All true but compared to the 5 minutes on Grandstand on a Saturday afternoon, which was all we got once upon a time, it's bloody marvellous!thirdcrank wrote: ↑14 Jul 2021, 11:05amVery true, but I think it's a good example of damning with faint praiserareposter wrote: ↑14 Jul 2021, 10:32amYeah, you could accrue quite the menagerie with all of those adverts for animal rescue!Darkman wrote: ↑14 Jul 2021, 10:13am It's not so much the length of ads that bugs me, more the content.
The majority fall into three categories on Sky:
1. Past-their-sellby-date celebrities trying to flog life insurance and/or dodgy-looking medical aids that probably don't work.
2. Old people having a jolly good pissup because one of them's just paid for his own funeral.
3. For just £2 a month, you can adopt a tiger, a snow leopard, a panda, a donkey, an elephant, a polar bear, an African orphan boy...
I always thought it was a pity that the donkey and the poor African girl that has to walk 10 miles for water couldn't just be paired up.
Still, it's better than those Watchfinder adverts from a couple of years ago when the whole ITV4 coverage was sponsored by them and it had a guy (badly) riding a bike with the focus on his expensive watch. (My emphasis)
Tour de France on TV
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Re: Tour de France on TV
'Why cycling for joy is not the most popular pastime on earth is still a mystery to me.'
Frank J Urry, Salute to Cycling, 1956.
Frank J Urry, Salute to Cycling, 1956.
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Re: Tour de France on TV
If it was ever on Grandstand for five whole minutes I must have missed it. I was thinking just now and I remember whe even French TV had much less coverage, and it was a matter on listening to one of the French radio progs on long wave (?) Compared with that, ITV4 is the bees knees
Re: Tour de France on TV
More channels nowadays, so there's the capacity to show much more coverage without disrupting the usual things on the main channels.
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Re: Tour de France on TV
I presume that compact television cameras must have played a part in there being wall-to-wall or rather départ to arrivée coverage
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Re: Tour de France on TV
We usually watch the highlights on catchup (because 7pm-8pm coincides with Junior's bedtime), and the "ITV Hub+" subscription is well worth it - £3.99 a month to remove all the ads on catchup.
The disadvantage is that ITV are, as ever, dilatory at bothering to put the highlights programme up. It's fairly frequently been 10.15pm until they get round to uploading it, at which point we've usually given up and switched to Eurosport/GCN. I've grown to quite like Carlton Kirby's eccentric commentary, but my goodness was Sean Kelly in full rant mode yesterday...
The disadvantage is that ITV are, as ever, dilatory at bothering to put the highlights programme up. It's fairly frequently been 10.15pm until they get round to uploading it, at which point we've usually given up and switched to Eurosport/GCN. I've grown to quite like Carlton Kirby's eccentric commentary, but my goodness was Sean Kelly in full rant mode yesterday...
cycle.travel - maps, journey-planner, route guides and city guides
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Re: Tour de France on TV
That reinforces something said earlier in the thread. I've not watched Eurosport since it stopped being free on the original BSkyB and in those days he seemed completely laid back. The complaint used to be from people who needed subtitles to understand what he was saying. Perhaps he's been told to change his style.but my goodness was Sean Kelly in full rant mode yesterday.
Re: Tour de France on TV
Trouble is, he talks so fast that his subtitles would be whizzing up the screen like the end credits of a US sitcom.
Re: Tour de France on TV
Whereas Dave Bicknall was forever scrambling his Matchless across the small screens. Was it a Matchless or am I dreaming? Anyway, cycling - 0 scrambling - 10 on Grandstandthirdcrank wrote: ↑14 Jul 2021, 6:16pm If it was ever on Grandstand for five whole minutes I must have missed it. I was thinking just now and I remember whe even French TV had much less coverage, and it was a matter on listening to one of the French radio progs on long wave (?) Compared with that, ITV4 is the bees knees
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Re: Tour de France on TV
How do people not understand Sean Kelly!!!?
Even in full on rant mode he’s no harder to understand than any other commentators!
Even in full on rant mode he’s no harder to understand than any other commentators!
Re: Tour de France on TV
Yes, but he knows a lot about professional cycling (having been there/done that) and tells thingsRichard Fairhurst wrote: ↑15 Jul 2021, 9:33am but my goodness was Sean Kelly in full rant mode yesterday...
"as it is". I love listening to him and his accent.
Re: Tour de France on TV
Absolutely. I love the brief silences he leaves when an overexcitable commentator makes a stupid comment.De Sisti wrote: ↑22 Jul 2021, 6:16pmYes, but he knows a lot about professional cycling (having been there/done that) and tells thingsRichard Fairhurst wrote: ↑15 Jul 2021, 9:33am but my goodness was Sean Kelly in full rant mode yesterday...
"as it is". I love listening to him and his accent.
'What do you think Sean?'
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