If there weren't enough reasons to dislike Audi at Le Mans...

[Paddy_NL]

...with the participation of Audi in the LMS season, they demanded for the TV coverage to have more viewers compared to MotorsTV. So that's it. No more great coverage by MotorsTV, but Eurosport will "do the honours" (ahem)

This means more people can watch LMS races and the coverage of the 24 hours at Eurosport instead of MotorsTV, most probably being delayed and interrupted by heeps of commercial breaks, latest tennis and basket ball news, repeat after repeat of clips of "other great programs" to watch on Eurosport, which will be interrupted by endless commercial breaks again.
The coverage of the Daytona was a nice example of how Eurosport works

Thanks Audi! Stay away! Couldn't here you anyway, and now I don't wanna see you no more!


source

[Lord Pig-Pen]

If you pardon my lingo.... thats sh*t!
There is virtually no LM coverage apart from motorsTV, (where I saw most of last years race on U Tube!) although a mate saw a bit at the end of the news on some SKY channel last year and sent me a message saying so..
I think we should invite the TopGear Team down for 08.... no helicopters, no drivers,no mobile ,no big men in suits..

Clarkson, Hammond and May.... camping with DFH on MB or The Brethren and Melans on HA... until monday morning!
I can just imagine Jeremys face when he enters his tent and finds that someone has had a little kip in his bed after falling in the HA pond while releasing a massive Tench that has covered their clothes in Tench slime.(Fishing is on the list this year!) or May finding that someone has covered his tent zip tag in chilli extract  when he gets in bed and.....
I think it would be best if DFH emailed them as the probably wont take me seriously

[Petra]

And Richard Hammond ending up with me in my sleeping bag

oh wait... he's married

[Lord Pig-Pen]

And Richard Hammond ending up with me in my sleeping bag

oh wait... he's married

I imagine, if he is in the same state as most people after the parties he may suffer from Penile Dimenture.

A condition that affects the married man when he has over consumed happy juice, making him forget all about his wife and kids when in the company of a "Hottie"

Best of luck darling!!

[Steve Pyro]

British Eurosport did a pretty impressive job of f**k*ng up the daily highlights coverage of Jan 2007s Dakar Rally.  The hour long daily highlights were scheduled for a 22:00 start but, because the earlier live snooker kept over running, they delayed, or cancelled the Dakar highlights.  Why didn't they use the second Eurosport channel?
There were PLENTY unimpressed people about at the time, posting their displeasure on various motorsport forums and writing letters of complaint to their MEP (maybe not that bit?).

[Piglet]

Eurosports Daytona coverage was up to the normal standard with programmes that started late, finished early or just didn't happen

I'm glad internet streaming is better these days...

[Dobbo]

To be honest I didn't think that Motors TV's coverage of the LMS was that good but at least you could watch it all the way through. I normally played Radio Le Mans coverage over the top Things don't look too good for this season then. I'm happy to blame Audi I'll be keeping fingers crossed even tighter that the Audis screw things up this side of the water.

[htbast]

What a shame. As I am a non-runner this year for the first time in the last 10ish, I was looking forward to the full Motors TV coverage. They even covered scrutineering last year....

Maybe I will have to go after all

HTBast!

[NelisB]

Well Eurosport is good at screwing coverage but dutch tellie itself is even worse. As I don't have motors I hope to get to see some of the LMS races this year on Eurosport. Le mans I don't care about because I'll be there myself :p

[Pieter]

As James May would have put it: "oh cock!". I hate Eurosport. This calls for a t-shirt.

[kiwipugfan]

You want to try living in this part of the world. If we are REALLY lucky we might get 60 mins of highlights. In October!

[termietermite]

Got this from "Motors" this morning:
"Motors TV boost its sportscar coverage
Motors TV has enhanced its reputation as the place to be for top-level sportscar racing action, by adding coverage of three-more senior championships to its already impressive line up.

In 2008, the ‘High Speed Television’ channel will carry highlights of the burgeoning FIA GT3 championship and GT4 European Cup, as well as Belcar, Belgium’s hugely-competitive domestic GT series. This is in addition to its LIVE coverage of all five Le Mans Series races, LIVE and DELAYED-AS-LIVE coverage of every round of the American Le Mans Series, highlights of the British GT and French GT championships as well as from the Dutch Supercar challenge. The popular magazine show ‘Endurance Mag’ will also return featuring behind-the-scenes news, views and interviews.

Created by SRO in 2006, the FIA GT3 championship has expanded in popularity over the past two years and now features packed-grids of Ferrari 430s, Aston Martin DBRS9s Dodge Vipers, Porsche 997s, Lamborghini Gallardos and Ford Mustangs. 2008 will see the series race at Silverstone, Monza, Oschersleben, Brno, Nogaro and Dubai, with Motors TV bringing 26 minutes of highlights from each race.

The GT4 European Cup, another SRO-run series, is a similar concept to the FIA GT Championship but for GT4 machinery such as the Aston Martin Vantage, Nissan 350Z, Porsche Cayman, BMW Z4, Ginetta G50 or Ford Mustang FR500. The series will follow the GT3 calendar, with the exception of Dubai which is replaced by a race at Spa. Motors TV has 26 of minutes highlights from each round.

Belcar is Belgium’s hotly-contested domestic GT series run for GT3-spec machinery. The Mosler MT900 was among the championship contenders last season, although a Porsche 997 ultimately took the title. The championship features seven rounds, four of which are double-headers, and includes the 24 hours of Zolder. Motors TV has 26 minutes highlights from each race.

Other highlights of the Motors TV schedule in 2008 include LIVE coverage of the DTM, V8 Supercar Championship and F3 Euroseries and extended highlights of the British F3 International Series and Formula Palmer Audi."

As I read this, they will cover the LMS races (but not LM  by the look of it).

[Kpy]

This from Autosport.com March 3:
Live television coverage of the Le Mans 24 Hours will return to Eurosport this year after the broadcaster signed a three-year agreement with Le Mans organisers the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO).

Eurosport has won back the rights to live coverage from Motors TV and will show the race in its entirety on the Eurosport and Eurosport 2 channels.

There will also be live streaming of the race, with commentary, on Eurosport's websites across Europe.

Eurosport will also show all five Le Mans Series 1,000km events during the season.
The deal will bring live coverage of the 24 Hours to 112 million homes in 59 European countries.

Eurosport Asia-Pacific will also show non-stop live coverage of the race in Asia and Australia.

[termietermite]

The conclusion being that LMS will be on both?  I guess Barcelona will be the test...

[geoffd]

The conclusion being that LMS will be on both?  I guess Barcelona will be the test...

Yes, your conclusion is correct!  My understanding is that Motors will be pretty much as last year, and Eurosport will show the first 30 or 60 mins (i can't remember which) live followed by a highlights show at some point later on (on the Tuesday after, I think).  Now, obviously with Eursport the timings will be completely random.....  So I think the answer is to watch Motors cos you know what you are getting and when!