So after Gavin Emmett left the motogp.com commentary team, I decided to take the plunge and upgrade my Virgin media package to the XL bundle which gives me BT sport, Eurosport and ESPN in HD (and Motors TV too). I watched Qatar on motogp.com and had loads of buffering issues. TO be able to watch bike racing in HD for the first was amazing. My TV's not the best and it couldn't keep up with the speed of racing to give sharp images. Not any more! SO after watching free practice, qualifying and the 3 races, I give BT's coverage 8 out of 10. The race track coverage is excellent (if a little unpolished but it's only their 2nd race so give them a chance) but the studio coverage is stilted with a lot of room for improvement. Melanie Sykes will grow into it. Considering she knows Sweet FA about the sport, she's not doing too bad and you can see why they've got Steve Parrish on board coz he's been there and done it. Troy Corser looked like a ventroquilist's dummy. Does he even open his mouth to speak? So, all in all, it was worth the extra expense. Yes, it was great when it was free but that model is history and as long as BT continue to invest in the promotion of bike racing then I'm happy. And give me lots of commentator/pundit bullshit. I want to know as much as I can. Only piece of the jigsaw missing is Spalders' insight in the technical side of things.
I can't moan, I'm getting it for nowt, but it's all been good so far. I only watch the actual race and qualifying, and don't bother with all the stuff before and after, so as long as the race commentary is ok I'm happy. Still can't abide Ryder though.
I found it all a bit too much, they've got everyone and his brother commentating and interviewing and they're all trying hard to impress. As much as the Toby and Julie banter used to get on my nerves at least it wasn't fleshed out with studio waffle. Ben Spies was interesting during Friday FP1/2 but I dozed off during the qually prog, it went on so long. Another thing is the warm up session isn't shown which I used to enjoy as a taster of who's hot on race day. I like Hodgson in the studio or commentating but he was really nervous on the grid walk. Mel Sykes is struggling but as said early days, they're still finding their way. Hopefully Spalders will get his feet under the table, everyone else has.
Was away all weekend, so wanted to watch all the racing on the replay feature. When I looked they only had highlights (8mins) for both the Moto3 and Moto2 races, but I did get to see the whole MotoGP race. However, it was practically impossible to get to watch the races without having the results spoiled. There is a spoiler free section, but you have to navigate the main pain, which will have a massive picture of the bike winning the race. Tad annoying, but its still early days
We're working on a way to get you into the spoiler-free version of the full race without seeing a hint of the result elsewhere. Hopefully we can sort it.
Ahh by that im guessing you work for BT Sport? Cool Alistair and I went to the first taping of MotoGP live and greatly enjoyed it. Very happy with how BT Sport are treating MotoGP, so thank you
Yes, I'm head of digital at BT Sport and the proud owner of a Multistrada GT, my second red bike glad you enjoyed the MGP Tonight.
Small world I've known Mike for years and he mentioned he had a customer who worked for BT Sport. I've done some work with them, some shows (to get a cheaper service) and they helped me with some editorial content, one of which should be getting published in Fast Bikes
I think it's really good, and I like hodgeson getting involved with the Brits ....all in all I think it's great,
good for you, perhaps you'd be good enough to reply to my earlier query, I'd still like to know why BT can't offer just the bike racing coverage without the other sports?
