The 12 Hours of Sebring tomorrow...

snakeeyes · #1 (**permalink**) 03-19-2004, 02:24 PM

You've gotta love Speed Channel. 13 straight hours of coverage from Sebring tomorrow (Saturday), beginning at 9 a.m. CST...

Gary Morris · #2 (**permalink**) 03-19-2004, 02:44 PM

I can just see Bob sitting in front of the TV with his Goodwood driving suit on going Vroooommm....Vrooooooomm!!!!

Life is good!
Gary

snakeeyes · #3 (**permalink**) 03-19-2004, 02:51 PM

Gary, I guess you're right, it won't be different from any other weekend around my house...

Steve Cassani · #4 (**permalink**) 03-19-2004, 03:06 PM

I cancelled the cable package that included Speed channel a couple of years ago. I became weary of the commercial interruptions, especially those that replaced coverage of events the commenters were emphasizing as being especially informative or telling to the outcome of the event. To see whether I was justified in my impatience with the coverage or just getting crotchety, I timed three one-hour sequences. Here are the averages:

In any one hour period, expect to see:

34 minutes of the event, in segments ranging from 4 to 8 minutes.
26 minutes of advertisements. The 26 minutes will average 15 minutes of ads for other programs on Speed channel. Watching another Speed program only repeats the ad frequency, with the same ratio of self-promotion to independent, commercial time. The sef-promotion segments repeat with enough regularity to suggest that they are produced as a block and aired again and again and ...

I'm already paying for cable, including a significant premium for the package that includes the Speed channel. To actually watch an event on Speed channel, I am obliged to give up, on average, one-quarter of every hour to information related to other opportunites to watch the channel I am watching.

I enjoy televised coverage of racing and car-related subjects but the price the Speed channel imposes on it's viewers is greater than I am willing to give away.

need4speed · #5 (**permalink**) 03-19-2004, 04:18 PM

Steve I hear you but I'm not sure that it is significantly different on most other broadcast or other cable channels. 2 solutions to your problem with having to watch all the ads. 1) change the channel when the commercials are on; 2) get a laptop with a wireless connection and surf Club Cobra during the commercials. I don't have as solution for having to pay a premium for watching the commercials however...

snakeeyes · #6 (**permalink**) 03-19-2004, 09:35 PM

Sorry, I'll take it any day over the old "Wide World of Sports" coverage, where you'd get about five minutes of actual race coverage, interspersed with figure skating and downhill skiing, six weeks after the actual event. This weekend alone on Speed, in addition to thirteen hours of live coverage from Sebring, you can watch F1 qualifying and the race from Sepang, NASCAR qualifying from Talledega, the Barrett-Jackson auction live from Florida, and several "lesser" races from the Sebring weekend, if you're so inclined. These guys have to pay the bills while televising races that are not exactly as attractive to advertisers as the Daytona 500 or the Super Bowl, and personally I'm willing to put up with the interruptions--gives me a chance to get something cold from the fridge and make sure my kids aren't spray-painting the dog or anything

need4speed · #7 (**permalink**) 03-26-2004, 12:00 AM

I have had the SPEED Channel for quite a few years now and it keeps getting better every year. Where else can you get this variety of motorsports in one place? My TV is usually tuned in to it, except when my wife finds the remote...

Hey Bob you better make sure the kids don't take the spray paint out to the garage!!!