What's preventing the Reno Races from broadcasting live on the Internet for free?

[race9]

Re: What's preventing the Reno Races from broadcasting live on the Internet for free?

As an annual only event, something that ONLY happens in RENO, NEVADA. A one of a kind, there's nothing else like it in the entire world. Why, would anyone in his right mind, who owned the rights to such an event, give it away for free?
Does "Not A Stock Car A Racing" "NASCAR" give it away for free?

TBS(TNT? Cant remember) does when they are broadcasting races.

[mgbf4u]

Re: What's preventing the Reno Races from broadcasting live on the Internet for free?

Really? That's not good for NCAR. I know they tried air racing in the past on tour. Red Bull is way short of a RENO experience. Maybe 500 MPH isn't fast enough unless it's on the ground. Maybe Reno is not as exciting as I think it is. My wife will go back with me though and likes it. 3 consecutive years at the CFC. Together we make it happen. Since I'm an airliner we travel cheap. It's still expensive to go to the races.

[race9]

Re: What's preventing the Reno Races from broadcasting live on the Internet for free?

It's not really the broadcast. Just a few cameras situated on the track or in the cars with the announcers on the background. Kind of hard to follow when there is some action.

[AirDOGGe]

Re: What's preventing the Reno Races from broadcasting live on the Internet for free?

I've said it before...There simply are not a lot of people in the world interested in air racing.


Forms of auto racing? Sure. Everyone drives cars and can relate. A very small percentage of the population hold pilot's licenses though, or have any form of interest in aviation short of where they can buy low-cost airline tickets..


Even I remember seeing some air races on TV in my teen years. Maybe it was The Wide World Of Sports, I can't say. What I CAN say is that I wasn't too thrilled. Airplanes flying around poles....OK. What's on channel two?


It wasn't until I actually visited Stead in Sept. of '81 and actually saw, heard AND FELT the unlimited races that I was hooked like any junkie on drugs. I returned every year for the next decade until financial situations created gaps in my yearly visits. Still, I get up there when I can.


There's no way to deliver the experience, even on the best HD TVs and sound systems, so it's a hard sell to advertisers, the guys who usually pay the bills for such broadcasts.

In this light, I believe there's not enough people on the internet interested to generate sufficient profit from advertisers to justify the endeavor. If anyone with deep pockets wants to foot the bill(s), I'm sure it could get broadcasted, but who would do that?

(If we could just get a couple of ultra-rich Google execs interested in the air races, so much could happen... ...Anyone who can buy a Boeing 767 as a private jet can do almost anything they want to.)

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: What's preventing the Reno Races from broadcasting live on the Internet for free?

TBS(TNT? Cant remember) does when they are broadcasting races.

Not sure if I get what you're saying Ryan but the way I'm pretty sure it works for TBS, as well as other broadcast or cable broadcast networks.... The network PAYS the event, in this case, NASCAR for broadcast rights.. they then sell advertisement time slots and not only make up the costs, hopefully, turn a profit.

Pretty sure it works same way for NCAR, you want to "broadcast" or create a TV show, movie, etc, out of RENO, you pay the venue (RARA) for the rights to do so.

I know that's pretty much how it worked, or was supposed to work, back in 2000 when World of Wings taped the pilot episode for their (unsold) series.

At that time, if you were the producer of such a show, you had to sell it to a network, or you had to buy network time and then sell advertisement to make it work...

Ain't nobody gonna broadcast anything out of any large commercial event for "free".. The end user, you and me, might get to see it for "free" but SOMEONE paid dearly for that air time and if they did it right, they make a profit and can continue to do it. Far as I know, it's extremely tough to turn a profit broadcasting anything from the National Championship Air Races. The same sponsors who seem to turn their backs on the racers for a single year event, also turn their backs on producers wanting to "broadcast" out of NCAR...

Make sense??

[race9]

Re: What's preventing the Reno Races from broadcasting live on the Internet for free?

I was just giving a factual response. He asked if Nascar did that, so I answered him.

[bulldawg66]

Re: What's preventing the Reno Races from broadcasting live on the Internet for free?

I've said it before...There simply are not a lot of people in the world interested in air racing.


Forms of auto racing? Sure. Everyone drives cars and can relate. A very small percentage of the population hold pilot's licenses though, or have any form of interest in aviation short of where they can buy low-cost airline tickets..


Even I remember seeing some air races on TV in my teen years. Maybe it was The Wide World Of Sports, I can't say. What I CAN say is that I wasn't too thrilled. Airplanes flying around poles....OK. What's on channel two?


It wasn't until I actually visited Stead in Sept. of '81 and actually saw, heard AND FELT the unlimited races that I was hooked like any junkie on drugs. I returned every year for the next decade until financial situations created gaps in my yearly visits. Still, I get up there when I can.


There's no way to deliver the experience, even on the best HD TVs and sound systems, so it's a hard sell to advertisers, the guys who usually pay the bills for such broadcasts.

In this light, I believe there's not enough people on the internet interested to generate sufficient profit from advertisers to justify the endeavor. If anyone with deep pockets wants to foot the bill(s), I'm sure it could get broadcasted, but who would do that?

(If we could just get a couple of ultra-rich Google execs interested in the air races, so much could happen... ...Anyone who can buy a Boeing 767 as a private jet can do almost anything they want to.)

WELL SAID!

And I go along with your commentary as well, Wayne.

It pretty much all boils down to this - come to Reno to watch the air races. If you don't like it, then don't come back!
I saw the races in the late '80s on TV and recorded it. Interesting, but would I take the time to go see it? No.
Then my brother took me in 2000, and after that I swore that, I don't care if I'm living in a cardboard box, I'll be in Reno in September!!!

(Thank God I still have that recording from the '80s!)

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: What's preventing the Reno Races from broadcasting live on the Internet for free?

It does get in your blood doesn't it...

[degroodtt]

Re: What's preventing the Reno Races from broadcasting live on the Internet for free?

A little off this topic, but is the broadcast that goes out on the speakers carried by a local radio station? Does anyone know if that can be heard on the internet. Sadly we are unable to make it to the races in 2011. The good news is 1/2 of the money is saved to be there in 2012.

Tom

[AirDOGGe]

Re: What's preventing the Reno Races from broadcasting live on the Internet for free?

There is a broadcast on FM radio, but it's local to the track. As soon as you leave the Lemmon Valley region heading to Reno, it fades away quickly.

[Bob]

Re: What's preventing the Reno Races from broadcasting live on the Internet for free?

Let me get this straight, you actually want to hear Frank all day? By the middle of the day wed, I and stuffin my earplus in if there are no planes on track.

[mgbf4u]

Re: What's preventing the Reno Races from broadcasting live on the Internet for free?

It does get in your blood doesn't it...

I was just fine until I talked my third wife into it. She said yes in 2004. I don't remember what year I found out there were air races in Reno but I have made the last 3 in a row. It was, like a once in a lifetime kind of thing that lasted longer. She still likes it. Was it always in my blood?
I reckon.
(WAVES CHECKERED FLAGS) Avatar

[Jeff Lee]

Re: What's preventing the Reno Races from broadcasting live on the Internet for free?

I have waited to join in the discussion mostly because we were fighting until the last minute to finalize our plan for Reno this year.

The discussion finally did get around to the correct answer, and that simply is MONEY. Potential advertisers are out there, but they are not letting go of any of their money for things like this. We put proposals in front of many different companies with no luck. A clear reason has not presented itself yet, but our belief is they are simply unsure of what the future holds, and the safe thing to do is hold on to the money they have. In some ways it's hard to argue with that.

Streaming is not the issue. That has been figured out. We've even solved the problem of getting the signal out of Stead. It's the cost of production that is the issue. It's in the tens-of-thousands of dollars to do it properly. Sure, we could stick one or even two cameras out on the ramp, and some fans might say, "We just want to see something". It has been our experience that many of those same people will be the first to criticize what they are seeing. If we are not advancing the image and scope of aviation coverage, then it's better to not do anything. Watching the planes go around the pylons is great, but it's who's inside, who maintains the planes, and why are the fans so excited that is the real story.

I have been going to the races since 2000 and have been involved in some level of coverage most of those years. I will be the first to tell you that watching it on TV/Computer is not like being there. However, it's the next best thing if you simply cannot be there.

Last year, LiveAirShowTV produced daily race-week updates. It was not live, but we put more "insider info" out each day than any live broadcast could. Go to our website to see what we have planned for 2011. In the mean time, we are open to any and all suggestions on raising the tens of thousands of dollars required to bring the NCAR to more people in a professional manner. That will help sustain the races, and will help make sure that those of us who really love it will get to keep going to the races in the future.

Jeff Lee
President
LiveAirShowTV

https://www.LiveAirShowTV.com

[champ19]

Re: What's preventing the Reno Races from broadcasting live on the Internet for free?

Thank you Mr. Lee for your daily updates last year. I found them entertaining, informative and well produced. I looked forward to them and I am sure many of us did. I am certainly looking forward to them again this year.

[degroodtt]

Re: What's preventing the Reno Races from broadcasting live on the Internet for free?

Mr Lee,

Didn't you provide Pay for View a couple 3-4 years ago. I see now that it was in 2009 that you had the live coverage. I paid for it and was pleased with the coverage. With that said, I could see where others would have complained. If I remember right I thought the price was pretty cheap <$25. At that price beggers can't be choosers. sit back and enjoy what you can get.

Thanks for all you do.
Tom