raff

Huge shakeup in IMSA TV land.
Bob Varsha and Justin Bell are out -- replaced by Greg Creamer with only Calvin Fish on pit lane.

Another possible change --
the broadcasts may originate from the Fox Charlotte studios -- similar to the F1 broadcasts.

As the article points out --
instead of changing the broadcast team, IMSA would be better off linsisting coverage be on one channel.
Having Rolex 24 viewers change to four different channels isn't fan-friendly.

http://www.racer.com/more/viewpoints...ad-for-imsa-tv

GTB/ZR-1

Poor Varsha--the second gig he's been sacked sacked on. And Bell is entertaining.

I do like Creamer--a great announcer & gets excited when he needs to, and a genuinely nice guy in person. Fish knows what he's talking about.

Those two will be very busy during the endurance races, though...

z28lt1

''

Just to clarify, the article notes Creamer and Fish in the booth with Brain Till on Pit Lane.

Not too worried about the announcer changes, but if the races really are broadcast remote, we'll lose a lot of the "stories" they do that are usually filmed during practice/qualifying days before the race or if not a filmed feature, the info is at least gathered then. Hope that's not the case, but this is obviously a huge budget cut move.

Hopefully the actual broadcast gets better with IMSA in control. Just a few things I'd like to see:

1 - Lets not squeeze in 7 minutes of commercials in the last 10 minutes of the race

1B. Yellow flags are a good time for commercials. Not sure why they stay with the yellows and cut to commercial one lap after green.

1C. If you are going to stay with the coverage during the yellow, at least review the order/changes coming out of the yellow pit stops.

2 - When there are close battles for point position on the last lap that aren't for the lead, at least tell us what happened post race, if not during. Related, there are a limited number of cars and passes within the class, feel free to mention the ones you aren't immediately showing. I have to watch Timing and Scoring on the web in addition to the race. There has to be a better solution.

3 -Don't pretend reality doesn't exist. How many times do I have to hear "After a hot start in the first few races for they've really fallen to the back of the pack for the last few." without mention that IMSA literally tied a Navy Ship anchor to the back of the car that caused the change.



Although, despite my wish list, I'm just hoping they find a way to keep the series on live TV at this point.

raff

Like you, the bigger problem is their lack of rational TV coverage --

"IMSA's most important endurance races have been subject to a hide-and-seek approach which makes consistent viewing all but impossible for those who watch TV through traditional methods. Last year's season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona race started with two hours on FOX, shifted to four hours on FS2, went to FS1 for two hours, moved to IMSA.com for nine hours, and then closed on FS1. That's five programming changes for a single event, and required access to three FOX channels and a live stream.

The 12 Hours of Sebring broadcast moved platforms four times, with the majority of the race – from 12:30-11 p.m. – shared between the minimally available FS2 and IMSA.com.

The entire season finale at Petit Le Mans was split between FS2 and IMSA.com , which all but guaranteed the abysmal ratings that followed.

You don't get what you pay for; you get what you negotiate to receive, and with IMSA's telecasts racing up and down FOX's channels, and its own website, one must ask how the series got itself into this position in the first place."

Nowanker

The only thing that pisses me off more than network TV coverage of roadracing is having no TV coverage at all... but that's not such a big a difference.
I do miss the Indy 500 broadcasts with Sam Posey and Bobby Unser though... 2 guys who plainly hated each other.

johnny c

HA! this sucks i really liked bob varsha. I was pissed when he left as host of the F1 races. now we have Lee Diffey. who is clearly in love with Lewis Hamilton. i can't take all the fan boy suck up and "oh isn't he wonderful".

now for IMSA we lose the two entertaining announcers. better watch now boys, it might not be on air next year.

for the record i would be overly happy if imsa dumped fox and hosted all of it's races on line. if i could get it threw a roku my life would be much easier, and i would then dump cable.

RX-Ben

The coverage on imsa.com, which pipes in the Radio Le Mans commentary, is quite good and available to anyone with an internet connection.
It was one thing when ALMS went to a crappy quality streaming setup years ago that was not widely available, but the imsa.com setup is really how it should be (and how a few other series do it as well).

johnny c

it is the future. customers are tired of waiting for cable companies to organize content. once the content originators stop screwing around with the bone headed middle men, Comcast will be no more.

BrianCunningham

thanks for the headsup

TKOGTO

Agree on every point, especially #3.

A downgrade IMO losing Varsha for Creamer. Creamer is a very pleasant in person but never warmed up to his over dramatizing the action or excessive promotion of whatever series he's covering. Although all are guilty, no one is more so in telling us a Corvette, a Ferrari, and a BMW running 1, 2, 3 is a testament to the diversity of the series.

VGLNTE1

man, I will miss Justin bell. wish it was just him and johnny O

BrianCunningham

Ford GT lineup

http://www.autoblog.com/2016/01/05/g...usauto00000016

BrianCunningham

C7R unloading
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...29720311521697

z28lt1

Imsa release has Bell on pit lane with Till. Fish and Creamer will be in Charlotte after Daytona. Plus aerial cameras at most races for whatever that is worth.

Edit to include the link
http://bit.ly/1PVWLVw