75 replies to this topic

[krispy kreme]

<rant on>
I'be been slowly steaming about the horrid coverage of the America's Cup. This is not a rant about ACM, more what they did with ACTV. I don't blame ACM for the weather, but peeps , puhlleez gather in your belts and face facts that the schedule constuct revolved around 'competing' Euro events and this whole "Acts" thang which has teams committed for o.s. events around the globe after June. Just STOP with the b.s. that Valencia's got a great sea breeze in June. That was 5th on the list in selection. I admire the notion that the Acts was meant to generate ongoing interest up until the cup, but it's been overly constructed and commercialized in my opinion - at the expense of racing - which at the end of the day is what it's all about.

I've read the posts from those who are on site (Marian - Gusmus) etc. and frankly find their views naive.

Particularly that they are attempting to defend a crap info distribution system on a viral marketing generated power house of a race watching site. The irony is almost too much.

What part of the YouTube phenomena went lost on these people?? What part of 'always on' - my cell phone, my PC, my blackberry was lost on these people? I'll tell you what - a bunch of old farts negotiated a TV AND - stay with me on this one - a streaming feed contract with a second tier TV distribution system, that is attempting to use 20 year old 'rights' management principles for a 2007 event.

I love the nonsense over the Italian streaming feed now blocking non italian IP addresses. Why don't the bozo's wake up!! and realize they could fricken monetize those feeds. No no, let's just shut down the r.o.w. I see a lot of chest pumping that their coverage is rockin' and rollin' but the reality is their on the water coverage simply sucks. Clean at KWRW provided more compelling capacity and simply because it was SOCIALLY PARTICIPATORY.

4 years ago there was an organized digital feed out of NZ. How bloody hard is it to license a feed for pay per view in markets around the world? I've looked at the compression algorithms of the steaming feeds and they look like Model T Fords.

Give a thought to this:

Euro population: 728M
China population: 1.6B
India population: 1.3B
Aus population: 20M (foilks who really care about this stuff)
NZ population: 4M ( folks who are actually manning 1/2 the boats in all the fleets)
US population: 310M
APAC population outside of China that might be interested: 300M


And we have SkySports streaming to the 'continent'. And NO Internet presence (that works..............)

I'd happily spend $9.98 for a porn movie, and I can buy that over digital TV, on the Interweb, or on my cell phone, but I can't buy an AC race feed (and I'm talking video and expert commentary) for love nor money.

Simply fuckin' ridiculous - not to have embraced the power of viral marketing, the Interweb, and the advancements in streaming media.

If Oracle gets the cup, well then we'll have some technology, ditto - NZ just cuz it'll be raced in Dubai and there will be a level set of both technology and demographic realization.

I'm not a big fan of Bob Fisher, think he's a pompous doolittle, but this is a good read.
http://www.rule69blo...2007/april/252/

Been to every cup for 20 years, glad I missed this one

<Rant/off>

[Slow Ed]

Wow,

Krispy, can you tell us how you really feel.

I've also been agrivated at trying to find coverage. This site always rocks but the world could do so much better. Here's hoping someone finally learns something.

[mustang__1]

Right on brother.

I find it atocious that a team like Oracle, a technology company, wont even put up money for coverage. I also find it atrocious that they want to spend all this money for the fucken AC village tack shack, where a few people may visit (relative term) versus the number of people that would view this, for pay, over a live internet feed. Fuck, i'd spend money even if it wasnt live just so i can see the action (and i wouldnt have time during the day to watch a match)! Seriously, why are they spending the money for commentators, TV boats, and fucking helicopters when the most world wide coverage the cup is getting on a regular basis is a 2minute clip online! Then some shitty coverage on Versus that is so jumbled and chopped that you can hardly even tell what the fuck is going on.

Right on brother, you aint alone in your frustration.

[DontKnowMuch]

Well researched, well reasoned, well said. It should be on the front page.

[dannyv1986]

Well researched, well reasoned, well said. It should be on the front page.

I don't think the ED cares much for the Cup.

I've always liked the Cup, maybe its because I've watched the sailing parts of wind the tape is dead, and I had a WVIZ special abou tthe 95 cup, which was also watched so much it was dead. I'm sure people have seen it before, but I remember the 95 cup the best. Everyday, watching at my grandparents house on ESPN2 (showing lame ass poker this afternoon... looked over at the tv while lifting).

Now, I think the history alone could make this event work, but I think part of what kills the cup, is it happens every four years, so if they devote TV time, they have to re-educate the public. not like Nascar, golf, tennis, etc.

There is a way to dumb down sailing... I sail in phrf, I know! You wouldn't believe half the stuff I've heard.

But lets think for 5 minutes. I love the cup, but I'd rather go out sailing... even in 95, 2000, and 03... I taped everything, I never watched it as it occured, but saturdays or during the winter, and even if you know the outcome... you'll still watch. I'd pay serious money to re-watch Luna Rossa and AmericaOne back in 2000... I accidently taped over it

What the marketing people should of done, was take a Act from about a year ago, or even earlier, and do it match race style. Then, rent a studio out for a day, and air the races to the public. Even in the 8 knot winds, these races are only an hour and a half... you don't have to show EVERYTHING, but I really like to watch all the close calls, roundings, and espicially the prestarts. And write up a survey, what did you understand, what doesn't make sense, how can we better explain it, and just mess with it. Think of the millions and billions of dollars invested in the racing, and some of the teams are just about halfway done with their campaign.

Then, by the time you get to round robin 1, you have a 2 hour program which will give you everything for the days cup racing, and I have to believe there'd be more US teams in the running too.

I hate the racetracker... its so dumb. I prefer video over it, but I only get the highlights which are like 3 days late, or the 2 minute news... UGH!

[seamouse]

KK I am with you all the way, great well informed rant. After being an AC fan since I could read I have finally given up, it kills me that I cant view the racing, untapped revenue out there must be phenomenal, Jesus I would pay $5 a day if the feed and commentary were slick enough.
I seem to remeber we had a good thing going a few years ago with NZ MIke? et all, live feeds and commentary with VS running along side for the telemetary.

Probably cheaper to fly Ryan or easyjet down to Valencia every weekend.

Sad days for armchair sailors

[marian]

No Krispy Kreme, I am not naive. You are naive when you say "it's been overly constructed and commercialized in my opinion - at the expense of racing - which at the end of the day is what it's all about."

[Tim]

Eloquently put. And much better than I can do. I have to resort to the lowest common denominator and swear profusely about the SHIT, yes I said SHIT!!!! coverage!!!!

I've been moaning about the piss poor effort since the start.

To get a live view of the event in the UK you have to subscribe to Sky to receive Sky Sport 2 or 3. Now, you can't just sign up and get that one channel, no, you have to fork out about £40+ per month ($80) just to get the one programme you want to watch!! Fucking Murdoch.

I am proper fed up about all this.

If should ever be fortunate enough to meet Michel Hodara, I'm going to poke him in the eye. Fuck it, both eyes. It seems to be his fault that the rest of the world can't watch. TWAT.

god the feels good.

T

[marian]

KK I am with you all the way, great well informed rant. After being an AC fan since I could read I have finally given up, it kills me that I cant view the racing, untapped revenue out there must be phenomenal, Jesus I would pay $5 a day if the feed and commentary were slick enough.
I seem to remeber we had a good thing going a few years ago with NZ MIke? et all, live feeds and commentary with VS running along side for the telemetary.

Probably cheaper to fly Ryan or easyjet down to Valencia every weekend.

Sad days for armchair sailors

So why aren't you watching Sky?

[marian]

To get a live view of the event in the UK you have to subscribe to Sky to receive Sky Sport 2 or 3. Now, you can't just sign up and get that one channel, no, you have to fork out about £40+ per month ($80) just to get the one programme you want to watch!! Fucking Murdoch.

Friend of mine has just signed up. Got the Sports Channel and a film channel for £15 a month.

[Tim]

Friend of mine has just signed up. Got the Sports Channel and a film channel for £15 a month.

Not possible. Standard box, two basic channels which you have to select = £15, add Sky Sports package = £34. - no sky plus or HD. You must have a BT/NTL phone line so add the line charge of £10-15 per month = £50 ($100) per month to watch Sky Sports. Check this link if you don't believe me.

http://mysky.sky.com...ette.cachetoken

[marian]

Not possible. Standard box, two basic channels which you have to select = £15, add Sky Sports package = £34. - no sky plus or HD. You must have a BT/NTL phone line so add the line charge of £10-15 per month = £50 ($100) per month to watch Sky Sports. Check this link if you don't believe me.

http://mysky.sky.com...ette.cachetoken

She's already got SKy, just added the sports and a film package.

[Tim]

She's already got SKy, just added the sports and a film package.

Well there you go then.

Thing is I can't even get Sky - no dish on my block. Could put a dish in my living room I suppose.

[Terrorvision]

I don't have access to SKY but I do get Star Sports, ESPN and some others. I noticed there has been a lot of curling on TV recently- who would have thought there was more money and viewership there?

(Apart from Canada of course)

[WetHog]

What the marketing people should of done, was take a Act from about a year ago, or even earlier, and do it match race style.

I agree and they can start with last year when Oracle collided with Luna Rossa. I still haven't seen a video of that. Just pictures. One picture you see Oracle and Luna Rossa getting close, then the next you see USA 87's bow sprit all smashed up. Does anyone have a link to the video of this???

WetHog

[gusmus]

A lot of this is down to TV companies calculating if buying the AC Broadcasting rights is actually economically viable. I have no figures to hand but I would imagine that we are talking BIG BUCKS for the AC rights. I don't know what the live coverage is like worldwide but to say that coverage is biased towards Europe is a bit of a distortion. The countrys which have participating boats in this edition (correct me if I'm wrong) have full live coverage and due to the fact that, apart from 3.5 boats (BMW/Oracle is the .5) all of the rest are European.
To expect a TV company to shell out a large sum of money for the rights to a live sporting event which would most likely decrease their viewing figures as opposed mantaining or raising them with a cheap soap opera is being unreasonable. We have to remember that in general, sailing is a rich mans sport and therefor a minority sport. Match racing is even more of a minority sport and the general public don't really like to watch stuff they don't understand, they'd rather watch re-runs of Falcons Crest. This is a huge event for us the aficcionados, but even for many sailing fans and yachtsmen themselves, this whole AC match racing thing is a big turn off.

[Heavy Cloud]

A lot of this is down to TV companies calculating if buying the AC Broadcasting rights is actually economically viable. I have no figures to hand but I would imagine that we are talking BIG BUCKS for the AC rights. I don't know what the live coverage is like worldwide but to say that coverage is biased towards Europe is a bit of a distortion. The countrys which have participating boats in this edition (correct me if I'm wrong) have full live coverage and due to the fact that, apart from 3.5 boats (BMW/Oracle is the .5) all of the rest are European.
To expect a TV company to shell out a large sum of money for the rights to a live sporting event which would most likely decrease their viewing figures as opposed mantaining or raising them with a cheap soap opera is being unreasonable. We have to remember that in general, sailing is a rich mans sport and therefor a minority sport. Match racing is even more of a minority sport and the general public don't really like to watch stuff they don't understand, they'd rather watch re-runs of Falcons Crest. This is a huge event for us the aficcionados, but even for many sailing fans and yachtsmen themselves, this whole AC match racing thing is a big turn off.

Ah.. Gus. I think you are missing the point here. The AC management team is aware of the "broadcast licensing issues", and still they are "not" growing the market, by using the web properly. Most folks would watch this as a non-live event, as described above.

It is killing the branding, that they are trying to protect. Not wise on any level, and reveals some bad planning on their part. Krispy nailed it. It's like having a huge party, inviting everyone and then not telling them where it is??? Sad really.

[harzak]

(...falcon crest more popular etc...)

Yes you're right, whatever. The issue is that the AC management should have arranged for a live feed that we could buy into.

Could someone please rip the TV coverage and post it somewhere for us to see?

[gusmus]

Could someone please rip the TV coverage and post it somewhere for us to see?

That's being worked on but it's a risky business and it would be quite easy to get your balls handed to you on a silver plate. Two or three anonymous proxy servers would be needed to cut the risk to acceptable levels for anyone who wanted to try it. ACM and the TV companys who have paid for exclusive rights are obviously very protective of their investment.. See you later. Just rushing out of the door to go and see what I suspect will be a cancellation for today. No wind at all and a horrible gray sky. Fingers crossed.

[Francisco]

Right on brother.

I find it atocious that a team like Oracle, a technology company, wont even put up money for coverage. I also find it atrocious that they want to spend all this money for the fucken AC village tack shack, where a few people may visit (relative term) versus the number of people that would view this, for pay, over a live internet feed. Fuck, i'd spend money even if it wasnt live just so i can see the action (and i wouldnt have time during the day to watch a match)! Seriously, why are they spending the money for commentators, TV boats, and fucking helicopters when the most world wide coverage the cup is getting on a regular basis is a 2minute clip online! Then some shitty coverage on Versus that is so jumbled and chopped that you can hardly even tell what the fuck is going on.

Right on brother, you aint alone in your frustration.

ACM owns the rights to any official racing footage. The teams can't just create their own productions of official racing without the consent of ACM.

Its a big f%$#-up by ACM for not promoting the event by GIVING the footage away. Instead, someone's burning a fire under their arse to make a profit from this mess.

Its all a big wank if you ask me.

[Terrafirma]

It's the age old problem with regards to sailing, it is a minority sport when you compare it to the big games around the world. Sailing has never enjoyed the coverage equivalent to US Football or European Football, Aussie Rules, or whatever. It never will because the average Joe never gets exposed to sailing and therefore the market diminishes dramatically. So we have a myriad of broadcasters trying to get the AC to us, the minority market. With that in mind and being from down under, I for one am happy to have Live Sailing and Audio at the same time. Live Video ould be even better...

[Clewless]

Just a headsup.

Been getting good live feed here in San Diego from Italian channel LA7. Google "streamerone".

Wife think I'm nuts watching Italian TV......

Clew

[DaveK]

Just a headsup.

Been getting good live feed here in San Diego from Italian channel LA7. Google "streamerone".

Wife think I'm nuts watching Italian TV......

Clew

Well…. I downloaded the streamer, installed the plugin for fire fox but, I can’t get it to do anything in Explorer either…..

Wait… I hear something (5 minutes later?)… It’s works!! It really does and I see sailboats. Holly shit!! I’m really screwed and now I’ll get nothing done at home or work. With the reflector site I could listen and work at same time. Now I need to learn Italian or maybe, I could listen from the reflector and watch this at the same time. Wonder what the time delay is between them?

Thanks Clew!!

DaveK

[pudge]

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH Im stuck on some christian faith channel!!!! Where are the boats!?!?!?!?!

[marian]

Well…. I downloaded the streamer, installed the plugin for fire fox but, I can't get it to do anything in Explorer either…..

Wait… I hear something (5 minutes later?)… It's works!! It really does and I see sailboats. Holly shit!! I'm really screwed and now I'll get nothing done at home or work. With the reflector site I could listen and work at same time. Now I need to learn Italian or maybe, I could listen from the reflector and watch this at the same time. Wonder what the time delay is between them?

Thanks Clew!!

DaveK

Which are you getting it on FF or IE. I have FF telling me I don't have some Active X thing and IE opens it but says it cant connect to the server

[Clewless]

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH Im stuck on some christian faith channel!!!! Where are the boats!?!?!?!?!

Test 7

[Clewless]

I'm on XP and running IE.

Could not get it to work on W2000

[DaveK]

Which are you getting it on FF or IE. I have FF telling me I don't have some Active X thing and IE opens it but says it cant connect to the server

You have to wait a very long time before it starts. Once it does finally start, It'll skip and blip in and out for a while until it builds enough buffer. I don't think I waited long enough in FF for it to start but, you have to install the pulgin.

DaveK

[the_abandoned_brane]

this worls out well for me. we got rid of cable this winter, even though we've come to the conclusion it was mistake it means I'll have to find somewhere sle to watch the races. and it looks like a stroll to the bar in the mornings is in the cards. the perfect excuse for me to abandon the wife and 7 month old daughter for a few hours each day.

[HHN92]

"they'd rather watch re-runs of Falcons Crest."

Falcon Crest, now that's going back a ways.

The guys at work think I'm nuts listening to this stuff. Couldn't even get them excited when the two boats banged into each other Friday. Tried to tell 'em that one boat was trying to put the other one into the wall.................no luck.

[cracker-jack]

Just a headsup.

Been getting good live feed here in San Diego from Italian channel LA7. Google "streamerone".

Wife think I'm nuts watching Italian TV......

Clew

How did you get Cup channel? I got several positive tests but no idea how to get live cup?

[stripclubjunkie]

I've been getting LA7 (Italian TV) via something called TVANTS. Google it - it's a P2P streamer and has been working well although the feed is about 1-2 minutes behind the live audio via the AC site. That streamerone feed was pulled down and I've not looked elsewhere for anything as TVANTS works good....

Summary -

Live audio (English) and race tracker via the AC site (individual links to various pieces of content are doable as well)
Live (slightly delayed) video via TVANTS P2P stream on LA7

Side note - Italian TV ads have hot girls. I especially like the Alfa GT ad, being an Alfisti of course....

[Student_Driver]

The following post is by TNR(NZ) on the ML Paint Job thread. Apparently there is a pay web site in NZ which gives live video. Am condisdering trying it. Anyone else outside NZ try this? Thots?

QUOTE(Geronimo @ May 1 2007, 01:02 PM)
is there anyway for me to listen to good old Peter here in the States? Like a web feed?


Yes, and I don't know but I'm pretty sure, and you'll have to flip out your credit card..

http://www.tvnzdeskt...nz/americascup/

now an explanation of the line above.

Yes you can watch it off the web.
I don't know if Peter is the same feed on desktop tv but I'm fare sure it is.

And it costs $$. 49.95 for the whole show I think.

[mustang__1]

someone in some thread has pointed out that there are half hour recaps of each race in the highlights section of the americas cup anywhere thingy. They are pretty decent. Not being live, for the most part, is ok with me as i cant watch them during school anyway... When summer comes that'll be a different story though.

[Student_Driver]

someone in some thread has pointed out that there are half hour recaps of each race in the highlights section of the americas cup anywhere thingy. They are pretty decent. Not being live, for the most part, is ok with me as i cant watch them during school anyway... When summer comes that'll be a different story though.

Not seen that and I am subscribed to the Lucent SailAnywhere site. Is it video or a 3-D animation of events?

[mustang__1]

video. AC anywhere TV . If you from there to click on highlights, you will see the (2days or more late) recaps of the races.

[JeffR]

video. AC anywhere TV . If you from there to click on highlights, you will see the (2days or more late) recaps of the races.

I am not sure why but when ever I try to pick one of the on-demand videos, I get the audio of 2 clips at the same time even though there is only one browser window open. Anyone have this happen??

[mustang__1]

if you go to it from the website, and you get a screen that has a link to the internet tv, there is a player on that page. There shouldnt be from my link though...

[DEAD MONEY]

KK

Really good post and very true. Marian & Gusmus have great insight and good eyes on what is going on and I do not find their posts naive at all. I am glad we have someone actually there to check on things for the rest of us. Keep up the good work.

Gusmus is 100% correct. TV can only sell what people will pay money for (read advertizing dollars). Unfortunately AC racing is not main stream in US. It is certainly more so in other parts of the world like France, Italy, and now Spain. There is no quick and easy fix for this problem.

Thank GOD for the free radio link. It brings me back to my youth when TV's were just starting to become a household item. I would spend time at my granparents house and they would listen to "the Shadow" on the radio. It was fun but I would look forward to watching the TV. The coverage on Sail TV and America's Cup anywhere is the worst. It is like they have never seen a race before, they cut ALL the good stuff out and have NO clue of what footage should stay or go. With the leading software company in the world I would have thought this go around they would have gotten their shit together but you'd be wrong on that. How hard is it to get a live feed and put it on the computer (like the radio) and charge a nominal fee ?? or actually put the tape of the day on a site, even if it were not live you'd still get lots of people buying that.

[shadowfax]

Great points by all, but my real dissapointment is with the general coverage in the US. Nothing in USA today as far as I have seen. ESPN will not even run results on the ticker. Versus is at least running a highlight show during NHL first intermission. Best site I have found is sail.tv Free 20 minute highlight shows every day, and all of them are on demand so you can watch previous acts or LV races. They are about 1 or 2 days behind current, but for free and no player to download it is great.

[krispy kreme]

Well really the point I was trying to make in the Web 2.0 age is that the lack of capability to do a pay per view download or pay per view live feed on the Internet shows a complete lack of realization of the state of communications distribution today. I am not arguing that there is a viable TV audience in the US for this. There isn't. I'm simply positing the notion that to set up a web site, in multiple languages that provides for pay per view was brain dead simple, and completely overlooked by ACM. It's not about TV, it's about the net.

Heck I can go on an NBA site and not only download a pay per view, but order custom jersey's with my name over a number/team of my choice. What can I get from AC? a $170.00 p.o.s. jacket that says Americas Cup 2007? woo hoo!!

[Indio]

Great points by all, but my real dissapointment is with the general coverage in the US. Nothing in USA today as far as I have seen. ESPN will not even run results on the ticker. Versus is at least running a highlight show during NHL first intermission. Best site I have found is sail.tv Free 20 minute highlight shows every day, and all of them are on demand so you can watch previous acts or LV races. They are about 1 or 2 days behind current, but for free and no player to download it is great.

We get live TV from 23:30-NZT/01:30-Valencia time onwards every night in NZ....great viewing, but tough to survive on minimal sleep

[shadowfax]

Well really the point I was trying to make in the Web 2.0 age is that the lack of capability to do a pay per view download or pay per view live feed on the Internet shows a complete lack of realization of the state of communications distribution today. I am not arguing that there is a viable TV audience in the US for this. There isn't. I'm simply positing the notion that to set up a web site, in multiple languages that provides for pay per view was brain dead simple, and completely overlooked by ACM. It's not about TV, it's about the net.

Heck I can go on an NBA site and not only download a pay per view, but order custom jersey's with my name over a number/team of my choice. What can I get from AC? a $170.00 p.o.s. jacket that says Americas Cup 2007? woo hoo!!

As one that loves to throw fuel on a fire, I can't resist pointing this out...you can get MLS (major league soccer, about the same draw level as sailing in the U.S.) live feeds through the MLS website. All of the games every week. Surely if I can watch MLS every week every year, I should be able to watch LV/AC for 4 months every few years!

[OKsailor]

Well really the point I was trying to make in the Web 2.0 age is that the lack of capability to do a pay per view download or pay per view live feed on the Internet shows a complete lack of realization of the state of communications distribution today. I am not arguing that there is a viable TV audience in the US for this. There isn't. I'm simply positing the notion that to set up a web site, in multiple languages that provides for pay per view was brain dead simple, and completely overlooked by ACM. It's not about TV, it's about the net.

Heck I can go on an NBA site and not only download a pay per view, but order custom jersey's with my name over a number/team of my choice. What can I get from AC? a $170.00 p.o.s. jacket that says Americas Cup 2007? woo hoo!!

Hey Krispy go here http://www.tvnzdeskt...56/Default.aspx it'll solve all your problems

[DEAD MONEY]

Well really the point I was trying to make in the Web 2.0 age is that the lack of capability to do a pay per view download or pay per view live feed on the Internet shows a complete lack of realization of the state of communications distribution today. I am not arguing that there is a viable TV audience in the US for this. There isn't. I'm simply positing the notion that to set up a web site, in multiple languages that provides for pay per view was brain dead simple, and completely overlooked by ACM. It's not about TV, it's about the net.

Heck I can go on an NBA site and not only download a pay per view, but order custom jersey's with my name over a number/team of my choice. What can I get from AC? a $170.00 p.o.s. jacket that says Americas Cup 2007? woo hoo!!

If you missed last weeks episode of "Lost" you can now go on lone to ABC and watch ALL the episodes. So how come we can't watch the footage of the real race the same way ?? Because they are too dumb.....

[cracker-jack]

If you missed last weeks episode of "Lost" you can now go on lone to ABC and watch ALL the episodes. So how come we can't watch the footage of the real race the same way ?? Because they are too dumb.....

I just got desperate and bought the NZ feed. You wouldn’t believe how F’’in slow their server is 24kbs now the fucker is up dateing files after 20 minutes I received 8 of 52 files. All of the frre Italian Feeds are shut down for p2ptv. I’m going to miss the whole day as if it couldn’t get any worse the audio on AC nowhere is 30 seconds late.

[Student_Driver]

I just got desperate and bought the NZ feed. You wouldn’t believe how F’’in slow their server is 24kbs now the fucker is up dateing files after 20 minutes I received 8 of 52 files. All of the frre Italian Feeds are shut down for p2ptv. I’m going to miss the whole day as if it couldn’t get any worse the audio on AC nowhere is 30 seconds late.

AC Nowhere is truly pathetic as well. Constantly flashing old news items. Today it is reporting that Arvea is comfortably ahead...

[Editor]

I don't think the ED cares much for the Cup.

I've always liked the Cup, maybe its because I've watched the sailing parts of wind the tape is dead, and I had a WVIZ special abou tthe 95 cup, which was also watched so much it was dead. I'm sure people have seen it before, but I remember the 95 cup the best. Everyday, watching at my grandparents house on ESPN2 (showing lame ass poker this afternoon... looked over at the tv while lifting).

Now, I think the history alone could make this event work, but I think part of what kills the cup, is it happens every four years, so if they devote TV time, they have to re-educate the public. not like Nascar, golf, tennis, etc.

There is a way to dumb down sailing... I sail in phrf, I know! You wouldn't believe half the stuff I've heard.

But lets think for 5 minutes. I love the cup, but I'd rather go out sailing... even in 95, 2000, and 03... I taped everything, I never watched it as it occured, but saturdays or during the winter, and even if you know the outcome... you'll still watch. I'd pay serious money to re-watch Luna Rossa and AmericaOne back in 2000... I accidently taped over it

What the marketing people should of done, was take a Act from about a year ago, or even earlier, and do it match race style. Then, rent a studio out for a day, and air the races to the public. Even in the 8 knot winds, these races are only an hour and a half... you don't have to show EVERYTHING, but I really like to watch all the close calls, roundings, and espicially the prestarts. And write up a survey, what did you understand, what doesn't make sense, how can we better explain it, and just mess with it. Think of the millions and billions of dollars invested in the racing, and some of the teams are just about halfway done with their campaign.

Then, by the time you get to round robin 1, you have a 2 hour program which will give you everything for the days cup racing, and I have to believe there'd be more US teams in the running too.

I hate the racetracker... its so dumb. I prefer video over it, but I only get the highlights which are like 3 days late, or the 2 minute news... UGH!

I care, I've just been a bit out of the loop of late - this goes up tonight!

[porno party guy]

KK sums it up,

and reinforces the fact that the " AC"

(the "AC" being a title that IS OWNED and representing itself )

dont give a fucking care about John Q sailor..

i'd love to watch these races even after the fact..
I cant,

so...

fuck the AC and the horse it rode in on.....

[TJR(NZ)]

someone might have said this before, but if NZ won Dubai would not be where the cup would be held, ETNZ are contractually bound to hold it in Auckland, now this by far doesn't mean that if they kept the ACTs in play they could hold some of those in Dubai.

[MR.CLEAN]

It was great to be in NZ and see hours and hours of racing every night (started at midnight and finished around 8 in the morning when there were postponements). Looking forward to seeing if they've got anything in OZ, but just got here, two hours earlier so if there is coverage it'd be a bit nicer starting at 2200 instead of 0000.

I'll give you an example of the items that would be involved if Mer and I went to Valencia to cover the event, SA-style (cheap, forum-based, pics and commentary lagging a bit but near real-time). If it was someone Valencia-based, it would obviously be a lot cheaper.

-Travel to Valencia ($1500)
-Room/Board (probably would be hooked up by Anarchists or friends) (0-$2000)
-300 mm telephoto rental (250$)
-Cost of a months Broadband access and equipment ($400)
-access to a good, stable flybridge motoryacht (???)

Sponsors would probably help out with the boat and maybe some of the other expenses (Emirates, anyone?) so the total for foreigners like us would be certainly less than $5000 for a month's screwing around and bringing that same sort of coverage of the event.

I don't know if that kind of coverage is enough - it's the AC, we all want to see it in live action, but just so you know that it's possible, and cheap. As far as I know, there's no real way that ACM could restrict this kind of coverage, other than keeping the spectator boat pretty far away. Hard to get you far enough away that you can't capture and report on the action though.

This stupidity is a recurring theme. The next VOR will be the revolution, at least that's what I'm hoping, and I'm hoping to be a part of it. The AC is a dinosaur that sucks donkey balls.


\\

[gusmus]

[quote name='MR.CLEA

[MR.CLEAN]

[quote name='gusmus' post='1164788' date='May 3 2007, 03:04 AM'][quote name='MR.CLEA[/quote]
Tourettes?

[Skalpel]

Tourettes?

"Where the bloody hell are you"

[Heavy Cloud]

It was great to be in NZ and see hours and hours of racing every night (started at midnight and finished around 8 in the morning when there were postponements). Looking forward to seeing if they've got anything in OZ, but just got here, two hours earlier so if there is coverage it'd be a bit nicer starting at 2200 instead of 0000.

I'll give you an example of the items that would be involved if Mer and I went to Valencia to cover the event, SA-style (cheap, forum-based, pics and commentary lagging a bit but near real-time). If it was someone Valencia-based, it would obviously be a lot cheaper.

-Travel to Valencia ($1500)
-Room/Board (probably would be hooked up by Anarchists or friends) (0-$2000)
-300 mm telephoto rental (250$)
-Cost of a months Broadband access and equipment ($400)
-access to a good, stable flybridge motoryacht (???)

Sponsors would probably help out with the boat and maybe some of the other expenses (Emirates, anyone?) so the total for foreigners like us would be certainly less than $5000 for a month's screwing around and bringing that same sort of coverage of the event.

I don't know if that kind of coverage is enough - it's the AC, we all want to see it in live action, but just so you know that it's possible, and cheap. As far as I know, there's no real way that ACM could restrict this kind of coverage, other than keeping the spectator boat pretty far away. Hard to get you far enough away that you can't capture and report on the action though.

This stupidity is a recurring theme. The next VOR will be the revolution, at least that's what I'm hoping, and I'm hoping to be a part of it. The AC is a dinosaur that sucks donkey balls.
\\

Ya. I vote for Mr. & Mrs Clean to go to Valencia.... It is time for the next generation to take over. Media has changed, and so has people's expectations. The Dinos are already dying. It is time for a take over of the "limited thinking"... the sport deserves it. SA can take over US Sailing as well... in due time... hehe.

[rastus]

krispy kreme can you post some of your $9.98 porn. Tomorrow is friday!

[Terrorvision]

I was on the subway today in Hong Kong heading up to the China border and the LCD's in the carriages were showing the AC!

[Geff]

Awesome rant and great points made on all fronts. I can't get into this thing that much...kinda like the rest of pro sports here in the States, don't care about regular season and the playoffs til about the end/finals. And even then, it all depends on the teams involved and playing. It's a waste of time, etc. for me.

[duwke]

So.. the NZ DesktopTV is worth fifty bones? Seems to be downloading pretty quick here in Austin,TX.. though I haven't actually seen any content yet.

[duwke]

Ok.. downloaded and installed. As far as I can tell, DesktopTV does download one race with video content each night.. the one race being Emirates TNZ vs whomever. It seems to include neat 3d charts and whatnot corrosponding to the leg of the race.

Maybe I'll go ahead and drop the $15 for the round robins... just to see how it all works.

Why can't we get something like this for BMWO?

[43577]

Krispy Kream, do you post at Survivor Sucks?

[Student_Driver]

Ok.. downloaded and installed. As far as I can tell, DesktopTV does download one race with video content each night.. the one race being Emirates TNZ vs whomever. It seems to include neat 3d charts and whatnot corrosponding to the leg of the race.

Maybe I'll go ahead and drop the $15 for the round robins... just to see how it all works.

Why can't we get something like this for BMWO?

cud you pls give some more color on how this works or not...was thinking about getting it as well. Am very frustrated by AmericasCupNowhere.com

[krispy kreme]

I'll try to clarify as best I can. The rant was not about americascupanywhere.com, it was about the fact that currently there is no pay per view facility to watch live streaming video of the LVC races.

americascupanywhere.com offers a (near) real time simulator - looks a lot like Virtual Skipper, version 2.0 ish. They also offer video clips of racing, after the fact. I don't know if they intend on providing payview live streaming video during the AC, but at the moment they don't have it for the LVC. If you want a good simulator, Virtual Skipper 5.0 is the best option, but it won't be operational until the AC round (AFAIK)

Sailing.tv will have live streaming video for the AC, they don't have it for the LVC.

The streaming video feed is owned operated and controlled by AC Properties. It's a master feed that the other distribution outlets then pick up and run. I don't believe there are other original video feeds - let the journo's pipe in on this, they'd know better than I.

[Capt. Hook]

The AC web i even worse than the VOR was and I thought it's impossible.


And hell no. I hope no sailing events go to Dubai.
Advice from people who have ended up in jail there, innocent btw: Don't go there.

[idontwan2know]

The reason we don't have PPV options is because ACM sold exclusive rights in each country to one company. If you paid for the exclusive rights to broadcast the LVC and AC in Durkistania, and here comes ACM selling on their website what you just paid a boatload of money for, you'd be a little pissed, no?

With that being said, a little forethought could have avoided this mess.

[JeffR]

Bottom line: They are pissing away what little audience they had.

I have obsessively watched all the AC coverage I could get since the 87 cup. This time around I just can't get psyched to watch it. Cartoon animations are OK if you are stuck at your desk and can't watch TV, but unless I can see real video of the event on the tube at night it's pretty hard to get excited about.

I would have LOVED to have watched the fleet races. Versus showed a recap and reduced each race to about 15 seconds of "highlights" UGH!

RR1 Versus advertised a 30 minute recap of the whole thing and then showed fucking bull riding instead!

By the time the semi finals start Versus will have already passed on some of the best racing. I think they have blown a chance to capture a nice niche market.

Hard to believe there is less interest in the AC than bike racing, bass fishing, bull riding, poker and all the other lame ass shit they seem to be showing 24/7.

[DEAD MONEY]

and now a kick to the nuts. The "free" radio went down w/3 minutes left in the Oracle/LR race.

[bajakiter]

Sent an email to our sports channel re: AC coverage. They replied with a NASCAR schedule!

A very very small column in our big city newspaper carried the heading "US Cyclists Maintain Lead" , they thought BMWO was a cycling team!!

The saddest thing for me is that we will never get to see any teams on tv except the top four when coverage hopefully starts with the semis.

[Sailing My Cubicle]

Thanks, it's been pretty well established that we can drop $40 bucks to watch drawings of the boats race (when it works....). We don't want that, we want to watch the actual racing, live, and there is no excuse why that can't be shown on the internet. No excuse at all.

[ro!]

Ya. I vote for Mr. & Mrs Clean to go to Valencia.... It is time for the next generation to take over. Media has changed, and so has people's expectations. The Dinos are already dying. It is time for a take over of the "limited thinking"... the sport deserves it. SA can take over US Sailing as well... in due time... hehe.

I don't think that a Mr Clean version would be much better than what we have now- the radio is pretty good if we don't have live tv and I think that is the minimum level, because posts in a thread just doesn't cut it. How hard would it be to do a Radio Clean?
I have to say that in the US this is worst tv/internet coverage ever, but hopefully it will improve for the semi's and the cup.
Freemantle showed how good AC sailboat racing can be and until we go to somewhere that has good consistant 15-25knt wind it's not gonna be great tv

[porno party guy]

it kinda really fuckin pathetic that many of the sailing rag have tons of AC cup info but you just cant PayPer V and watch the damn races ....another fooking joke...

[JBSF]

Thanks, it's been pretty well established that we can $40 bucks to watch drawings of the boats race. We don't want that, we want to watch the actual racing, live, and there is no excuse why that can be shown on the internet. No excuse at all.

Amen, brother! Fucking AMEN!

[newshound]

Live America's Cup and Luis Vuitton Cup sailing on TV will always be a tough sell in the U.S. The media companies just can't afford the possibility of a 90-minute weather delay on a regular basis... it wreaks holy hell on the rest of the lineup, not to mention having backup programming in place, ads running or not running during cancellation days, it just sucks.

I worked in TV for a long time so I know.

Secondly, just like F1 racing, tennis, or soccer (football), it just doesn't seem to play well in middle America. All those red states in the middle would much rather watch Dale Jr. and Jeff Gordon. We have a lot of coastline, but a lot more big, square, flat states that are lucky to have lake sailing.

I agree that there is no excuse for not having a live Internet video stream available to the U.S. market. I will say the video compression on AC Anywhere highlights seem OK for me here on a basic broadband connection.

At least the semis and the rest will be live on Versus (God bless 'em). I'll have to Tivo it... and plan to record an extra 2 hours or so at the end just in case they postpone for 90 minutes and then race.

[Sailing My Cubicle]

Live America's Cup and Luis Vuitton Cup sailing on TV will always be a tough sell in the U.S. The media companies just can't afford the possibility of a 90-minute weather delay on a regular basis... it wreaks holy hell on the rest of the lineup, not to mention having backup programming in place, ads running or not running during cancellation days, it just sucks.

I worked in TV for a long time so I know.

Secondly, just like F1 racing, tennis, or soccer (football), it just doesn't seem to play well in middle America. All those red states in the middle would much rather watch Dale Jr. and Jeff Gordon. We have a lot of coastline, but a lot more big, square, flat states that are lucky to have lake sailing.

I agree that there is no excuse for not having a live Internet video stream available to the U.S. market. I will say the video compression on AC Anywhere highlights seem OK for me here on a basic broadband connection.

At least the semis and the rest will be live on Versus (God bless 'em). I'll have to Tivo it... and plan to record an extra 2 hours or so at the end just in case they postpone for 90 minutes and then race.

I understand why its not on TV. As I said above, I don't understand why live video feeds are not available. There is clearly a market if we're bitching about it, never mind that people are trying to figure how to get german or italian feeds. It just hasn't been thought through properly. Animations were cool, but that was in the late 90s early 2000s when the ability to put video through the "series of tubes" that is the internet wasn't very good. But if I can midgets having sex with horses, or to add insult to injury, full NHL Hockey games on Yahoo (FOR FREE!!!!), why can't I watch sailing? Come on Versus, if you're going to show NHL games on Yahoo, show me sailing on your website.

Here's an idea:
I was pretty psyched when Acura included a DVD of Key West and Miami in my latest issue of sailing world, I've watched it and I even went to their website. So they got they're dollar's worth out of me. So, Acura, step up and host the feed for us. When there should be a commercial break, show me something cool about your cars. You make luxury cars, BMW makes luxury cars. I maybe watching their boat go around, but I'm on your website watching ads about your car while they sail....
Obviously too late for this go round, but next time?

[mad]

Yesterday, Sky sports 1 europe, (premium channel)

Racing start delayed by half hour, they show all the starts and 90% of the races only to pull the plug on the last downwind leg.

Shosaloza V Mascalzone, with the Italiens leading but with a penalty owed from the start. (this cut short by 10 mins)

What the fuck is going on? How can Sky just pull the plug like that? Surely the sponsers are starting to get pissed at this happening, after they have stumped up cash to gain publicity and then get the rug pulled again. They couldn't even be bothered to switch it with the cricket.

If this sport is ever going to be taken seriously, then the whole coverage issue needs to sorted properly. Have paid for Sky 1 as its the only way to see the racing and even they have fucked this up.

Rant over

[ET1]

here maybe is a big one for all of you.
try www.americascup.de. there you´ll find the link ARD or ZDF livestream. Try it.
I got it working today for the first time. Must have been the original AC videos. Great thing.Good coverage of all five races, jumping from flight to flight where ever the action was.
For those of you who get it working and don´t understand German: load it in real player then start acanywhere and listen to the radio comments. Gives you a fine picture of it all.
BUT: as I said, I´ve been trying for at least ten days. Today I got it working for the first time.
To say it with Jimmy Cliff: You can get it if you really want, but you must try, try and try...............