A few friends in the UK were getting slightly irritated when last month's Daytona TT wouldn't stream on fanschoice.tv, causing them to miss the progress of young Brit, Oliver Brindley, who was making his debut in the AFT Singles class. We (that is developed nation, tech savvy, middle classes) get so used to technology so quickly, that something that would seem miraculous a few years ago, becomes common place, then taken for granted in mere months. I do it too, and probably would have been whinging, if I weren't actually in Daytona researching stories for the next Sideburn and asking the AFT staff why people back home kept texting me asking what was up with Fanschoice*. It was frustrating, but Fanschoice is amazing. We get to watch whole GNC race meets live, anywhere in the world, for free (using wi-fi we're already paying for).
This advert, from the small ads of an old Cycle or Cycle News, brought home how good we have it. $32.95 for VHS cassetee of one race. Using an inflation calculator, that's the equivalent of $71.99 today. And it was produced by Dave Despain (who contributed a great story about the Honda RS750 for Sideburn 24).
Yep, Fanschoice rules.
* The previous race to have aired on Fanschoice was the Superprestigio and there was a different licensing rule that didn't allow it to be shown in the UK. A setting was changed in December and not changed back after the race.