ESPN?

[John]

I thought moving F1 to ESPN was supposed to bring more publicity to it in the USA. So where is the promotion? Where is the preseason buzz?

[News]

Post by John
I thought moving F1 to ESPN was supposed to bring more publicity to it in the USA. So where is the promotion? Where is the preseason buzz?

You missed it? There go the ratings!

(Most will look for it on NBC, and will get Indy Car instead. "Hey, the
Honda is running better, but where's Ferrari?")

[John]

Well the public is certainly missing it.

[kwhiner]

Post by John
I thought moving F1 to ESPN was supposed to bring more publicity to it in the USA. So where is the promotion? Where is the preseason buzz?

Then ESPN only scheduled 65 mins for both practice and qualifying, which in the case of qualifying cut of the timing with about 8 mins of Q3 to go. Also at the last minute the practice coverage was changed. So much for recording with a DVR for later viewing.

Climbing down off the soup box now, thanks for your patience!!

kwhiner

[D Munz]

That must be something local. My DVR (xfinity in Houston) caught the whole of qualifying.

FWIW
DLM

[Mark Jackson]

Post by D Munz
That must be something local. My DVR (xfinity in Houston) caught the whole of qualifying.

It depends on the accuracy of the digital schedule provided to the
hardware by your cable company. Here in Rochester NY (ex-Time Warner
Cable, now Spectrum) my DVR stopped at 3 AM; fortunately I was watching
semi-live (started late, kept dozing off), fast-forwarded through the
commercials to get to live, and caught the finale of Q3.

So far I am not impressed by the Sky commentary team compared to what
NBC had, but I will reserve final judgement until I've watched an actual
race while fully conscious.

[News]

Post by Mark Jackson

Post by D Munz
That must be something local. My DVR (xfinity in Houston) caught the whole of qualifying.

It depends on the accuracy of the digital schedule provided to the
hardware by your cable company.  Here in Rochester NY (ex-Time Warner
Cable, now Spectrum) my DVR stopped at 3 AM; fortunately I was watching
semi-live (started late, kept dozing off), fast-forwarded through the
commercials to get to live, and caught the finale of Q3.
So far I am not impressed by the Sky commentary team compared to what
NBC had, but I will reserve final judgement until I've watched an actual
race while fully conscious.

I'd take Hobbs and Matchett, any day.

[t***@gmail.com]

Post by News
I'd take Hobbs and Matchett, any day.

And your dumb boyfriend at night.

[D Munz]

Yup. Our loss. Looks like they kept Buxton at the track but they didn't seem to use him much. Or, did I read somewhere that he is there to lead up the OTT sreeming feed?

FWIW
DLM

[D Munz]

Well the race was ok but the coverage was crap. The Sky team obviously didn't know when ESPN went to the split screen for adds so they couldn't follow up on stuff. Last year, the crew knew what was up and they would talk about anything that happened.

It also seemed like the Sky guys ignored most of the radio traffic. One of the best things about Matchet was his analysis of some of the radio messaging.

Well see if they get better.

FWIW
DLM

[Mark Jackson]

Post by Mark Jackson
So far I am not impressed by the Sky commentary team compared to what
NBC had, but I will reserve final judgement until I've watched an actual
race while fully conscious.

OK, the US TV coverage was terrible.

First, the commentary team talks too much, that is to say constantly.
(To be fair I can't really say that Brundle talks too much as Croft
never gives him a chance to do so. But he does jump right in and fill
the odd moments when Croft pauses right up, so there's no relief.)

Second, the production suffers greatly from just taking the Sky feed.
In previous years we had a US-specific commentary team with technical
support, so commercial breaks could be integrated into the presentation.
This also meant that if something interesting happened during the
commercial the team could break from the live world feed to replay the
incident and explain what had happened.

Yesterday commercials (usually, but not always, split-screen) began in
the middle of what a Sky commentator was saying, came back with similar
disregard for context, and there was no possibility of replays (unless
one happened to be on the world feed) or supporting descriptions.

All in all a huge step backwards; hard to see how this is going to
increase US interest in F1.

[News]

Post by Mark Jackson

Post by Mark Jackson
So far I am not impressed by the Sky commentary team compared to what
NBC had, but I will reserve final judgement until I've watched an
actual race while fully conscious.

OK, the US TV coverage was terrible.
First, the commentary team talks too much, that is to say constantly.
(To be fair I can't really say that Brundle talks too much as Croft
never gives him a chance to do so.  But he does jump right in and fill
the odd moments when Croft pauses right up, so there's no relief.)
Second, the production suffers greatly from just taking the Sky feed. In
previous years we had a US-specific commentary team with technical
support, so commercial breaks could be integrated into the presentation.
 This also meant that if something interesting happened during the
commercial the team could break from the live world feed to replay the
incident and explain what had happened.
Yesterday commercials (usually, but not always, split-screen) began in
the middle of what a Sky commentator was saying, came back with similar
disregard for context, and there was no possibility of replays (unless
one happened to be on the world feed) or supporting descriptions.
All in all a huge step backwards; hard to see how this is going to
increase US interest in F1.

Liberty has screwed the pooch.

Let's see how long it takes to unscrew, if they even realize it's screwed.

[geoff]

Post by News

Post by Mark Jackson

Post by Mark Jackson
So far I am not impressed by the Sky commentary team compared to what
NBC had, but I will reserve final judgement until I've watched an
actual race while fully conscious.

OK, the US TV coverage was terrible.
First, the commentary team talks too much, that is to say constantly.
(To be fair I can't really say that Brundle talks too much as Croft
never gives him a chance to do so.  But he does jump right in and fill
the odd moments when Croft pauses right up, so there's no relief.)
Second, the production suffers greatly from just taking the Sky feed.
In previous years we had a US-specific commentary team with technical
support, so commercial breaks could be integrated into the
presentation.   This also meant that if something interesting happened
during the commercial the team could break from the live world feed to
replay the incident and explain what had happened.
Yesterday commercials (usually, but not always, split-screen) began in
the middle of what a Sky commentator was saying, came back with
similar disregard for context, and there was no possibility of replays
(unless one happened to be on the world feed) or supporting descriptions.
All in all a huge step backwards; hard to see how this is going to
increase US interest in F1.

Liberty has screwed the pooch.
Let's see how long it takes to unscrew, if they even realize it's screwed.

Must be a local thing arrangement. No commercials during the race on Sky
here (NZ).

geoff

[News]

Post by geoff

Post by News

Post by Mark Jackson

Post by Mark Jackson
So far I am not impressed by the Sky commentary team compared to
what NBC had, but I will reserve final judgement until I've watched
an actual race while fully conscious.

OK, the US TV coverage was terrible.
First, the commentary team talks too much, that is to say constantly.
(To be fair I can't really say that Brundle talks too much as Croft
never gives him a chance to do so.  But he does jump right in and
fill the odd moments when Croft pauses right up, so there's no relief.)
Second, the production suffers greatly from just taking the Sky feed.
In previous years we had a US-specific commentary team with technical
support, so commercial breaks could be integrated into the
presentation.   This also meant that if something interesting
happened during the commercial the team could break from the live
world feed to replay the incident and explain what had happened.
Yesterday commercials (usually, but not always, split-screen) began
in the middle of what a Sky commentator was saying, came back with
similar disregard for context, and there was no possibility of
replays (unless one happened to be on the world feed) or supporting
descriptions.
All in all a huge step backwards; hard to see how this is going to
increase US interest in F1.

Liberty has screwed the pooch.
Let's see how long it takes to unscrew, if they even realize it's screwed.

Must be a local thing arrangement. No commercials during the race on Sky
here (NZ).
geoff

NZ is special. Interpret that as you will.

[m***@gmail.com]

Post by geoff

Post by News

Post by Mark Jackson
Yesterday commercials (usually, but not always, split-screen) began in
the middle of what a Sky commentator was saying, came back with
similar disregard for context, and there was no possibility of replays
(unless one happened to be on the world feed) or supporting descriptions.
All in all a huge step backwards; hard to see how this is going to
increase US interest in F1.

Liberty has screwed the pooch.
Let's see how long it takes to unscrew, if they even realize it's screwed.

Must be a local thing arrangement. No commercials during the race on Sky
here (NZ).
geoff

Because Sky don't include the commercials. They sell their coverage on and whoever is actually broadcasting inserts the commercials - and Sky obviously can't know when that is going to happen.

In SA they continue to show the race in a split window with the advert. I haven't got out the tape measure, but I'd say you still get half the screen area. If I watch the race after the event, via the "catch up" feature on the PVR, then I get it totally ad free.

[Heron]

Post by Mark Jackson

Post by Mark Jackson
So far I am not impressed by the Sky commentary team compared to what
NBC had, but I will reserve final judgement until I've watched an
actual race while fully conscious.

OK, the US TV coverage was terrible.
First, the commentary team talks too much, that is to say constantly.
(To be fair I can't really say that Brundle talks too much as Croft
never gives him a chance to do so.  But he does jump right in and fill
the odd moments when Croft pauses right up, so there's no relief.)
Second, the production suffers greatly from just taking the Sky feed. In
previous years we had a US-specific commentary team with technical
support, so commercial breaks could be integrated into the presentation.
 This also meant that if something interesting happened during the
commercial the team could break from the live world feed to replay the
incident and explain what had happened.
Yesterday commercials (usually, but not always, split-screen) began in
the middle of what a Sky commentator was saying, came back with similar
disregard for context, and there was no possibility of replays (unless
one happened to be on the world feed) or supporting descriptions.
All in all a huge step backwards; hard to see how this is going to
increase US interest in F1.

Seems likely that ESPN simply purchased access rights to
the Sky feed, and broadcast portions at their discretion.

Statement from ESPN:
"We deeply apologize to Formula 1 fans for the technical
issues that caused them to miss the first 20 minutes of
the pre-race show for the Australian Grand Prix. We are
sorry that our first F1 telecast did not go as smoothly
as we would have liked but we are taking steps to prevent
those same issues from occurring in the future. We thank
fans for watching and for their incredible passion for F1."

But being familiar with ABC/ESPN coverage of AOWR in
the past, I don't hold out much hope for improvement.

[Dan the Man]

Post by Heron

Post by Mark Jackson

Post by Mark Jackson
So far I am not impressed by the Sky commentary team compared to what
NBC had, but I will reserve final judgement until I've watched an
actual race while fully conscious.

OK, the US TV coverage was terrible.
First, the commentary team talks too much, that is to say constantly.
(To be fair I can't really say that Brundle talks too much as Croft
never gives him a chance to do so.  But he does jump right in and fill
the odd moments when Croft pauses right up, so there's no relief.)
Second, the production suffers greatly from just taking the Sky feed. In
previous years we had a US-specific commentary team with technical
support, so commercial breaks could be integrated into the presentation.
 This also meant that if something interesting happened during the
commercial the team could break from the live world feed to replay the
incident and explain what had happened.
Yesterday commercials (usually, but not always, split-screen) began in
the middle of what a Sky commentator was saying, came back with similar
disregard for context, and there was no possibility of replays (unless
one happened to be on the world feed) or supporting descriptions.
All in all a huge step backwards; hard to see how this is going to
increase US interest in F1.

Seems likely that ESPN simply purchased access rights to
the Sky feed, and broadcast portions at their discretion.
"We deeply apologize to Formula 1 fans for the technical
issues that caused them to miss the first 20 minutes of
the pre-race show for the Australian Grand Prix. We are
sorry that our first F1 telecast did not go as smoothly
as we would have liked but we are taking steps to prevent
those same issues from occurring in the future. We thank
fans for watching and for their incredible passion for F1."
But being familiar with ABC/ESPN coverage of AOWR in
the past, I don't hold out much hope for improvement.

Back in the day, ESPN had Bob Varsha and David Hobbs announcing. ESPN has been chainsawing payroll over the last year or so; I don't hold out much hope of them hiring announcers to smooth out the coverage, any time soon. What a waste.

[News]

Post by Dan the Man

Post by Heron

Post by Mark Jackson

Post by Mark Jackson
So far I am not impressed by the Sky commentary team compared to what
NBC had, but I will reserve final judgement until I've watched an
actual race while fully conscious.

OK, the US TV coverage was terrible.
First, the commentary team talks too much, that is to say constantly.
(To be fair I can't really say that Brundle talks too much as Croft
never gives him a chance to do so.  But he does jump right in and fill
the odd moments when Croft pauses right up, so there's no relief.)
Second, the production suffers greatly from just taking the Sky feed. In
previous years we had a US-specific commentary team with technical
support, so commercial breaks could be integrated into the presentation.
 This also meant that if something interesting happened during the
commercial the team could break from the live world feed to replay the
incident and explain what had happened.
Yesterday commercials (usually, but not always, split-screen) began in
the middle of what a Sky commentator was saying, came back with similar
disregard for context, and there was no possibility of replays (unless
one happened to be on the world feed) or supporting descriptions.
All in all a huge step backwards; hard to see how this is going to
increase US interest in F1.

Seems likely that ESPN simply purchased access rights to
the Sky feed, and broadcast portions at their discretion.
"We deeply apologize to Formula 1 fans for the technical
issues that caused them to miss the first 20 minutes of
the pre-race show for the Australian Grand Prix. We are
sorry that our first F1 telecast did not go as smoothly
as we would have liked but we are taking steps to prevent
those same issues from occurring in the future. We thank
fans for watching and for their incredible passion for F1."
But being familiar with ABC/ESPN coverage of AOWR in
the past, I don't hold out much hope for improvement.

Back in the day, ESPN had Bob Varsha and David Hobbs announcing. ESPN has been chainsawing payroll over the last year or so; I don't hold out much hope of them hiring announcers to smooth out the coverage, any time soon. What a waste.

The average RASF1'er could do a better job.

[m***@gmail.com]

Post by Heron
Seems likely that ESPN simply purchased access rights to
the Sky feed, and broadcast portions at their discretion.
"We deeply apologize to Formula 1 fans for the technical
issues that caused them to miss the first 20 minutes of
the pre-race show for the Australian Grand Prix. We are
sorry that our first F1 telecast did not go as smoothly
as we would have liked but we are taking steps to prevent
those same issues from occurring in the future. We thank
fans for watching and for their incredible passion for F1."
But being familiar with ABC/ESPN coverage of AOWR in
the past, I don't hold out much hope for improvement.

Maybe there were technical glitches. In SA we get the Sky package, and early on they lost commentary for a few seconds.

[Sir Tim]

Post by Mark Jackson

Post by Mark Jackson
So far I am not impressed by the Sky commentary team compared to what
NBC had, but I will reserve final judgement until I've watched an actual
race while fully conscious.

OK, the US TV coverage was terrible.
First, the commentary team talks too much, that is to say constantly.
(To be fair I can't really say that Brundle talks too much as Croft
never gives him a chance to do so. But he does jump right in and fill
the odd moments when Croft pauses right up, so there's no relief.)
Second, the production suffers greatly from just taking the Sky feed.
In previous years we had a US-specific commentary team with technical
support, so commercial breaks could be integrated into the presentation.
This also meant that if something interesting happened during the
commercial the team could break from the live world feed to replay the
incident and explain what had happened.
Yesterday commercials (usually, but not always, split-screen) began in
the middle of what a Sky commentator was saying, came back with similar
disregard for context, and there was no possibility of replays (unless
one happened to be on the world feed) or supporting descriptions.
All in all a huge step backwards; hard to see how this is going to
increase US interest in F1.

I’ve watched F1 extensively in both the UK and the USA and I have to say
that I infinitely prefer the Crofty/Brundle/Kravitz team - who are actually
at every race and have continual contact with the teams and drivers - to
those two old codgers Matchett and Hobbs pontificating from a studio in
downtown Stamford CT, or wherever they broadcast from.

Having said that, I have a lot of sympathy with American viewers. Quite
frankly if I had to suffer commercials during the actual race I think I
would cancel my Sky subscription and give up watching F1. It’s obvious that
ESPN just took the Sky feed as is and inserted commercials wherever they
felt like it.

Seems to me that interest in F1 in the States is confined to a very small,
highly knowledgeable core of enthusiasts. To appeal to a wider US audience
the TV format would have to change completely.

[D Munz]

Post by Sir Tim
I’ve watched F1 extensively in both the UK and the USA and I have to say
that I infinitely prefer the Crofty/Brundle/Kravitz team - who are actually
at every race and have continual contact with the teams and drivers - to
those two old codgers Matchett and Hobbs pontificating from a studio in
downtown Stamford CT, or wherever they broadcast from.
Having said that, I have a lot of sympathy with American viewers. Quite
frankly if I had to suffer commercials during the actual race I think I
would cancel my Sky subscription and give up watching F1. It’s obvious that
ESPN just took the Sky feed as is and inserted commercials wherever they
felt like it.
Seems to me that interest in F1 in the States is confined to a very small,
highly knowledgeable core of enthusiasts. To appeal to a wider US audience
the TV format would have to change completely.
--
Sir Tim

These are good points. To be fair to Sky, I need to give them a few more broadcasts. For what they are charging, I was (am) expecting quite a bit more. But that could just be my not being used to their team.

The real issue here is what are Liberty trying to do with all this. They say they want to grow F1 in the US and I have every reason to believe them. But then they give away the rights to ESPN (as I understand it, ESPN is not paying anything for this) and go with the Sky feed will NOT bring new fans in.

This almost goes back to the Wide, Wide World of Sports days when ABC would show a short highlights real on Sunday afternoon.

Liberty is a big player and I expect them to react. We will just see how quickly and how well they do.

FWIW
DLM

[D Munz]

Post by Sir Tim
I’ve watched F1 extensively in both the UK and the USA and I have to say
that I infinitely prefer the Crofty/Brundle/Kravitz team - who are actually
at every race and have continual contact with the teams and drivers - to
those two old codgers Matchett and Hobbs pontificating from a studio in
downtown Stamford CT, or wherever they broadcast from.
Having said that, I have a lot of sympathy with American viewers. Quite
frankly if I had to suffer commercials during the actual race I think I
would cancel my Sky subscription and give up watching F1. It’s obvious that
ESPN just took the Sky feed as is and inserted commercials wherever they
felt like it.
Seems to me that interest in F1 in the States is confined to a very small,
highly knowledgeable core of enthusiasts. To appeal to a wider US audience
the TV format would have to change completely.
--
Sir Tim

So I watched practice 1 and 2 this morning with Croft, di Resta and Brundle and thought they were very good. They didn't talk over the driver radio and actually addressed some of the comments which was one of my complaints (I did laugh when one of them needled the other about not understanding Kimi.)

ESPN is still dropping adds all over the place and I'm sure that will screw up the flow Sunday but we will see.

FWIW
DLM

[~misfit~]

Post by D Munz

I've watched F1 extensively in both the UK and the USA and I have to
say that I infinitely prefer the Crofty/Brundle/Kravitz team - who
are actually at every race and have continual contact with the teams
and drivers - to those two old codgers Matchett and Hobbs
pontificating from a studio in downtown Stamford CT, or wherever
they broadcast from.
Having said that, I have a lot of sympathy with American viewers.
Quite frankly if I had to suffer commercials during the actual race
I think I would cancel my Sky subscription and give up watching F1.
It's obvious that ESPN just took the Sky feed as is and inserted
commercials wherever they felt like it.
Seems to me that interest in F1 in the States is confined to a very
small, highly knowledgeable core of enthusiasts. To appeal to a
wider US audience the TV format would have to change completely.
--
Sir Tim

So I watched practice 1 and 2 this morning with Croft, di Resta and
Brundle and thought they were very good. They didn't talk over the
driver radio and actually addressed some of the comments which was
one of my complaints (I did laugh when one of them needled the other
about not understanding Kimi.)

Did you see Kimi in the Thursday drivers press conference? He kept batting
away questions like "what would you like to see for the future of F1" with a
reply that went like "I'm not going to answer that because I don't have the
power to make those rules - I have no power and I won't be driving then
anyway". When asked about how the Ferrari is going to go in qually and the
race he said 'wait and see - I don't have a crystal ball" (or words that
that effect). Bottas at the other end of the desk was grinning like crazy
whenever Kimi answered a question and almost burst out laughing at one
stage.
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy
little classification in the DSM*."
David Melville (in r.a.s.f1)
(*Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)

Post by D Munz
ESPN is still dropping adds all over the place and I'm sure that will
screw up the flow Sunday but we will see.
FWIW
DLM

[t***@gmail.com]

Post by ~misfit~
Did you see Kimi in the Thursday drivers press conference? He kept batting
away questions like "what would you like to see for the future of F1" with a
reply that went like "I'm not going to answer that because I don't have the
power to make those rules - I have no power and I won't be driving then
anyway". When asked about how the Ferrari is going to go in qually and the
race he said 'wait and see - I don't have a crystal ball" (or words that
that effect). Bottas at the other end of the desk was grinning like crazy
whenever Kimi answered a question and almost burst out laughing at one
stage.

Blow me. Fag fucker.

[t***@gmail.com]

Post by ~misfit~
Did you see Kimi in the Thursday drivers press conference?

On your pirated F1 tv coverage?
You cheap fuck. Loser. Thief.

[~misfit~]

Post by Mark Jackson

Post by Mark Jackson
So far I am not impressed by the Sky commentary team compared to what
NBC had, but I will reserve final judgement until I've watched an
actual race while fully conscious.

OK, the US TV coverage was terrible.
First, the commentary team talks too much, that is to say constantly.
(To be fair I can't really say that Brundle talks too much as Croft
never gives him a chance to do so. But he does jump right in and fill
the odd moments when Croft pauses right up, so there's no relief.)

I've been yelling at the TV at Croft to STFU for years now. IMO he lets
Sky's coverage down immensely as all he seems to be is a motor-mouth who, as
you say, forces the far more knowledgeable Brundle to have to rush to talk
in the gaps.

I've taken to muting the first few laps of a race as I find I get far more
info from the screen than I do when Croft is distracting me from the
subtlety by blabbering about the obvious.

Post by Mark Jackson
Second, the production suffers greatly from just taking the Sky feed.
In previous years we had a US-specific commentary team with technical
support, so commercial breaks could be integrated into the
presentation. This also meant that if something interesting happened
during the commercial the team could break from the live world feed
to replay the incident and explain what had happened.
Yesterday commercials (usually, but not always, split-screen) began in
the middle of what a Sky commentator was saying, came back with
similar disregard for context, and there was no possibility of
replays (unless one happened to be on the world feed) or supporting
descriptions.
All in all a huge step backwards; hard to see how this is going to
increase US interest in F1.

Ir must be far cheaper for a broadcaster to just take the (normally
uninterrupted) Sky feed than it was to have in-studio commentators and
playback facilities. Liberty want to increase US interest, not ESPN (who
just want to make money from what the have). For things to change Liberty
will have to specify how 'the product' is presented and I'm thinking that
will have to wait until the current contract with ESPN expires and a new
contract is written...

[D Munz]

Post by ~misfit~
Ir must be far cheaper for a broadcaster to just take the (normally
uninterrupted) Sky feed than it was to have in-studio commentators and
playback facilities. Liberty want to increase US interest, not ESPN (who
just want to make money from what the have). For things to change Liberty
will have to specify how 'the product' is presented and I'm thinking that
will have to wait until the current contract with ESPN expires and a new
contract is written...
--
Shaun.

Or they allow a crap product (production-wise) on ESPN to push the american audience to the paid OTT content.

The problem with that is is does not grow F1 in North America. The issue here is there are very few opportunities to create new fans. Perhaps moving the USGP in Austin to coincide with the SXSW festival might add a few heads but that is really a rounding error in the viewership numbers.

Liberty needs to figure out how to take market share from NASCAR and Indy. The difficulty there is that those viewers (NASCAR especially) are inherited. That is, JR watches because SR sat him down on race days. Sr watches because gramps did the same. Liberty needs to break that cycle and get the JRs of the world to start watching F1 to grow. (SR and gramps are lost causes...)

The ESPN product they have now will not do that. It will barely hold those who are already F1 enthusiasts. (Who will go the to OTT anyway.)

FWIW
DLM

[News]

Post by D Munz

Post by ~misfit~
Ir must be far cheaper for a broadcaster to just take the (normally
uninterrupted) Sky feed than it was to have in-studio commentators and
playback facilities. Liberty want to increase US interest, not ESPN (who
just want to make money from what the have). For things to change Liberty
will have to specify how 'the product' is presented and I'm thinking that
will have to wait until the current contract with ESPN expires and a new
contract is written...
--
Shaun.

Or they allow a crap product (production-wise) on ESPN to push the american audience to the paid OTT content.
The problem with that is is does not grow F1 in North America. The issue here is there are very few opportunities to create new fans. Perhaps moving the USGP in Austin to coincide with the SXSW festival might add a few heads but that is really a rounding error in the viewership numbers.
Liberty needs to figure out how to take market share from NASCAR and Indy. The difficulty there is that those viewers (NASCAR especially) are inherited. That is, JR watches because SR sat him down on race days. Sr watches because gramps did the same. Liberty needs to break that cycle and get the JRs of the world to start watching F1 to grow. (SR and gramps are lost causes...)
The ESPN product they have now will not do that. It will barely hold those who are already F1 enthusiasts. (Who will go the to OTT anyway.)
FWIW
DLM

The Sky feed had all the production values of what aired on hotel TVs in
the 1980s.

[t***@gmail.com]

Post by ~misfit~
I've been yelling at the TV at Croft to STFU for years now. IMO he lets
Sky's coverage down immensely as all he seems to be is a motor-mouth who, as
you say, forces the far more knowledgeable Brundle to have to rush to talk
in the gaps.
I've taken to muting the first few laps of a race as I find I get far more
info from the screen than I do when Croft is distracting me from the
subtlety by blabbering about the obvious.
Ir must be far cheaper for a broadcaster to just take the (normally
uninterrupted) Sky feed than it was to have in-studio commentators and
playback facilities. Liberty want to increase US interest, not ESPN (who
just want to make money from what the have). For things to change Liberty
will have to specify how 'the product' is presented and I'm thinking that
will have to wait until the current contract with ESPN expires and a new
contract is written...

You are a pirating, thief, of F1 tv coverage.
And you are complaining?
Fuck off.

[John]

Post by John
I thought moving F1 to ESPN was supposed to bring more publicity to it in the USA. So where is the promotion? Where is the preseason buzz?

And the announcers are horrible; so I'm guessing they'll be very popular on this group.

[t***@gmail.com]

Post by John

Post by John
I thought moving F1 to ESPN was supposed to bring more publicity to it in the USA. So where is the promotion? Where is the preseason buzz?

And the announcers are horrible; so I'm guessing they'll be very popular on this group.

Talking to yourself, loser?
Keep on guessing. Whiny bitch. Cornhole crybaby.

[John]

Post by John
I thought moving F1 to ESPN was supposed to bring more publicity to it in the USA. So where is the promotion? Where is the preseason buzz?

I thought qualifying was bad but it had nothing on the actual race. They were in commercial when the freaking safety car came in. This is going to be a long season.