is it on t.v.?? if so, what channel??
I don’t know what channel in the US. In Canada it’s on CBC Country Canada- full coverage of all the equestrian events!!
yea I would also like to know if any of it is on TV?
WEG
according to the Equisearch website, NBC will be broadcasting some of the stuff from WEG:
Mark your calendar! NBC will televise coverage of the 2006 World Equestrian Games on September 24.
July 11, 2006 – Highlights of the 2006 World Equestrian Games (WEG) will be televised on NBC from 4:30-6 p.m. (EDT) on September 24
Only in the USA would you get a whole 90 minutes worth(excuse me, 60 minutes once you take out the commercials since it’e NBC) of coverage over 11 days of world championship sports.:rolleyes: :mad:
Unbelievable. Especially when you consider that we medaled in two branches both as a team and individually. I doubt I will bother to watch and will just pay for DVD footage.
I know I’m sounding very cranky but I was just reading Wofford’s blog. A paragraph on his final day really struck me while I’m on my anti-USA-TV-coverage rant.:winkgrin:
The NBC guys I have been working with, Bob Hughes, Jim Carr and Bob Ives have been great to work with. They got involved with horse sports seven years ago when they were hired to do Rolex. They started out looking at horses as just another TV job. And now? Let me tell you a little story about how they spent last night. I went to a party downtown and got back around 11. They were sitting in the living room, drinking local German beer and watching the dressage freestyle finals live on Eurosport. Not only were they hooked on horses, but they were picking on the judges, whining about horses being irregular in the passage and generally sounding like a bunch of died-in-the-wool horse fans. …Bob Hughes…, executive producer of the 2006 WEG, the 2008 Olympics and the 2010 WEG from Lexington
When I read that all I was thinking was “Great, so I imagine we’ll get 90 minutes of coverage, 3 weeks late in 2010, too”. How nice that they get to see everything in real time and root for their favorites and we have to wait (how long again?) oh yeah, 3 weeks!
OK, enough bi#&*ing for now. I’ll quit complaining and go to a website where I can see today’s results.
Another take on this issue
Actually 90 minutes of coverage on NBC is 90 minutes MORE of equestrian coverage on a major network than we’ve seen for a LONG time. Was a time when ESPN used to cover showjumping, and I seem to remember reading that one of the reasons they quit carrying it was the carping and complaining from the equestrian audience.
Personally, I’m extremely grateful for any coverage. While, yes indeed, I will buy videos or dvds for in-depth coverage, I still plan to watch the network program, and hope that many of us will make an effort to send POSITIVE feedback to the network, to encourage them to continue and expand their coverage.
There was also a time when Outdoor Life Network used to have extensive coverage of horse sports, including lots of airtime for Spruce Meadows. That has dried up into 6 or 8 broadcasts per year (which is better than none), and Spruce Meadows coverage is hard to find, very little airtime on Fox Sports.
So again, however frustrated we are about lack of coverage, or the times when equestrian is bumped by beach volleyball or somebody else’s sport, I think we can conclude that COMPLAINING doesn’t really get us any points with the networks, and may actually have a negative effect.
I believe I have seen posts on this bb from some of the producers of the few programs that we get to see, and I have to humbly thank them for their efforts to cover our sports. And am glad they have gotten into it.
MEP, I understand where you’re coming from. I used to be grateful and send positive feedback to the networks that carried anything horsey. That is, until I finally realized that the networks just absolutely didn’t listen to any of us.
Horsetv streaming replay of WEG on the Internet.
Much to my surprise Horse TV has succeeded in bringing replays of the WEG competition to the Internet. Currently (Labor Day at 9:40 a.m. EDT) the Dressage Grand Prix competition is being replayed.
It appears to be a straight replay of the pool feed set up by the WEG organizers. So there is no annoying twittering by the talking heads so beloved of US networks trying to appeal to attention-deficit-disordered channel-flipping couch potatoes. Only the stadium announcer can be heard in multiple languages including English.
The actual on-the-ground TV coverage of most multi-national sports championships is provided by a single broadcast organization that provides a “pool feed” of video and audio but no commentary to every broadcaster who contracts to receive coverage for their network. To this pool feed each individual broadcaster adds (or in my opinion subtracts) their own commentators and can further edit the coverage.
While I would love to see more tv coverage of equestrian events, I understand why it doesn’t get covered. This sport, b/c of it’s high expenses, caters to an elite few. Until it becomes more accessible to the average American, it won’t get a lot of coverage. I’m lucky enough to own a horse. Being involved in h/j I have seen and participated in the high costs of this sport. Believe me paying 100k to 200k in order to be competitive at the higher levels of competition is seen as folly by people who have mortgages that cost as much. These individuals don’t see the point of the expense and do not empathize w/ some equestrians. They would rather shun the sport that shuns so many.
And it’s a sad commentary that not more people get to be involved in this sport. I also remember a time when ESPN would air showjumping. I miss not getting to watch it anymore. And I will be very grateful for the 90 minutes of television coverage that I will get to watch.
WEG on TV
HorseTV is showing WEG FREE at their website as a promotion for their new broadband broadcast. I think it’s the “feed” that His Greyness refers to.
My girlfriend gets the Horse TV channel and tells me full coverage is going to be on there - a bit late, but sure better than nothing!
WHERE? hekp!
Ive alerted everyone Know to watch today, but, checking local paper, and on screen guide I find no WEG only golf , at least on our local NBC station ( WRC - 4) which, I( would expected to carry it. Any place else i should look?
Sorry , wrong day!
Sorry everyone I just reread the post and realize that the broadcast date isthe 24th, tomorrow, not today.I am wondering if a call to my local affiliate might e:o courage them to Carry it tomorrow,the 24th.
yes, feedback please!!!
I’ve become convinced that the more we pester, the more likely it is that we will get more coverage. I know that some people object to the “dumbing down” to the least common denomenator that some of these programs do, but it is television coverage that is going to get people interested in our various sports.
Case in point, when Rolex coverage aired this year it had the misfortune of airing during a massive thunderstorm. Now, thunderstorms hit the Low Country quite often, but this day apparently it warranted frequent interruptions to tell us that, while the storm was not technically here, we should all be shaking in our boots at its arrival. They basically showed about 4 minutes of the cross country coverage, opting instead to repeatedly show graphics of green blobs affecting other parts of the state. The idiot newscaster (who does not seem to be the sharpest knife in the block) kept apologizing for interrupting the “horse race.” (Apparently they received a few calls about that one – he was teased during the evening news about it). When I called to complain the woman who answered the phone and said that she had received numerous calls. She was apologetic but said that the manager refused to reair the programs because “there wouldn’t be enough interest.” :no:
The thunderstorm in question finally hit Charleston after the program had ended. Needless to say, they didn’t interrupt the hockey game that aired afterwards ONCE to let us know what was actually happening in our area. :mad:
I was actually very pleased to catch one hour of taped coverage on the CBC regular channel (Canada) (not the digital one that requires the box and extra $$$). They showed endurance, dressage and eventing. Although the Canadian team did not do well, it was a good program with good explanations. That was followed, on the same channel, by the BP Cup in Spruce Meadows (also taped). So we were treated to two hours of equestrian sports today. Next week, we get to see show jumping from the WEG and I know I missed something last week.
I’m definitely glad they broadcast what they did. Also that eventing got so much time. :winkgrin:
The sound on my TV was odd-- did anyone else have this problem? Sort of like JCW et al were talking through a tin can.
Okay, I LOVED it! I thought it was a good mix overall although I think they should have shown the dressage free style. I’m glad to see that much horse coverage, including commercials, on mainstream tv.
I thought the showjumping final was very exciting…I loved Authentic (or whatever Madden’s horse was named), would love to know his breeding
[QUOTE=Hannahsmom;1893632]
Okay, I LOVED it! I thought it was a good mix overall although I think they should have shown the dressage free style. I’m glad to see that much horse coverage, including commercials, on mainstream tv.
I thought the showjumping final was very exciting…I loved Authentic (or whatever Madden’s horse was named), would love to know his breeding[/QUOTE]Authentic pedigree
Thank you Peggy!
:sadsmile: My wife and I caught the airing on our broadcast channel 4, KNBC, from our cable provider. I must say 30 seconds of coverage of the dressage, and 30 seconds of the coverage from the endurance, made our enjoyment a bit unbalanced. I guess we need to really bug the “Powers That Be”, to get some coverage of equine events of more than the Kentucky Derby, and Quarter Horse racing from Los Alamitos. Not that those two don’t deserve coverage, but THAT is all the non-equine world knows about the equine world. Most folks have absolutely NO IDEA of what Dressage, Eventing, or even The Tevis Endurance ride are. If we as a venue are going to grow in numbers, we need to involve more of the young people in our world. When I watched the Championship Rodeo Finals, and some of the local bcast cowhorse events, I see a lot of young folks but not at the American Events like 3-day eventing, Endurance, and Dressage. Are we percieved as snobby or too european or something? Am I out there, or do we need to see more equine T.V.? :yes: :yes:
