ITV viewers: the remove James Allen petition

SpykerMF1 · Post by **SpykerMF1** » 13 Jun 2007, 18:58

Yep 2nd rate shows are more important to ITV than the worlds number one motorsport. :roll:

donald29 · Post by **donald29** » 14 Jun 2007, 09:00

Dark_Fisico wrote:So funny... Alonso was in fourth and the TV was showing him in fourth and we SAW Massa infront of Alonso like 5 times, and James Allen was going 'Alonso who is in 3rd' and then like 5 minutes later they show the replay of the pass and he was so confused ...

I saw that I was just thinking "What the f*** is he on about???" But we've come to expect this every race now. I wonder what drivel he'll produce this weekend at Indy...

Super Aguri · Post by **Super Aguri** » 14 Jun 2007, 15:58

Our forums have received a number of queries and comments regarding last weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix coverage on ITV1. Here, ITV’s Director of News and Sport, Mark Sharman, responds to some of the points raised:

Thank you to everyone who has sent messages and comments about our coverage of F1 and in particular the Canadian Grand Prix last Sunday.

These are thrilling times for us all, unprecedented in the history of the sport, so everyone involved at ITV Sport wants the coverage to be as good as it can be. We do, therefore, listen to your comments and make changes wherever possible.

The main complaint about Sunday was the fact that we missed the press conference and/or any interviews with Lewis Hamilton after his ground-breaking win. This wasn’t ideal, but ITV is a general entertainment channel and we have to satisfy different sections of the audience.

With the Safety Car running four times, the Canadian race was well behind time, so I had to negotiate a lengthy over-run which delayed Coronation Street by several minutes.

This enabled us to wrap up the race properly, reflect the emotion and see Lewis onto the podium. The programme ended on a high, with the National Anthem and the spraying of champagne.

I’m sure the vast majority of our audience (almost 8 million people watched Lewis cross the line) saw this as a fitting climax to a great event – and were able to move smoothly to the rest of the evening’s viewing.

Several of you made the point that we could have used a red button service or switched to ITV4.

The reality is that we don’t have the capacity at present to offer a full red button alternative – and our broadcast systems don’t allow us to make an unplanned programme switch.

However, it is fair to say we were caught out by the length of the over-run, so I’m pleased to say that for this week’s Grand Prix we have made the necessary arrangements. If the race overruns and we aren’t able to screen interviews on ITV1, we will continue the show on ITV4.

I would like to point out that when I came into this job in 2005, there were occasions when we were not screening Saturday qualifying live, particularly from the Far East and North America.

Because of your requests this was quickly rectified and has paid off with good ratings on ITV4. Let me reassure everyone that ITV is fully behind F1 and we will continue to push the boundaries of schedules.

Commercial breaks are, of course, an issue, but advertising is our main source of income and we would not be able to bring top quality sport, free to major audiences, without commercials.

Our producers try hard to include them at the least intrusive moments and – by and large – achieve this.

In general I am very proud of our production team’s achievements.

They have won many industry awards for their innovative coverage, including the BAFTA for sport and two Royal Television Society trophies this year alone, for innovation (Martin Brundle’s Insight features) and for top pundit (Brundle again).

Our access around the paddock and garages, our editorial features and race coverage constantly set the highest standards of sports broadcasting.

The team lives F1, they are huge fans themselves and will continue to try and improve the service, which is why we all welcome your comments and ideas.

One final point… a couple of you have sketchy memories of the BBC’s coverage. As I recall, they rarely showed qualifying and didn’t give the races the extensive coverage that we are used to now.

However, I am not concerned with the past, only the wonderful season of racing ahead. Rest assured we will do all we can to bring you the best possible programmes.

Mark Sharman
Director of ITV News and Sport

Still if the race doesnt start at 6ish? like it should and has some sort of delay and the race doesnt finish by 20:00 and you don't have ITV4 you are screwed!

megasyxx · Post by **megasyxx** » 14 Jun 2007, 16:14

who in the hell is he?!?!?

lebron james? or ray allen

ntr · Post by **ntr** » 14 Jun 2007, 16:22

very nice pr ...

but he didn't mention the complaints about JA that they must get every race

Bowsey · Post by **Bowsey** » 14 Jun 2007, 16:34

Super Aguri wrote:
Several of you made the point that we could have used a red button service or switched to ITV4.

The reality is that we don’t have the capacity at present to offer a full red button alternative – and our broadcast systems don’t allow us to make an unplanned programme switch.
Its funny how BBC can do this. They do it all the time will motoGP, extra and extended coverages when you press the red button.

Super Aguri wrote:
Commercial breaks are, of course, an issue, but advertising is our main source of income and we would not be able to bring top quality sport, free to major audiences, without commercials.

Our producers try hard to include them at the least intrusive moments and – by and large – achieve this.

They could continue to show the race in a box in the corner of the screen, like they do in european countries, when the adverts are on, But this is obviously too hard for ITV

Super Aguri · Post by **Super Aguri** » 17 Jun 2007, 20:37

I seem to like to moan about ITV and James Allen as yet again I find myself posting another reply :P

James Allen does his best to give the exact same ending to the race as last time. Lewis Hamilton..... wins with exactly the same tone and everything. Is he a robot? :P

Cutting off from the world feed when lewis is on the team radio.

Rider and Blundell failing to realise when talking to Marco Andretti that an Amefrican driver is in F1 (Scott Speed)

Just a very poor ITV effort today.

Too many mistakes.

ntr · Post by **ntr** » 18 Jun 2007, 09:11

lol at James Allen when he 'predicted' that Lewis 'would wave to the crowd' at the end

then nothing happened...why does he say that sort of stuff

Check out the poll on itv-f1.com 50.01% of votes thought Alonso was the driver of the day compared to only 15.76% for Britain's Lewis Hamilton, i'm sure this is not what people really think...everyone's probably trying to send a signal to the itv idiots

Their show is now just tailored for the new Lewis fan, the new f1 fan, the glory hunters, for the people that know nothing about F1 until Lewis was on the 6 o clock news :frown:

What about the grid walk, that was so funny

i thought he was going to have a bad interview with Pharell after his one word answers

SpykerMF1 · Post by **SpykerMF1** » 18 Jun 2007, 09:23

alex wrote: i thought he was going to have a bad interview with Pharell after his one word answers

Who exactly is he??
Yea the only answer that wasn't one word had obviously been pre scripted by what sounded like Ron

Dark_Fisico · Post by **Dark_Fisico** » 18 Jun 2007, 10:04

alex wrote:lol at James Allen when he 'predicted' that Lewis 'would wave to the crowd' at the end then nothing happened...why does he say that sort of stuff

Check out the poll on itv-f1.com 50.01% of votes thought Alonso was the driver of the day compared to only 15.76% for Britain's Lewis Hamilton, i'm sure this is not what people really think...everyone's probably trying to send a signal to the itv idiots

Their show is now just tailored for the new Lewis fan, the new f1 fan, the glory hunters, for the people that know nothing about F1 until Lewis was on the 6 o clock news :frown:

What about the grid walk, that was so funny i thought he was going to have a bad interview with Pharell after his one word answers

I love you :mrgreen: that was exactly what I was gonna rant about

...

Though watching the beginning I don't think any of them are talking about Hamilton because they want to... Steve Ryder was SOOO obviously reading off his clipboard and looked bored saying it

...

KrFerrari · Post by **KrFerrari** » 18 Jun 2007, 13:30

ITV are complete pigs at the moment. Brundle aside the rest are a shambles. They talk so acusingly of Alonso, Massa, Kimi etc.
When they talk abot Hamilton it's always with a shot of him improving his middle sectoe or something, when it's everyone else it's 0.5s slower on their out lap. James Allen should be sacked with imediate effect along with Rider, they talk nothing but utter nonsense ALL OF THE TIME!!!!!(note the use of capital letters and several exclemation marks

).

To summarise, ITV is a complete and utter joke at the moment every aspect of there programming is built around cr@p. :frown:

donald29 · Post by **donald29** » 18 Jun 2007, 16:00

alex wrote:Check out the poll on itv-f1.com 50.01% of votes thought Alonso was the driver of the day compared to only 15.76% for Britain's Lewis Hamilton, i'm sure this is not what people really think...everyone's probably trying to send a signal to the itv idiots

Brundle said something like 60% of people voted for Sato as driver of the day in Canada rather than "BRITAIN'S Lewis Hamilton" sound ing really surprised!! I put Britain in capitals a ITV always refer to him as this. This isn't A1GP!

Chubbs · Post by **Chubbs** » 18 Jun 2007, 18:01

i am a hamilton fan and its driving me crazy hearing too much about him...

the media really know how to destroy a good moment.

however i was quite pleased whn watching the US GP to see so much of the rest of the mid-field in the race. hardly ever saw the mclarens! James allen was still saying stuff like "were not watching britains lewis hamilton but hes still 2.3 seconds ahead!" i just want james allen to Pi$$ off!! he knows nothing about the sport and shouldnt be allowed.

i like martin brundle hes a legend, i also like mark blundell hes also a legend but blundell gets drawn into answering questions about lewis all the time by ryder and the ITV producers... i say hand it over to sky sports or the BBC...

im gona start watching it on SPEED even tho i get annoyed with the american accent (when i was watchin le mans they kept calling the peugeot a POOgeot

)

8)

rb207 · Post by **rb207** » 18 Jun 2007, 18:25

I think James Allen should be replaced, he has improved but he is not good enough. But finding a replacement could be challenging. Martin Brundle is great.

ntr · Post by **ntr** » 18 Jun 2007, 19:54

donald29 wrote:
alex wrote:Check out the poll on itv-f1.com 50.01% of votes thought Alonso was the driver of the day compared to only 15.76% for Britain's Lewis Hamilton, i'm sure this is not what people really think...everyone's probably trying to send a signal to the itv idiots
Brundle said something like 60% of people voted for Sato as driver of the day in Canada rather than "BRITAIN'S Lewis Hamilton" sound ing really surprised!! I put Britain in capitals a ITV always refer to him as this. This isn't A1GP!

Yes Ryder alllllllllwayyyys says Britain's Lewis Hamilton, it's so funny with his always-happy grinning face

Look at the poll on the site now

Looks like a lot of people are losing patience with itv