[Sevenseas]

Yesterday, both WTA and ATP finals were not broadcast live by Eurosport International. As if this were not enough, what they have done with the taped coverage was definitely irrational and untenable.

According to Eurosport International Teletext, WTA final was at 18:00 followed by ATP Final at 19:10. They had skipped the first set of the final match between Mauresmo and Petrova. Thus, through the middle of the program, anyone with a bit of basic knowledge in maths (calculating the time remaining) was able to figure out who the winner of the match was. The problem was similar for ATP final, but since that match led to a final set, thankfully, we were allowed to have a little flexibility to feed our curiosity and excitement.

All these problems presented by Eurosport (including the taped coverages without the “trophy ceremony” during Grand Slams!) are not the first and we all know they won’t be the last. The authorities have to be aware of the fact that with this approach stated in the paragraph above, they have been insulting our intelligence and obviously giving this message, “You must be grateful that we show you some tennis matches, so be satisfied with what you get”.

For tennis fans, it has to come with the whole package; the full displays of each set for matches in order to make a fair evaluation on the performances of our favorites and their rivals, finally share the excitement and enjoy the trophy ceremony of our champions & the runner-ups.

Nobody denies the fact that tennis is not the only sports branch followed by viewers worldwide. However, if a channel claims to be a “sports channel” in its true meaning, it has to fulfill its undertakings for each tournament regardless of the sports branch, just like they have “promised” in their flashy advertisements fortified by pompous slogans.

After yesterday’s fiasco exposed by Eurosport, I agree with and support AsGoodAsNew’s offer to send a petition to Eurosport and suggest the other posters to take this initiative as well. Otherwise, it is obvious that we will continue to get stuck in this vicious circle in the long run.

Let the sports viewers win!

 

[Strangelove]

I'm sorry, but I say thank God for Europsort. It's the only channel I get that at least shows tennis at a regular basis. If it wasn't for ES I would only be able to see 2 slams + a sporadic report on the local channels.

My motto: tennis at ES is better than no tennis at all :shrug:

 

[Dexter]

My motto: tennis at ES is better than no tennis at all :shrug:

Agreed.

 

[~Carsten~]

I'm sorry, but I say thank God for Europsort. It's the only channel I get that at least shows tennis at a regular basis. If it wasn't for ES I would only be able to see 2 slams + a sporadic report on the local channels.

My motto: tennis at ES is better than no tennis at all :shrug:

I agree! I'm happy that Eurosport is presenting tennis live & exclusiv!
And the next weeks will be great with Indian Wells und Miami!

 

[suzie]

I can understand your point but in what concerns to yesterday's broadcast you have litle reason here. First, ES had this schedule for weeks, both finals taped and only one hour for each (ES2 showed Dubai's final live if I'm not mistaken and as both finals started at the same time, seems like a reasonable choice considering how much/litle men tennis ES shows these days). Reasons for limited coverage of tennis outside Europe were pointed before, just remember ES has to cover a large amount of european based sports. Second, ES is NOT a tennis channel, I'd say their tennis coverage is again very reasonable.
As for the editing questions... oh well, they can easily argue that there was no that to edit because the women's final finished a short while before the taped coverage. And would you prefer an edited version with alternated games? what would be the criteria?? a complete set seems to me like a good choice considering how close the set was.
Finally, I'm very happy I have ES. :worship: What sucks for me is that my cable provider does not enable ES2 for my zone but I can hardly blame ES for that, can't I?

 

[alibaby]

I'm sorry, but I say thank God for Europsort. It's the only channel I get that at least shows tennis at a regular basis. If it wasn't for ES I would only be able to see 2 slams + a sporadic report on the local channels.

My motto: tennis at ES is better than no tennis at all :shrug:

very true,yes! :worship: and my personal feeling yesterday was,that it WAS live coverage,although it was not written in the papers...i joined the coverage at about 18:30 gmt,and they were in the 2 set already.so if you take their time and european time,its quite possible,that it was live..
but i discovered,that its always better to look by yourself,concerning the starting times.the papers sometimes have different starting times.and as the other one said,the overall coverage is very good,good commentators.only ES 2 would be a big help,but i dont have it either.but i heard once,that they will bring it on for anyone one day,if i got it right.so folks,still hope for us.

 

[Sevenseas]

Eurosport regarding tennis was much better than it is today a few years ago (especially back to 2002 and preceding years) and I wasn’t complaining about their broadcast policy back then, on the contrary I felt very lucky and privileged! Anyone seeing this big difference can understand what I meant in the first place. However, today I’m not content due to the problems I stated in my initial post. Partial tennis broadcast and my other concerns led me to finally decide to send a petition, as this is my right to voice my complaints, requests and suggestions. Taking these into consideration seriously can only help a TV -whether a sports TV or not- improve themselves and provide better service for their viewers.

My entire argument is that I would like to see Eurosport with that former higher quality standard tennis wise. I certainly want to stay hopeful, but patience is the key here and time will tell.

 

[Marshmallow]

I know how Eurosport can be really annoying, but please consider yourself lucky, that you actually can see tennis. I can't!

Be thankful for what you have, and think of those in this world suffering without. Like me....

I'm so desperate, i search all over the place for small clips... i have a problem.

 

[fnc]

It's funny to see how on every different kind of sports forum ES is getting atacked for the way they cover events. On autosport boards they tend to call ES Eurotennis I agree that the way the change the schedule around can be annoying. But like mentioned before I'm still happy with the amount of WTA tennis they show.

 

[stenen]

Eurosport regarding tennis was much better than it is today a few years ago (especially back to 2002 and preceding years) and I wasn’t complaining about their broadcast policy back then, on the contrary I felt very lucky and privileged! Anyone seeing this big difference can understand what I meant in the first place. However, today I’m not content due to the problems I stated in my initial post. Partial tennis broadcast and my other concerns led me to finally decide to send a petition, as this is my right to voice my complaints, requests and suggestions. Taking these into consideration seriously can only help a TV -whether a sports TV or not- improve themselves and provide better service for their viewers.

My entire argument is that I would like to see Eurosport with that former higher quality standard tennis wise. I certainly want to stay hopeful, but patience is the key here and time will tell.

Interesting.....because after closing the deal with WTAtour 2001 and then renewal of that deal 2004, ES has increased its coverage of tennis, live tennis in particular, by 50% from the year 2000.
Additional 10% was added when ES2 was launched and ES2 coverage will increase 5-10% within the next couple of years.

 

[crazillo]

I think we are extremly lucky to get ES1, I think if we get ES2 everywhere it will be even better.
I know that it has been better, but let's face it:
Tennis is not a sport brining the most money income to the channel anymore. Back in the 80's and 90's everyone knew about Navratilova, Graf etc. How many people today who don't follow tennis as cloesly as we do knows Amelie Mauresmo or Kim Clijsters?

Other sports including snooker simply attract more people than tennis and it's logical that they show more of it than tennis therefore. It's business and economy. Very simple if you think about it.

I'm happy we got ES. Other channels don't broadcast tennis at all in Germany. On the men's side it's about nothing. The masters in Hamburg wasn't televised in Germany (!). We should be really happy to be fans of the women, because we still got a sport that is braodcasted way better than 95% of the other sports out there.

I'm sure it will never die on ES. And for that we should be greateful.

 

[the_doman]

Yes, even with the sometimes "strange" scheduling we are very lucky with Eurosports tennis coverage here in europe!

Without Eurosport we would have (almost) nothing!

So , still thumbs up for Eurosport!

 

[Sevenseas]

Interesting.....because after closing the deal with WTAtour 2001 and then renewal of that deal 2004, ES has increased its coverage of tennis, live tennis in particular, by 50% from the year 2000.
Additional 10% was added when ES2 was launched and ES2 coverage will increase 5-10% within the next couple of years.

We don’t have ES2 here unfortunately and I was more content with the tennis standard on Eurosport back then, even though the coverage percentage is now higher as you indicated. I know a serious number of people who feel likewise. As I said before, despite my current frustration, I still remain hopeful about a possible progress. At the end of the day, I cannot do anything further than that. :angel:

 

[wateva]

be happy that u can see that match after 1 hour's delay. here, i haven't even seen a tennis match since aust open! :sad:

 

[babsi]

Try having no tennis at all since Australian Open and then start moaning.

 

[stenen]

We don’t have ES2 here unfortunately and I was more content with the tennis standard on Eurosport back then, even though the coverage percentage is now higher as you indicated. I know a serious number of people who feel likewise. As I said before, despite my current frustration, I still remain hopeful about a possible progress. At the end of the day, I cannot do anything further than that. :angel:

So basically it would better if ES showed less tennis with more standard?
When ES increased its coverage of tennis, everyone there was aware of that the more people get, the more they want - give a little finger and the next thing people want is the whole hand....then the arm....etc. People get spoilt very easily and as soon as things don't work accordingly then it's Euroshit.
All I'm saying that those who get ES even if it's just a ES International or France and not ES2 can consider themselves lucky because you get more tennis coverage than any other people in the world....even more than the ones receiving both ESPN and Tennis Channel in the US. ES has had a couple of quiet years with ATPtour because they wanted to try other broadcasting alternatives but this year ES is covering more ATP tournaments than 2004 and 2005. Specific ATP tournament organisers prefer ES as a broadcasting distributor...because having tennis on ES brings in more advertisers to tournament since ES is received by more viewers than for example Sky Sports.

 

[Sevenseas]

When ES increased its coverage of tennis, everyone there was aware of that the more people get, the more they want - give a little finger and the next thing people want is the whole hand....then the arm....etc. People get spoilt very easily and as soon as things don't work accordingly then it's Euroshit.

No, I would never take things that far , but there will always be criticisms by the viewers against TV channels and with a complaint/request system, I have always witnessed that things get better and the standards are frequently raised up to a certain extent by the authorities.

That’s what we apply for our national and private TVs here. Realistically speaking, even though not all requests are fulfilled, the complaints are successfully reduced to a minimum level.

 

[Joana]

Eurosport regarding tennis was much better than it is today a few years ago (especially back to 2002 and preceding years)

I disagree. I clearly remember that, for example, 2002 was an awful year, no tennis was shown during the Winter Olympics, Hamburg and Berlin weren't shown etc. There's definitely more tennis on ES nowadays.

The problem is that semis and finals aren't always shown live, but I think it's because they are always played during the weekend and there's always more sports on weekends than the rest of the week. Therefore it's much harder to make a good schedule and show everything live.

 

[stenen]

A little bit about trophy ceremonies. Why is it that ES sometimes broadcasts them and sometimes don't?

When ES has the complete broadcasting responsibilities then most likely the trophy ceremony is showed....like at Filderstadt last year and this year in Antwerp. However when other broadcasting companies have the technical and premiere broadcasting responsibility and ES is just buying the rights to distribute certain hours/matches then often the possibility too see a trophy ceremony on ES is cut off by the premiere broadcaster.
Also if the final is a long 3-set match and there's another Live coverage event waiting, trophy ceremony has to be cut off even if ES is the premiere broadcaster.

 

[Sevenseas]

A little bit about trophy ceremonies. Why is it that ES sometimes broadcasts them and sometimes don't?

When ES has the complete broadcasting responsibilities then most likely the trophy ceremony is showed....like at Filderstadt last year and this year in Antwerp. However when other broadcasting companies have the technical and premiere broadcasting responsibility and ES is just buying the rights to distribute certain hours/matches then often the possibility too see a trophy ceremony on ES is cut off by the premiere broadcaster.
Also if the final is a long 3-set match and there's another Live coverage event waiting, trophy ceremony has to be cut off even if ES is the premiere broadcaster.

I have always wondered about this trophy ceremony issue, so thanks for the information stenen! :hatoff: It would be great if we had the chance to see every trophy ceremony, at least that very moment of the Champions raising their trophies! That’s what we most like to see about our favorites, such unforgettable moments indeed…