[PenelopePitStop]

I have to get this off my chest or I won't sleep. I know ... I'm obsessed! Besides, I'm probably already in the dog house!

This 3-times-per-hour 90-second cut-away for the cable sponsors was a good thing. No issue with that. However ... this "commercial-in-a-box" is a ruse! This is nothing new!

For those of you who have watched the sport for many years, I'm sure you'll remember when a similar approach was made a few years ago. However, there was a huge difference. Back then, you still saw the race during real commercials.

As I read many posters praising the fact that we could actually see the race during a "commercial", I was gritting my teeth. These were NOT actual sponsor-paid, network commercials! Let's take that Goodyear Blimp "commercial". That thing went on, and on, and on, and on. Had to be a two-minute spot. Do you have any idea how much it would cost for a two-minute real commercial during such an event as the Pepsi 400? Then let's take that ridiculous "debris" spot. That wasn't a commercial! Every spot I saw was a Nextel spot. Did you see the race during a commercial for toothpaste, deodorant, or anything unrelated to Nextel? NO!

Don't let the network fool you!

And by the way, moving the ads from the top of the screen to the bottom had ZERO effect on my racing experience!

Ok ... I'm done ... I feel better now ...







http://www.smileycentral.com/sig.jsp?pc=ZSzeb097&pp=ZN

[LSC9901]

My guess is that TNT is lobbying the fan to tell NASCAR that we want more races on TNT because of that great coverage of the race. When the GoodYear ruse wasn't going on Weber was announcing the next sponsor that would appear on the bottom left. The thought is good but it could most certainly be improved upon.

[wardfan]

I liked the wide open coverage but maybe that was because I was able to ignor the commercials running in the corner. I didn't pay attention to what Gordon was explaining before the race about how it would work and the HDTV or whatever he was rambling on about. But, it would appear from comments from other people alot depended on what type of TV you had. I have a HD wide screen so I saw the commercials in the bottom right hand corner of my screen. That's why I found it easy to ignor the commercials. People that didn't have this type of TV apparently had a difference format or view, I'm not sure what their problem was. I did find it interesting that almost all of the on screen commercials were not the usual ones shown, and I think that was a plan to try & distract you to watch. Another thought was I noticed while they had the commercial on screen they just showed the lead cars and nothing much happened. It would have been interesting to see if they would have changed the camera view if say a wreck happened. Bottom line I think it is a vast improvement over the 4 to 5 minute commercial breaks that happen for well over a third of the time the race is on.

[LSC9901]

All in all it wasn't a total wash out. I think initially they advertised it somewhat differently than what actually happened. It was far from commercial free. The commercials that were not network 90 second breaks were totally different from what we are used to and did command your attention. The lower left ongoing ad wasn't a big deal. I think there could be some improvements but overall it wasn't totally bad. Just different and not waht I really expected.

[Nevadastars]

I was having a hard time trying to watch the race while hearing ramblings about Miller Lite or Goodyear Tires.
So, the mute button was my best friend.

[Bob Tanner]

As I write this there have been four responses to PPS' original post. I agree with all of them, including PPS' original statements.

HOWEVER

As I see it we have nothing to really complain about, no matter how many, how varied, or how displayed they close to run the things. Other than the original cost of the TV, plus whatever charges we pay for satellite or cable, we have precious little invested in the race we watch. We are basically getting a free ride when it comes to watching a race live on the telly.

Some of you might remember 14-15 years ago when NASCAR wasn't shown live every race. Martinsville, for example, was never live, but shown on tape. N. Wilksboro seldom got shown at all. We fans (me included) all cried for more coverage. Gosh, if only they could show every race live, our quality of life would improve immeasurably.

Be careful what you wish for; you might get it. Well, we got it.

Now we can see absolutely EVERY Cup, Cup Lite and CTS race as it happens! And not only do we get to see them, but over 75% of them are televised on the major networks!

Remember the axiom, "There's no free lunch?" Having commercials on TV, no matter how they are presented, is merely the price we have to pay for the ability to watch the races. Simple as that. We might not agree nor like it but it is what it is, a "service" we pay for by having advertising thrust in our collective faces.

Yeah, I know, there are too many commercials, and they are repetitious and mostly insulting to our intelligence. I agree. I think I pay too much in Federal Income Tax too, what they spend it on is stupid and the people who spend it insult my intelligence. I haven't found a way around that one either.

We could always go back to the days when there were few commercials, but we only got some of the races live, Martinsville was always on tape and we almost never got a glimpse of N. Wilksboro? (Ooops! Today we don't see N. Wilks - thank you very much Bruton and Bahre!) Naw. I'll suffer thru the periods I mute the TV during the commercials.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

[wardfan]

bob you really know how to take the fun out of our ***** fest

[LSC9901]

Originally Posted by wardfan

bob you really know how to take the fun out of our ***** fest

Don't ya just hate it when someone comes in and starts throwing common sense around ????

Shame on you Bob !!!

[Pepsi One]

Originally Posted by LSC9901

Don't ya just hate it when someone comes in and starts throwing common sense around ????

Shame on you Bob !!!

Yea if it was up to the fans we'd have no commercials, and in return we'd have no Nascar, I thought last nights coverage was a great comprimise, good job to TNT! I dont care who or what the commercials were about as long as they kept showing the race! When McMurray got black flagged we got to see that live, the other way we would have come back from commercial to see clint Bowyer leading and a short explanation from Webber on what happened, Kudos to TNT!

[Jeffrey4318]

Originally Posted by PenelopePitStop

I have to get this off my chest or I won't sleep. I know ... I'm obsessed! Besides, I'm probably already in the dog house!

This 3-times-per-hour 90-second cut-away for the cable sponsors was a good thing. No issue with that. However ... this "commercial-in-a-box" is a ruse! This is nothing new!

For those of you who have watched the sport for many years, I'm sure you'll remember when a similar approach was made a few years ago. However, there was a huge difference. Back then, you still saw the race during real commercials.

As I read many posters praising the fact that we could actually see the race during a "commercial", I was gritting my teeth. These were NOT actual sponsor-paid, network commercials! Let's take that Goodyear Blimp "commercial". That thing went on, and on, and on, and on. Had to be a two-minute spot. Do you have any idea how much it would cost for a two-minute real commercial during such an event as the Pepsi 400? Then let's take that ridiculous "debris" spot. That wasn't a commercial! Every spot I saw was a Nextel spot. Did you see the race during a commercial for toothpaste, deodorant, or anything unrelated to Nextel? NO!

Don't let the network fool you!

And by the way, moving the ads from the top of the screen to the bottom had ZERO effect on my racing experience!

Ok ... I'm done ... I feel better now ...







http://www.smileycentral.com/sig.jsp?pc=ZSzeb097&pp=ZN

The adds you saw during the live coverage were by the sponsors who paid for the time. Those who didn't pay for the time got stuck in the 90 second reels. The only whay TNT could pull this off was to have certain sponsor step up and pay for it. Those who threw out the money got their time and got to do with it what they wanted.

Thanks to Goodyear, Subway, Miller Lite, ect...Thanks to those ads you got to see a little more of the race then you would have before. Man we Americans are so spoiled.

[vincesanity82]

I agree the commercial boxes sucked but we did get to keep with the race, to bobs comments, I understand that back in the day they didnt show every race but nascar is bigger now than it ever was, doesnt mean we just except the fact that commercials can overide the whole race, they wont stop showing races anytime soon, and I think in future races commercials will be limited, im sure that us people on gtg arent the only ones complaining about this issue, just remember "the squeaky wheel gets the grease"..

[BringBackWilkesboro]

I agree with what Bob said 100%, but If TNT is going to attempt something like this, I will share my criticism.

1. I'm amazed that even with limited interuption, TNT still found a way to miss critical moments in the race. I don't think most of us caught McMurray scrubbing the out of bounds line early in the race, than during the commercial in a box (good phrase, PPS) we were left wondering "why is McMurray on pit road?" or "what just happened to Bowyer?" Turns out Clint switched ignitions and nearly pulled a Sterling Marlin.

2. I think we witnessed the future of live race brodcasts, just without the commercials. It seems with ESPN's side by side stuff during Indy races and TNT's stunt last night, we are on a fast track to Commercial in a box and Billboards scrolling below the running order display. That wouldn't be all that bad if they kept the limited commercial side of the deal. We will still get plenty of the normal commercials. That's just a look into my crystal ball though.

3. There's really no point to the wide screen view. It only made the picture worse on non wide screens and wider on already wide screens.

A commercial is a comercial. they said less commercials... I counted more than usual..... I think if they go back to the old 2 minute commercials every fifteen minustes like it used to be in the old days.... that we we can recyle our beer and get a refill....... Personaly I wish FOX would just cover the whoe season........

[clutch]

Just the same coverage down under we have no ads just the continuous feed with silence when the network is off air in the states, however I''m sure they said they would only have 3 , 90 second commercial breaks but there seemed a lot more silence than that.

[Phils20]

That was a great idea, and well executed. True, we didn't know why the 26 was on Pit Road, but we wouldn't have even know he was there under normal circumstances.

I salute them, and have no real issues with it. I would love to see it happen all the time, but I'm sure the big companies aren't going to pony up the big bucks for races other than the big ones, like Daytona, Indy, the 600, and maybe some others!

Thank you TNT, and to the sponsors who made it happen!