[Booze]

>HI

Can anyone tell if there has been any broadcasted bridgetournaments at any TVchannel somewhere ?? When and where please ???

Booze

[Free]

I believe my father told me he saw some bridge on TV in 1974... At this moment I don't know if there's any TV station broadcasting bridge

[joker_gib]

Even if bridge was already TV broadcasted, I suppose that it was only for a couple of minutes !

Let's dream of a time when we should be able to watch the great tournaments on TV !

[hrothgar]

From perspective, the facilities that BBO offers for live VuGraph are infintely superior than television for covering live bridge events:

1. I don't believe that an audio-video would add any significant value to the proceedings... I don't need to see close-ups of card players staring at paste board and occasionally pushing a card forward. I prefer to be able to focus on the cards...

2. The market for televised bridge is marginal at best. The Internet is a much better mechanism to handle this type of niche market than scarce broadcast spectrum.

[joker_gib]

hrothgar, on Mar 7 2005, 09:58 AM, said:

From perspective, the facilities that BBO offers for live VuGraph are infintely superior than television for covering live bridge events:

1. I don't believe that an audio-video would add any significant value to the proceedings... I don't need to see close-ups of card players staring at paste board and occasionally pushing a card forward. I prefer to be able to focus on the cards...

2. The market for televised bridge is marginal at best. The Internet is a much better mechanism to handle this type of niche market than scarce broadcast spectrum.

Of course I agree but the advantage of a TV is to see when players are thinking !

Maybe when we'll have efficient web cams !!

Alain

[MickyB]

Free, on Mar 7 2005, 02:10 PM, said:

I believe my father told me he saw some bridge on TV in 1974... At this moment I don't know if there's any TV station broadcasting bridge

They had TV in 1974? Wow, never knew that.

But yes, I agree with Hrothgar. Seeing the players would grow tiresome after about 5 minutes.

[jillybean]

MickyB, on Mar 7 2005, 08:17 AM, said:

Seeing the players would grow tiresome after about 5 minutes.

That depends on who it was being televised.

[Booze]

Hi

Of course I agree 100 % , internet is a lot better for broadcasting bridge, but I got the question and I have never seen bridge on TV , if anyone has please let me know!!!


Booze

[MickyB]

IIRC the worlds were broadcast in the UK in 6 one-hour TV programmes. They are now available on DVD.

[DenisO]

There were two International matches (UK v USA) broadcast by the BBC in the early 80's. I have the book of the second called Grand Slam.

The 2nd match was televised in 1983 over a number of weekends - 78 boards. For the USA there were Neil Silverman,Matt Granovetter,Jackie Mitchell and Gail Moss. For UK it was Tony Priday, Claude Rodrigue, Nicola Gardiner and Pat Davies - all world class players.

I can't remember much about it but it was enjoyable viewing at the time - I think it used to go out on a Sunday afternoon in winter so was pitched at people who didn't know much about bridge ie a lot of explanatory stuff.

I don't know if the BBC made any videos of the series.

Denis

[DenisO]

Just remembered - there was another series called Master Bridge boadcast on Channel 4 (in UK) about 1982. This was an individual tournament with preset hands and featured Rixi Markus, Jane Priday, Jeremy Flint, Martin Hoffman, Irving Rose and Robert Sheehan. To get as big an audience as poss these were suplemented by Zia and Omar Sharif!

I can't remember anything about it but Nicola Gardener (daughter of Nico - joint author with Victor Mollo of Card Play Technique and herself a World Champion) has written a book about the programme giving hand analysis pre play and after.

Denis

[Walddk]

DenisO, on Mar 7 2005, 11:16 AM, said:

I can't remember anything about it but Nicola Gardener (daughter of Nico - joint author with Victor Mollo of Card Play Technique and herself a World Champion) has written a book about the programme giving hand analysis pre play and after.

Denis

"MASTER Bridge" is the title, and the author's name is now Nicola Smith. But Denis is right; it was Nicola Gardener then, and that name is what appears on the front page.

Roland

[DrTodd13]

Watching the players think certainly wouldn't be very fun but getting more of a stream-of-consciousness from an expert panel of commentators is certainly fun. Having been to viewgraphs at nationals and watching vugraphs on-line, I'll say the ones on-line are more technically oriented. If you ever wanted this to reach a broader audience then you're going to need some charismatic commentators who are knowledge about the systems being played and are humorous and can provide some attraction for the bridge novice.

[TimG]

hrothgar, on Mar 7 2005, 09:58 AM, said:

From perspective, the facilities that BBO offers for live VuGraph are infintely superior than television for covering live bridge events:

1. I don't believe that an audio-video would add any significant value to the proceedings... I don't need to see close-ups of card players staring at paste board and occasionally pushing a card forward. I prefer to be able to focus on the cards...

2. The market for televised bridge is marginal at best. The Internet is a much better mechanism to handle this type of niche market than scarce broadcast spectrum.

I agree, but there is a way in which the current vugraphs could be improved: allow the viewer to proceed at his own pace (rather than in real time). This would also be useful for viewers half a world away -- wouldn't it be nice to be able to watch the events when you want to rather than at 3 AM?

Tim

[Walddk]

TimG, on Mar 7 2005, 02:12 PM, said:

I agree, but there is a way in which the current vugraphs could be improved: allow the viewer to proceed at his own pace (rather than in real time).  This would also be useful for viewers half a world away -- wouldn't it be nice to be able to watch the events when you want to rather than at 3 AM?

Tim

This is actually (at least in one way) possible by going to our Vugraph archives. We have almost all segments stored there, and now even with the commentary attached, word by word as they appeared during the live broadcast.

I like this opportunity a lot, although I will always prefer to watch it live. Football, hockey, bridge, whatever. The feeling of "being" in Melbourne right now, although you are in fact in Chicago physically, adds to the excitement in my opinion.

Roland

[TimG]

Walddk, on Mar 7 2005, 03:12 PM, said:

TimG, on Mar 7 2005, 02:12 PM, said:

I agree, but there is a way in which the current vugraphs could be improved: allow the viewer to proceed at his own pace (rather than in real time).  This would also be useful for viewers half a world away -- wouldn't it be nice to be able to watch the events when you want to rather than at 3 AM?

Tim

This is actually (at least in one way) possible by going to our Vugraph archives. We have almost all segments stored there, and now even with the commentary attached, word by word as they appeared during the live broadcast.

I like this opportunity a lot, although I will always prefer to watch it live. Football, hockey, bridge, whatever. The feeling of "being" in Melbourne right now, although you are in fact in Chicago physically, adds to the excitement in my opinion.

Roland

I did not know that the commentary was now included in the vugraph archives, that is certainly a bonus.

I agree that watching live is often better. But, sometimes it is impossible due to work/family/sleep etc. And, even with sporting events, I'm pretty much hooked on TiVo these days -- skipping the commercials and whatnot makes the experience more enjoyable for me.

[DenisO]

TimG, on Mar 7 2005, 08:22 PM, said:

I like this opportunity a lot, although I will always prefer to watch it live. Football, hockey, bridge, whatever. The feeling I agree that watching live is often better.  But, sometimes it is impossible due to work/family/sleep etc.  And, even with sporting events, I'm pretty much hooked on TiVo these days -- skipping the commercials and whatnot makes the experience more enjoyable for me.

You can also get the Vugraphs later (without commentary if you prefer) by going to Nikos Sarantakos' excellent site :

http://www.sarantako...ge/vugraph.html

You can even download the files to your own hard disk to watch any time at your leisure -even offline if not on ADSL.

Denis

[Double !]

If you care to go back to the 1960s, Charles Goren (I think) had a 30 minute program, sponsored by Samsonite, makers of bridge tables et. al. I believe Audrey Grant also had a TV program somewhat more recently, but not sure and don't recall date. But I remember watching the Goren program.