6.8.09

HAVE YOU BEEN WATCHING?

Has anyone been watching 110sporttv's coverage of the qualifiers and, if so, what did you think?

I thought the quality of the production was excellent. I know a few people had trouble getting the streaming to work but I was among the lucky ones who didn't have any at all.

The camerawork and direction was good and it's about time snooker fans got a chance to see action from the qualifiers, so even if there were teething problems I believe this venture should be given a chance.

I think the main priority for 110sport should be getting on screen graphics because it's hard to follow matches without this.

Any thoughts?

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have enjoyed watching

Anonymous said...

Rob Walker was laughable, other than that it's been good

Anonymous said...

Streaming quality: very good
Camera work: very good
Sound quality: very good
Lighting: a little dark
Commentary: awful
Price: far too much
Overall: I'll watch in future but will have to be selective at that price

Eric said...

For me anon @ 4:55 PM sums it up pretty well.

First, I was disappointed to miss the opening hour on Monday due to the technical problems. Then I was disappointed to find out there was only one match on instead of the promised two.

The overall quality though was excellent. I sure will watch more matches in the future - though I will be selective as well as long as there are no tournament's or season's passes available at 110sport.tv.

Anonymous said...

anon 4.55pm

summed it up for me..

id like to have watched more but at £2.99 im selective and a choice of 2 tables as was promised would be better im not going to ask for choice of 8 tables that might be taking the mick lol

Anonymous said...

The session times mean a 9-5er like me won't get chance to watch until around 6pm. A season / tournament pass would mean I could catch up with live action without feeling ripped off for missing the first few frames.

I think I'll wait until the worlds qualifiers from Sheffield before I venture into 110sport coverage.

Anonymous said...

Streaming quality: very good
Camera work: very good
Sound quality: very good
Lighting: OK
Commentary: awful
Price: far too much
Overall: I'll watch in future but will have to be selective at that price

Can't agree more!

Anonymous said...

Dave, do you have any viewing figures, that might be interesting.

Anonymous said...

Yes! It's Hendry against Campbell in Shanghai. Come on Stephen it's time for revenge. Dave can you tell me if they have met in the 11 years since that match?

Anonymous said...

I can say with a degree of confidence that I have probably watched as much snooker as almost anyone in the world over the last quarter of a century, and in all that time I have never seen such an insult to the sport as the "commentary" of Rob Walker and, today, Mark King.

A commentator is supposed to provide a few observations, a bit of insight, some sort of analysis and context. If he has no understanding or knowledge of the game, how does he provide this? And if he doesn't provide it, then what is the point of him being there?

Whenever Walker makes any comment on what's happening on the table, it's nothing more than what we can see for ourselves. The banality of it all reaches record levels.

Some of his terminology is baffling. For example, he repeatedly refers to a pocket as a cushion (e.g. "the centre cushion"). Yesterday I heard him managing to get the word right, but only in the context of referring to the "two top pockets". After wondering what on earth he meant, I realised he actually meant one baulk pocket and one middle pocket.

When Ken Doherty was playing, Walker talked about Doherty wanting to "move back up the world's leader boards", whatever they are. Repeatedly, there are passages of play in which he clearly doesn't understand what's going on.

Much of the time, it's clear he's struggling for something to say, so he just comes out with something irrelevant and meaningless. Often he just opts for some sort of filler cliche along the lines of "Goodness me".

And now today we have Mark King. At least he understands the game technically, but he clearly has no idea how to broadcast. And why would he? Why do these people think you can just grab whichever player happens to be hanging around, stick a microphone in his hand and say "off you go". He's been rambling on for the last few hours, as if he's chatting to one of his mates while casually keeping one eye on the snooker. At times he seems to go for an eternity without being able to think of a single thing to say.

Why are 110 going down this road? They're trying to get a new venture off the ground, and they're damaging their chances of making it a success by using this sub standard "commentary". There are several people who could do this job in a professional manner and give the venture more chance of success. 110 know these people are available.

It could be argued that it's 110's business who they employ, and to an extent that's true. That doesn't make it right though.

Also, World Snooker have entered into a contractual arrangement with these people, who are making snooker look ridiculous.

As the professional game's governing body, they should want to prevent that. Then again, it would be unrealistic to expect them to do that when they repeatedly make snooker look ridiculous themselves.

Snooker became popular because television took a great product and presented it well. If the internet is going to become an increasingly big part of how the game is watched, and the last few days are an example of how it's going to be done, then the future looks very depressing indeed.

That's why this stuff matters.

Dave H said...

Blimey. Surely the longest comment ever! (Mr Hey You accepted)

Dave H said...

To the person who asked, I've no idea on viewing figures.

One thing, though: this was all rather hastily put together. I'm sure 110sport appreciate feedback and will take stock before the next event.

Dave H said...

Don't think Hendry and Campbell have met since 'that' match.

Worth remembering though that Campbell will likely have to play a wildcard first.

Anonymous said...

6:47pm very good post could'nt agree with you more.

Anonymous said...

dont forget they might not play in shanghai either being WN45 theres a really strong possibility campbell will have a wildcard round first.

Anonymous said...

If they do a "tournament fee", I might get the next tournament, or if they reduce the price. Upto £6 a day is too much.

Does anyone know whats happening with the "Legends Snooker" which was mentioned in the 110sport PR? Is it happening soon, and will it be in Pontins?

Anonymous said...

Mathew Selt is the only player that played in the first qualifieng round to make it to Shanghai so the majotity was wrong in the poll with 46% predicting Right

Anonymous said...

just watched the nugget v selt .the quality was excellent . Really enjoyed it. Pity the nugget lost. I do agree they need on screen graphics though.

Alex said...

Are they covering the Masters qualifying competition too?

Janie (live from Pontin's!) said...

There will be graphics in place for the next event.

there'll be some free highlights packages in place next week

and they will be introducing, day, week, tournament, season tickets etc.

I rather enjoyed Mark King's commentary today.

Janie said...

PS: Yes the Legends of Snooker is going ahead. Certainly not at Pontin's

I think it's a series with two or three venues, one of which I think is Glenrothes... No doubt we'll get more info soon, and booking etc to go to the matches, as well as options to watch the streams.

I think there's some Shinty on 110sport.tv next, as they cover all sorts of sports not just snooker...

Shinty will appeal to the Scottish fans, but not so sure about the rest of us!

I'll be watching out for some of their golf coverage.

Dave H said...

Mark must be exhausted - winning 5-4 and then commentating on a 5-4!

Anonymous said...

6:47pm anon - very well written insight into what 110sport is like. I've not seen it but one thing I hate is bad commentary and I'm sure I would spend more time shouting at Walker than concentrating on the snooker!

Anonymous said...

http://www.global-snooker.com/Shanghai-Masters-2009-draw-and-results.asp

janie how is cope,holt,hawkins and bingham involved in wild card matches ??? Hawkins is NO 17 and Cope No 18

i make it

Selt
Campbell
Doherty
Higginson
Greene
Bond
Dott

Janie said...

mmm to Anon - I'll check that. Maybe I misread the drawsheet that wsa gave me or maybe I was just so knackered I wrote gibberish!!

Janie (now asleep!) said...

well I've dragged myself back off the sofa I'd just slumped onto and this is what the wsa draw sheet says:

W1 Andrew Higginson
W2 Michael Holt
W3 Jamie Cope
W4 Ken Doherty
W5 Barry Hawkins
W6 Stuart Bingham
W7 winner of Wenbo match.

now that is wrong BUT they did give me that before the result of the Davis/Selt match so that obviously changes it too.

Yes you're right, I'll go and amend my sheet.

Chris said...

Janie, I'm glad to hear about the free highlights packages, great! And the season tickets.

Anonymous said...

The way pro snooker is run is so amateurish it's tragic.

More than 15 years ago darts split into two. The PDC - run by Barry Hearn - has exploded beyond everyone's wildest dreams. The BDO - run by amateurs - is stuck in the same rut it was in in the pre-split days.

The WPBSA, or whatever they call themselves now, are the BDO of snooker, and, unfortunately, there's no PDC. They've got no idea how to entertain people, widen the game's appeal or attract sponsors. And they don't care about infusing the game with new talent. It's not that 110sport's coverage may be poor (I don't know; I didn't watch it) that's the problem. The problem is that there shouldn't be qualifiers for a Chinese tournament in Wales, and in a dreary holiday camp in an instantly forgettable little town (where spectators can't consume refreshments when they're watching matches). And the world no. 65 shouldn't have to play 5 qualifying rounds, and a wild card round against someone who doesn't have jet lag, just to play the world no.16. I could go on, in fact I could write a book about the pathetic state of snooker, but who's listening?

Dave - in your tribute to Fred Davis you say that snooker today is miles better than the dark days of the 1950s (or something like that). However, the dark days of the 50s were inevitable after Joe Davis' retirement. Snooker had precious few media channels to exploit back then. In relative terms the game is in a much darker place today because the people who ran it in the 80s had the world at their feet, and threw it all away. And now they have an infinite spectrum of media possibilities with which to rebuild the game. But they don't have a bloody clue, do they?

Anonymous said...

On the Hendry/Campbell question the answer is no, they haven't met since the 9-0 in 1998. Might interest you though that the only other time they met was in the Scottish Masters a few months before 'that match'. Campbell won that one aswell a bit closer that time 5-4, he must have felt sorry for Stephen that day in front of the home crowd...

Anonymous said...

Cheers, I wonder if the memories of what Stephen himself described as the lowest point of his career will spur him on going into this match or will it not enter into his thoughts at all given that it was so long ago and he really banished the demons of that night in Bournemouth(at least I think it was bournemouth) by winning his seventh world title six months later. Either way as a Hendry fan I think it's a cracking match to kick off the season and one I'm really looking forward to.By the way I'm working on the assumption that Campbell will win his wildcard match. If he loses sorry for wasting your space Dave!

Anonymous said...

Hendry will beat Campbell this time i have no doubt about that.

Anonymous said...

Lrts hope so because he desperately needs a good start for his confidence, otherwise he will go the same way as last season.