Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Casto
This makes ZERO sense to me. There is no way FOM just lets ESPN broadcast without paying a fee. It is my understanding that ALL broadcasters use the world feed content (produced by FOM's broadcast arm). Then they can add whatever extra (such as commentary by their own team) to craft their own broadcast. Additionally, per posts in the UK F1 broadcast thread, it seems that FOM also owns the rights to those customized broadcasts as well. So for example FOM owns the rights to the NBC content that is created today and would be the same for the ESPN content in the future. I assume that is done for many reasons. But mostly to protect the IP that FOM has given it is derivative work of licensed content.
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given Steve Bratches' long time tenure and relationship (one of the architects of building a pay TV sports model
) with ESPN i cant say this isnt surprising plus i would think there has to much more to this deal then what has so far been reported.
the no money thing is certainly unusual and i wonder what the quid pro quo will be...just speculating but i could see ESPN offering FOM a pay wall online streaming platform with a global reach and/or a production department to help monetize the F1 archive of historical footage (more documentaries, features, and movies etc).
for sure, at some point there will be an additional cost to the fans but if the quality of content is there then i think it could be a good thing.
commentary crew aside (will wait to see who they get), i also do like the idea of a few races being on ABC's Wide World of Sports...i think Al Michaels used to do some of the commentary.
one of the first F1 races i ever saw was a mid 80's Monaco GP on the Wide World of Sports program so some nostalgia for me there.