+1 What spoils many of us is the BBC/Sky coverage - Nothing like feet on the ground in the pits and talking heads in the press box etc. Given that they're in a bunker in NC (?) watching the exact same world feed as us, they don't do a bad job IMO. I suspect they'll do most live - They're mainly in the middle of the night anyway! The "issue" will be the few races that are in "prime time" - Wouldn't want F1 interfering with the latest game show after all..... Hopefully if they're paying the Pygmy the big bucks they'll do it "right". FWIW, I use strongvpn.com at ~$40 /year IIRC - Fast and reliable. It's a good way to go if you don't want to use the famous Speedy-links. However, be aware that you need a UK sports subscription for the Sky feed. Cheers, Ian
Well, the good news (for me) is that my cable provider Time Warner actually carries the NBC Sports channel and it's just one channel up from Speed... I just hope that they air practice and qualifying too and let's hope it's live, and let's hope the races are also live. I think their press release said something about airing Indy Car right after Formula One and since the timing on each race will almost never be back to back, something's not going to be live there.... As far as announcers, I've been watching them announce the races for many years and they do a good job, sure, maybe you will find someone a little better, but since it's now on a major network, they will have to be even more user friendly to the F1 newbies and regardless of who's announcing, they will still have to tell you how the knockout qualifying works and what happens when the lights go out etc.... So why not keep the current team.... That's my opinion... Personally, I don't care who's announcing as long as I can watch practice, qualifying and the race LIVE.
I have watched a few Indy races this year, I didn't plan to, I just happen to be browsing the guide and saw that it was on, to be honest, I don't even remember what channel it was on, but I do know that I didn't think the hosts or the coverage was all that great....
I'm in the same boat. Caught a few but wasn't left with a strong impression which is why I'm curious what the experts think
Yes, I agree. Repackaging would just be a cheap way to broadcast P&Q. But as you pointed out, a repackage wouldn't get the viewers that a live, real time broadcast would. This is a case where NBC needs to spend money to make money. This is the key question IMO. How is Indy coverage? Is it better now than it was, say ten years ago or is it worse or the same? From the press release, it all seems pretty good, as long as you have access to NBC Sports Channel. My guess is, NBC will treat this pretty well, they aren't known for bidding high on events, only to let them languish. -F
In the past, when they have gone after sports rights (NFL, Olympics) they have typically gone in with the intent to outbid their competitors. And in general, IMO, NBC has done pretty well with those two products. Call me hopeful. -F
I like Steve but Hobbs is too old to be announcing. He makes lots of errors and seems pretty senile these days. Varsha is just kind of annoying (how drunk he got on the USF1 fiasco and bought it hook line and sinker right till the bitter end, for example) but I don't mind him really. I liked Buxton till I followed him on Twitter...
So....Who would "we" like to see in the broadcast booth for F1 next season? I'll go first: "Play by play": Jon Bisignano "Color": Derek Daly "Tech": Wayne Carini "Pits": Howard Stern I KID!! I KID!! No, seriously...who?
Well, we know now it's NBC but if we didn't know that you could still easily say no way. Velocity is a discount network/channel, if Fox/SPEED can't afford F1 then Velocity definitely can't. Unlikely. NBC would be wise to bring on the SPEED crew. The only question is the NBC studio's proximity to Charlotte. I would wager that we'll see a new lead to replace Varsha, Matchett and Hobbs to move to NBC, and Windsor to return as the man on the ground. No matter who the team is, it's still going to be fairly awful with heavy commercial breaks. And I have doubts that NBC will have a program like Debrief, which I rather enjoy.
Hopefully, NBCS plays it smart and puts knowledgable commentators in the booth rather than hangers-on and gadflys as we've had to endure in the past. The question about their Indy Car coverage came up and it may be pointed out this has been well discussed at length in the Other Racing category. NBCSs Indy Car coverage was "meh" at best. An hour long pre-race was impossible to endure. Why they do this is anyone's guess when all they need is half an hour to set the stage, interview a few dignitaries, course description, grid, green flag. Announcing could be described as sub-par. Bob Jenkins served as the voice but as pointed out in the other forum, Jenkins always seemed to be three beats behind the action on the track, continually tripped up on facts and then tried to introduce historical events into the conversation which always seemed strangely out of place or completely wrong. The other announcers, Jon Beekhus and Wally Dallenbach, Jr. are good just not big enough names to give the broadcasts any gravitas. The pit reporter is Townsend Bell and here is the guy who could be moved into either the F-1 or Indy Car booth. Bell filled in on the Speed F-1 broadcasts a couple of times and did well. As long as NBCS dosent try to replicate NASCAR Raceday with an overdose of pre-race hype and insipid features, it will be okay. As usual in these situations, we hope for the best but brace ourselves for the worst. BHW
They'd be better off just buying and transmitting the BBC or Sky feeds. (If BE allows that sort of thing).
I have a feeling I'm just going to end up watching the sky coverage online from the site I got here, thank goodness for apple's screen mirroring. I can just send the feed to the apple tv. Going to miss our SPEED team though. Been watching them since I started watching F1.
UVerse carries NBC Sports on channel 1640 here in Miami. I rarely watch them live anymore so I can fast forward through the commercials.
