Danil Tarmasinov - about the main transfer of the television universe.
In 2015, riot police burst into the modest world of sports television and took away everything that could be taken away. At the Council on Physical Culture and Sports, the head of Gazprom-Media, a member of the list of the top 3 most influential people in Russian sports, Dmitry Chernyshenko, announced that in the interests of the state he was taking away the frequency of “Russia 2”, paying a penalty to the state holding VGTRK and building a new one in this place empire. This is how Match TV appeared.
Chernyshenko and other speakers explained this by saying that the rights to premium sports broadcasts are too expensive, competition between NTV-Plus and VGTRK inflates the cost, so it is easier to end these wars with a peace agreement. The participants in the process were relatively satisfied with this explanation - until it became clear that something was going wrong in this regard. The owners of sports rights did not lower the price at all (as Chernyshenko and Gazprom-Media thought), but simply did not sell the rights. Thus, a television monopoly emerged in Russia, which controlled which broadcasts the Russian viewer would see and which they would not. All this in the age of broadband Internet and pirated broadcasts from Romania.
It turned out that in this purge they completely forgot about other market players. Therefore, the cable channel “Football” with the worst commentator in the world, Maxim Alekseev, buys the Italian Cup and sells sublicenses to “Match TV”, and on June 4, for example, it will show a friendly match between Austria and Holland. That is, they - with the prehistoric 4:3 image format, shameful inter-programs and TV stores - are still afloat, although it seems they shouldn’t. Paradox?
And now the Eurosport TV channel has risen to full height. If we're being honest, the pan-European broadcaster has never been a big force in Russia. This is a kind of protest television viewing - I don’t want state channels, they are too pop and noisy, so I’ll go to “Eureka”. Sergei Kurdyukov, in his best years, completely turned into Alexei Navalny from biathlon reporting, becoming the answer to the question “If not Guber, then who?”
Changes on the channel came not with the transformation of the gray “Plus” into the red “Match”, but with the law banning the ownership of media by foreigners. It was this law that rebuilt the management system of the television company and transferred it into the hands of NMG and the Russian office of Discovery. And the new owners successfully got into the flow when no one seemed to notice them or consider them a competitor.
Eurosport is now also about Leicester (sorry if you're tired of reading about Jamie Vardy). Here, too, everything came together: the weakening attention of market sharks, and one’s own correct work, and, of course, luck. No one expected that Vladimir Stognienko would be offended by the Match bosses and leave the channel - this is another PR reason. Did no one think that Match TV would hire too many people on staff, release powerful commentators from enslaving contracts and give Eurosport, for example, Alexander Elagin? This is an absolute stroke of luck, which the new leaders of the pan-European channel took advantage of.
It's about business too. TVSportMarkets Editor Robin Jellis reported that Wimbledon was included in Eurosport Russia with a 40 percent discount. Yes, this also happened due to the fact that the owner of the rights, the IMG company, initially puts a very high price tag on tennis packages, but competent negotiations brought down the cost of Wimbledon.
Now there are two questions. How will the NHL show on Eurosport be handled and what will be preferred in the bracket - conditional alpine skiing or a replay of the top Detroit Red Wings match? It is not yet very clear who will decide this. The question with commentators is secondary. There are a couple of people on the free agent market who will beef up the broadcast. Take, for example, all the commentators who worked for Viasat Sport, although now they have very different destinies - from the Match news editor to a scout for the Russian national team. Hockey is not artistic gymnastics, which only Lidia Ivanova speaks about in human language. There will be people.
The second question is even more important. How will Match TV behave in such competition? It's clear that something is wrong, and the NHL is the first sign of danger. It is quite possible that Eurosport will get another defender at the top (also a member of the top 3), and then the story about business will turn into a fascinating battle. The main thing to understand here is whether Eurosport has already become a competitor for Match TV? Or rather, did “Match” understand that the riot police did not clear the entire building?
Eurosport TV channel commentator Sergei Kurdyukov, after a busy cycling summer, is preparing for emotional winter reporting. Sports.ru talked to one of the most meticulous and, perhaps, less popular commentators and found out how long his preparation for the broadcast lasts, whether there is any benefit from communicating with fans on Twitter, whether it is necessary to criticize Dmitry Guberniev and whether Valery Karpin will be able to manage a large cycling team .
Season
– I liked each stage race this season in its own way. But the Vuelta surpassed all the others in terms of drama, although it would be unfair to say that it was the most eventful. At other races there were also super loads, a fight for life, and beautiful stages. Dramatic and tragic, unfortunately, too. Overall, the super stage race season turned out to be the most impressive in recent years.
One of the main themes of the season is the delay in resolving the “Contador case”.
– When the races were going on, I thought almost nothing about it. Between races, yes, there was time to think. Of course, the situation turned out to be strange and, what can I say, stupid. Because Alberto’s disqualification could redraw the protocols that were filled out more than a year ago.
Was there tension within the peloton about this?
– I wouldn’t say that the thought of this constantly put pressure on the riders. They did their job, and did not guess what the court's verdict would be. Moreover, the meeting was constantly postponed.
The best Russian stage racer, Denis Menshov, had an ambiguous season. Do you think he will still have opportunities to compete for the podium?
- Firstly, he already had them, at the same Vuelta. In the last days of the race, it was clear that if it had not been for the loss at the beginning - largely offensive and arising out of nowhere - then, at a minimum, he would have stood on the podium. Denis could aim for victory under certain circumstances, although the route was not suitable for him, just like at the Giro... But there is a move. Thank God, he is still at the age and condition when he can think about the future, and not be consoled by memories.
This year, the American HTC disappeared, two Belgian teams merged, as well as RadioShack and Leopard Trek. Maybe it's time for teams to create their own Champions League and stop asking sponsors for money?
“This is a very risky recipe that can be crowned with both colossal success and catastrophic failure.” The movement towards self-sufficiency is known to have conflicts with the UCI. But there are so many different poles here, each has its own truth, and not everything is determined by economics. It seems to me that there is no need to make sudden movements; we need to develop a more perfect system through dialogue and joint efforts. And the breakups and mergers of very strong teams are, among other things, a reflection of the unstable situation in the global economy.
Reports
How long does it take you to prepare for your reports?
– About the same amount as the report itself, sometimes more. Not everything is used, but you have to be aware of everything that is happening to understand where everything comes from; You learn many important things only before the start. Some moments need to be analyzed, some thoughts need to be compared with the thoughts of colleagues. Draw a portrait of a racer who gives a reason to talk about himself. This is not only a process of collecting facts, but living in the rhythm of a race.
Is it possible to work out a stage well in a multi-day race without preparing for it at all?
– You can spend a whole multi-day race like this, that’s not the question. The question is what is more interesting when you are in the know. All journalism is based on curiosity. In addition, you want to have a certain plot in order to direct the next report, and it should not repeat the previous one - otherwise you will not hold people’s attention. Of course, you can work on old stocks and current results. But then you will degrade, not develop. After all, we work for people. But it would be dishonest to cut corners with oneself.
Were there reports where you didn’t have time to prepare and had to improvise?
– I improvise all the time, it’s part of live broadcast. And much of what is prepared in advance remains completely unclaimed. It all depends on how the race goes.
Do you feel the load? Do you get tired by the third week of big races?
- But of course! Long timing, impact on the voice. If you don’t learn to distribute yourself correctly, you won’t last long in this craft. But I always tell myself: this is not comparable to what the messengers endure. And so - emotional, mental and physical stress... Yes, all this takes its toll. A super multi-day race is in any case the biggest workload for a commentator. Sometimes it’s also the World Championship.
Most sports do not provide such length commentary. And those that have a similar length are incomparable in emotional intensity, the number of objects of attention, and the changeability of the situation. There, 90 percent of the time events happen in a measured manner. And in cycling - remember what the riders said in the first week of the Tour: for four hours you rush at an average speed of about 50 and you don’t have the right to lose concentration for a second. Commentators also have something similar.
And here’s another important thing: you definitely need to find an opportunity to move. “Practice” is, of course, a strong word; against the background of important series of reports, there is neither time nor energy for full-fledged training, I’ll catch up later - but to stop burning my brains and work my muscles for a while, to breathe - for me this is necessary.
In your reports you present almost all racers as heroes.
- Because that's how it is. I always worry about the messengers; I look at any situation, first of all, from the position of a driver who does a hellishly hard job, who, as a rule, has a short life, and the likelihood of leaving a great mark in the history of the sport is small for a number of reasons... I I simply don’t feel like I have the right to be a cold arbiter.
Fans
- Definitely, yes. The geography of the audience and its activity are expanding. Feedback this only confirms... Given the modern oversaturation of various spectacles, this is a very good symptom. We will try to ensure that growth does not stop.
You constantly communicate with fans on Twitter. Do you like this dialogue?
- Differently. More often I like it than not. The possibility of contact in real time is created; at the same time, I get a certain cross-section of preferences, which is interesting to the fans. This is an additional emotional background - our virtual stands almost turn into real ones. Although something in the style of banal trolling, which is already sick and tired of the forums, may appear in the message column.
"Katyusha", Guberniev and Karpin
Fans sometimes reproach you for not criticizing Katyusha, whose season, frankly speaking, did not quite work out. Do you have anything to object to them?
– When there are mistakes, I will always state them. But the genre of my reporting does not involve half-an-hour delving into problems or lengthy critical analyzes. There is a race going on, not a reporting and election conference. My genre is mostly sports performance. We play it out together with the drivers, coaches, mechanics, operators, everyone has their own role. And people gather around screens and on roadsides to watch the vibrant spectacle. And in order, naturally, to cheer, most often for our own people.
Filling the ether space with a barrage of critical arrows is simply not my style. This applies not only to Katyusha. Of course, I can express my position regarding this or that problem. But I will always with great pleasure praise someone who deserves praise. I have too much respect for a person on any sports track, because I know this work.
How do you rate the Katyusha season? To some extent, performing at the Tour de France with a Russian team is not the best idea.
– As for the Tour, it was an experiment, if you like. Probably premature. Perhaps it is too early to field an entirely Russian lineup. A new multi-day core in Russian cycling has not yet been formed, young people are just growing up... It was a leap over the step. And during this jump they stumbled. Where there was a more balanced lineup, like at the Vuelta, the team managed to perform well. Feeling the feasibility of their ambitions, people worked differently.
During one of the stages of the Vuelta, you remembered Valery Karpin, the head coach and general director of the football team Spartak. They said that the Spanish fans treat him very well. Would you personally like him to work as a manager in Russian cycling?
– Well, it’s up to him to decide (laughs). It would certainly be an interesting experience. But it seems to me that he now has a different vector, a different chapter in his life. Although interactions between the sporting worlds are always welcome.
By the way, did you talk with your colleague Dmitry Guberniev about the famous events during the break of the Spartak - CSKA match?
- No, we didn’t talk. It's funny, but I was completely unaware of the situation. After this episode, they started calling me in the morning from different media outlets, and the day before I had a lot of work (I’m not only on air - I write, I take photographs), I slept for quite a long time... “What do you think about the scandal with Dima?” “What scandal? I just tore my eyes out!” Then they helped me get into the swing of things. Well... Probably, if I had even talked to him about this, it would have been completely banal. I can imagine. A lot of different things happen in the life of a commentator. On-air positions are perhaps the most vulnerable ones, and one must walk carefully through this minefield. No one is immune from all sorts of troubles.
Something else struck me. That giant “yellow shaft” that this mega-event raised. When even fairly serious media outlets milked this story for a week - well, I don’t know... The parties have grievances against each other - let them sort it out among themselves. Humanity is full of much more serious problems that are touched upon only once a month, in passing, in the “This is interesting” section. It is much easier to completely impose pop approaches. Well, okay, this is a topic for another conversation.
donrruso said:
truly respected Sergei Kurdyukov,I am very glad that Russia finally has a sports journalist of such a class as you. I am a long-time fan and remember Sapporo. but there has never been anything like this in television sports journalism! *this is real competence in all sports, a friendly attitude towards all athletes, regardless of the country they represent, specific and comprehensive information about these athletes, a pleasant perception of the commentary by ear, knowledge foreign languages.
What does hearing affect? your command of Italian is already visible from a kilometer away, there is no need to flaunt it once again, especially since “Italian quotes” are not always absolutely accurate. in the comments, in my opinion, you should remain in the field of the Russian language, with all its attributes, including Russian phonetics, you are a Russian commentator. proper names pronounced in Italian, English, German manner for a Russian-speaking audience should sound in the usual “Russian format”. for example, “de-Larenzi”, not “di-Lorenzi”. firstly, among all Russian-speaking journalists, only you will pronounce this surname this way, and secondly, pronunciation of proper names close to the norms of the original language is correct only among specialists in this field, but for a general audience it is bad form. besides, why do the proper names of some languages sound deliberately emphatic in the manner of these languages, while others, for example, Romanian, sometimes Portuguese, some Slavic, are completely incorrect? Is it really difficult for editors to prepare cheat sheets on reading/pronunciation principles for each language? *then it is enough to do it once for all the years of work and not experience any more problems.
Hello! This is my first time here, I specifically registered to express my opinion on the commentary on the competitions at the current White Olympics. I came here, and this burning topic is already being discussed here. I agree that the comments are friendly and that they show the high competence of the journalist. But how uninteresting most of them are! There is no “divine spark” in them, any journalistic “discoveries”, in a word, everything that, besides the competitions themselves, makes fans’ hearts tremble. Often, they are simply funny, as, for example, in the case of snowboarding comments, when the broadcast was not just an illiterate report, but simply anecdotal. I tried to write down this text, I’m not sure it’s completely verbatim, but the essence of the report (if there was one) was not distorted by many: “...Here you need recklessness, and counting points is just a stupid sum of numbers, the judges will not be particularly atrocious... Incendiary dancing, she just can’t accept that her attempt is over. The marktwist turned out well. The Japanese are happy, the Japanese are too. The Americans are still untouchable. They are disappointed out of a thirst for justice. And here comes the backside air and the switch for seven hundred and twenty... In the end this symbiosis gave birth to snowboarding..." And often commentators simply talk to each other about topics that interest them, not really caring whether it is clear to listeners or not. Most of them do not condescend to even a basic explanation of the rules of new sports. And not only new ones. I am sure that most TV viewers only roughly know the rules of curling... Do I really need to undergo special training in order to watch these competitions? And how often a sports commentary comes down to only listing what is happening on the screen: “Ivanov has the puck, he passes it to Petrov...”. I don’t know if the volume of a message on the forum allows for such a large text, so I’ll finish... And lastly: maybe you shouldn’t make a link to the new Eurosport website every third phrase in the comments?
