Any WRC fans knows SpeedTV's program schedule? (1 Viewer)

[Jay H]

Trying to find a list of broadcast dates for this year's WRC schedule on Speedtv.com and failing miserably. They have a calendar and me searching on WRC shows no results.. Anybody know of a printable list of broadcast dates?

Jay

 

[Andrej Dolenc]

Try this

Note the dates are in the european convention, DD/MM/YYYY.

Wish I could get Eurosport here in the US. That alone would be enough for me to get cable or satelite.

Edit: whoops, that's a schedule of the rallyes themselves, not SpeedTV's coverage. My bad. They usually have good highlights on the web though.

Andrej

 

[Mike__D]

Can't help with the schedule, but they'll be airing the SCCA Pro Rallies, as well. Looking forward to that!

Mike D.

 

[TyC]

At the end of each rally show they will tell you the dates of the next broadcast. However, you have to tune in to the first one. It's a catch-22.

 

[Jay H]

I just happen to catch the rally of Sweden earlier in February, I think, instead of having 3 hour shows on the weekend, they had one long show.

But unlike OLN which has a list of various cycling events on TV, I thought Speedvision (now SpeedTV) had a similar list for WRC events, because honestly, if it wasn't for some people here mentioning the upcoming races, I'd probably have forgotten to PVR them last season...

Jay

 

[Dan B]

They have a 2 hour show on the Thursday after the rally, plus the Rally X-tra one hour show on Tuesdays. Right now there's a long break until the next rally.

 

[Jay H]

Aha, found one over here:

http://www.speedtv.com/programs/27/

Next one is in April!

Jay

 

[TyC]

Thanks!

 

[Philip_G]

thank god for TiVo
now, time to watch the WRX kick some ass

 

[DwightK]

Philip, don't you mean the Peugeots and Citroens?

This year, WRC is aired as mentioned previously, the thursday after the rally.

This was done in an attempt to draw a larger viewership in the hopes that a US rally could become a reality. Last year, when they had same day coverage the ratings were basically limited to a rabid following of 60 to 70k. That made WRC about the lowest rated show on SpeedTV. The channel execs KNOW that we 7ok or so will watch whenever it airs so they are shooting for the majority....NASCAR rednecks.

Hope their plan works, numbers increase, and I can again watch same day coverage. It sucks resorting to listening in the middle of the night to WRC internet radio and watching internet video feeds from Turkey Free TV (they mostly show NBA anyways).

 

[DougKuhn]

Doing it this way now also gives them more time to prepare the announcing and what not...like with Nicky Grist and the other British woman, which I think is good. Having a season WRC co-driver announcing makes it a little more interesting.

However, I find myself preferring last year's layout...Thurs thru Monday covering each leg a day.

 

[Philip_G]

don't remind me

 

[JayV]

Finally, I got Speed. No more begging for tapes or monopolizing friend's TVs to watch rally racing!

A head's up to Dakar fans:

"An all-new one hour special celebrating the 25 year history of the Dakar event" is on tomorrow, Sunday, March 23 at 12pm EST.

And as an aside, why do so many people rarely pass up an opportunity to badmouth Nascar and/or its fans ("they are shooting for the majority....NASCAR rednecks")? Elitism?

-j

 

[DwightK]

I never pass up the opportunity because:

1. SpeedTV used to be Speedvision, which was more concentrated on global racing. SV was bought by Fox and the programming changed almost over night to NASCAR every day all day. (Fox has made good changes but that isn't this discussion)

2. I do not like races where people only turn left.

3. I do not like races where cautions are not only expected but forced towards the end of races to make the finish "more exciting".

4. I do not like races where weather must be perfect. Postponed due to a wet track? Come on. Learn to drive and use the correct tires.

5. I do not like that every announcer speaks with a forced southern drawl.

6. I do not like that the templates for each manucaturer is virtually identical. If each car is to be the same aero shape than stop calling them Fords, Chevys, etc.

7. I do not like that NASCAR changed from being stock cars to cup cars.

8. EVERYBODY I work with ONLY likes and watches NASCAR and cannot stand any other form of racing. (probably the main reason)

NASCAR is by far the most popular form of motorsports in the USA and like every other champion or leader it will get picked on. People rag on Microsoft every chance they get as well.

 

[David-S]

You can sign up for email reminders from Speed, for whenever they're airing WRC coverage (it's under "join the speed club" or something like that)...

 

[JayV]

Dwight, those are generally reasonable points (although I can't say I agree with most of them!).

I particularly understand the complaint that Fox's purchase of Speed means more Nascar coverage on a network that remains the only alternative for many people who don't care for Nascar. I know I'd rather see a Le Mans race over a Winston Cup practice session on Speed.

Still, I wonder how all that gets summarized by calling the people who like Nascar rednecks?

What if I didn't like F1 and referred to fans of that series as filthy foreigners and elitist @ss#oles?

-j

 

[DwightK]

Oh I'm just stereotyping/generalizing on the redneck comment with no ill intent. At the time I was thinking about the comment made by the pres of SpeedTV where he was getting 60-70k viwership during all last year's WRC coverage and again for Rally Monte Carlo. Immediately after airing the rally there was a repeat of an after race discussion from some NASCAR event from 2 years ago and the viewership increased to over 240,000. That annoys me

I lived in Georgia and worked in SC for a few years and very much followed Alan Kulwicki. I loved how he raced competatively with a plain white car with no sponser stickers. Once he got a stickered up car I stopped rooting for him.

Again, sorry for stereotyping.