The day the TV screen told me a lie

So I woke up this morning and turned on TSN to watch the qualifying for tomorrow’s Italian Grand Prix and it was all very exciting (Lewis Hamilton on pole for McLaren, Adrian Sutil second in a Force India (!) and Kimi Raikkonen third in a Ferrari) and then, just as the cars pulled into parc ferme and the post-qualifying interviews were to begin – WHAP!! – TSN was out of there and right into the 500^th rerun of last night’s Sportscentre.

So I turned over to the Speed Channel, which covers F1 properly but we can’t watch it because of TSN-imposed blackouts. I figured – fool that I am – that since TSN had stopped showing the racing program that maybe – maybe – the blackout had been lifted on Speed.

It wasn’t – c’est la vie – but this is what made me really angry and prompted me to write this. This is what the writing on the blank screen said:

THIS PROGRAMMING IS AVAILABLE ON ANOTHER CHANNEL IN YOUR AREA

And I yelled right back at that stupid television set:

NO IT’S NOT!!!

If the sign had said:

GO BACK TO SLEEP YOU NITWIT, TSN DOESN’T WANT YOU TO SEE THIS, then I might have felt better.

I’ve said this before – but not on this blog – so I’ll say it again: I can hardly wait for the day I can buy F1 races directly from the source and watch them on my big-screen TV hooked up to my computer. Then I won’t be at the mercy of commercial television stations that go to all the trouble of tying up the rights to a sport and then treat it, and its fans, with disrespect.

Comments

[paul S.]

I for one fully support and understand your frustration Norris. It makes no sense to pay for cable and not get to watch what is probably the most watched sport around the world. TSN must stand for The Sorry Network. Ridiculous!

[Ken Nugent]

I couldn't agree with you more. let the F1 Speed channel feed run and have the viewers decide. How TSN handles commercials during a race is embarrassing and detracts from the event.

[David]

The opportunity to watch F1 on any feed other than TSN can't happen soon enough for me. How they can screw up the commercial breaks week after week after week is beyond belief.

[Alex T]

This is a re-submission to the correct category. Please excuse my faux pas.

Dear Mr. McDonald:

Congratulations on your new and informative Blog. I like it. On the matter of TSN cutting short their F1 coverage, I share your frustrations; they have always engaged in this annoying and ill-advised deportment. However, they have only been imposing the blackouts on Speed since TSN2 was created. It would appear that they generally limit their F1 coverage to 2 hours. However, two weeks ago, coverage at Spa was limited to I hour & forty-five minutes. Sometime ago, I complained to TSN about the blackouts on Speed. They informed me that they are not responsible for doing it. The spoke-person indicated that they are part of a sport consortium and that it is the consortium that dictates blackout rules. I suggested to him that TSN could waive the application of the rules in their “rights’ territory. He responded that it was not that easy.

Auto racing fans are a very special, dedicated and loyal group who would definitely welcome the opportunity to watch and re-watch repeats of all F1 races on TSN, TSN2 and Speed. So TSN would certainly earn our enhanced respect, admiration and our eternal gratitude if they would lift the blackouts being imposed on Speed.

The chequered flag is merely one sector of the climax of an F1 race; other sectors are the presentations and the post-race interviews/comments. We are being denied the opportunity to participate in the final two sectors as a consequence of the black-outs and TSN abbreviated coverage of races. So, if you have any influence with the power-brokers at TSN, could you use it?

Concerning your comments last week regarding Force India, their current form should not be regarded with suspicion since they have been showing relatively good form since last year. During the 08 Grand Prix of Monaco, Sutil was positioned to finish 4th when Kimi, with 5 laps to go, locked the brakes of his Ferrari and smashed into and sidelined Sutil. Kimi was able to continue. During the 09 Grand Prix of Germany, Sutil was positioned to finish 5th, with about 7 laps to, when Kimi again locked the brakes of his Ferrari and smashed into and sidelined Sutil. Kimi was able to continue. Notwithstanding the foregoing, since they are a customer of both Mercedes (Engine) and McLaren (Technical Partner) then, I agree with you, they should not be out-performing McLaren-Mercedes. (BTW, during the exciting race at Spa, we were all hoping that Kimi would not sidelined Force India a third time). A lot of funny business seems to take place in F1 but Force India appears to be the real McCoy.

[Bob Gillespie]

Yes Norris, the same thing happened to me.
It hard for me to decide who I dislike more, TSN or Roger's Cable.
Neither one are friends of Formula One fans.
Great article.

Bob Gillespie