not. ESPN3 coverage was very good, althought I'd rather have listened to Diffey, Fish & Schroeder in the booth. I'll speculate that short term webcasting is a loss for all the reasons listed by others above. Long term it will probably work out.
Dude, you are just proving my point.
you are cripplingly technophobic. Seriously, where do you buy a tube TV these days?
you may THINK Grand Am has ratings better than ALMS, but you are sadly mistaken. I would venture that LESS THAN HALF the number that watched Sebring watched Daytona. Also, the amount of people at Daytona was easily 1/3 what showed up at Sebring (I attended both).
While I enjoy Calvin Fish, John Hindhaugh is easily a match for both Leigh Diffey and Dorsey Schroeder BY HIMSELF! Throw in the performance of Jeremy Shaw, and you have a hell of an announcing squad. A more educated and professional announcer one could not find.
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