US F1 broadcasting rights switching to ESPN in 2018

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

curious what our American cousins thought of the SKY coverage...well those who saw it for the first time that is.

It is fine but the handling of it by ESPN was a joke. Evidently the mothership tapped into the wrong feed for the pre-race show and we got 20 minutes of a fixed camera shot of Melbourne with no audio... on ESPN2. It doesn't say it is cable access but it sure looks like it!

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

It is fine but the handling of it by ESPN was a joke. Evidently the mothership tapped into the wrong feed for the pre-race show and we got 20 minutes of a fixed camera shot of Melbourne with no audio... on ESPN2. It doesn't say it is cable access but it sure looks like it!

Originally Posted by Neil22

Gave it a six, give ESPN a 1. They better make some changes.

Bringing Neil's comment here as it is more on topic here...

I watched the replay online, which ESPN wasn't terrible there, but they broke in on the quick side-by-side ad deals with promotions of ESPN events, not commercials. The breaks were incredibly short, which I'm fine with, but still pointless. I know when the MLS team I want to watch is playing. I don't need ESPN throwing it me on every break.

Didn't try the pre-race, but that's unacceptable, JHamilton!

What were the other issues??

[chillibowl]

thanks for the responses guys...in Canada we have had the SKY coverage for a few years being broadcast accross the TSN range (our version of ESPN) and generally i think it is very good.

initially we had similar problems with how it is locally re broadcast.

sessions inexplicably jumping channels from TSN1 to TSN5 which made recording the race problematic. although nothing as bad as broadcasting the wrong/static feed of the circuit.

also irritating is their need to leave the live post race coverage to switch to a repeat of the prior days sportscentre episode. doubly frustrating because their other channels are also showing that same replay in the wee hours of the morning!

you are a sports station...priority should always be for live sports!!!

timing of commercial breaks is still kind of bad. wish in that sense it was a bit more dynamic in that they could adjust the commercial window in real time as to avoid the pit stop windows and close battles.

for whatever reason though TSN has gone away from the picture and picture for commercials this year so we also missed the Grosjean stop.

but all that said...i like the coverage and the picture quality is top notch.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

It is fine but the handling of it by ESPN was a joke. Evidently the mothership tapped into the wrong feed for the pre-race show and we got 20 minutes of a fixed camera shot of Melbourne with no audio... on ESPN2. It doesn't say it is cable access but it sure looks like it!

So, yeah, it was amateur hour. I tuned in and and knew exactly what had happened. I think they had the generic world field camera rotation and not the Sky feed. It was the most disorganized mess that I can personally remember seeing with a larger network in... forever.

Even then, I think once the Sky stuff started, the grid stuff seemed very rushed. Like they decided to do grid interviews at the very last minute and drivers had no time to talk. It all felt like something had gone wrong with both ESPN and the Sky coverage.

ESPN apparently apologized the the mess...

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/e...rrors-1019008/

Richard

[joeb]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

curious what our American cousins thought of the SKY coverage...well those who saw it for the first time that is.

i was ok with it, the commentary was pretty good. I do miss David Hobbs though.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by joeb

i was ok with it, the commentary was pretty good. I do miss David Hobbs though.

No Hobbs is saddening. One of the best!

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

No Hobbs is saddening. One of the best!

Exactly that, no desire to watch on ESPN to start and then no Hobbs and Matchett? No thanks, I'll pass sadly. Already miss that Posey commentary to start each race and missing those two, albeit not the greatest, commentators; it just doesn't feel like racing anymore to me.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Exactly that, no desire to watch on ESPN to start and then no Hobbs and Matchett? No thanks, I'll pass sadly. Already miss that Posey commentary to start each race and missing those two, albeit not the greatest, commentators; it just doesn't feel like racing anymore to me.

Sam Posey is a dork and his touchy/feely montages are as lame as he is. Think I've always been in the minority on this subject matter but they're not missed on this end.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Sam Posey is a dork and his touchy/feely montages are as lame as he is. Think I've always been in the minority on this subject matter but they're not missed on this end.

You sir can burn in h3ll, and you'll have a present waiting when you finally arrive at camp late. Well maybe not, I can't do that to Jham's camper.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Sam Posey is a dork and his touchy/feely montages are as lame as he is. Think I've always been in the minority on this subject matter but they're not missed on this end.

I like Sam and all and I hate to say it... But I feel a bit the same way. It seemed a bit corny. However I really had no issue with the inclusion of his preamble message as I know some/many liked it.

Richard

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

You sir can burn in h3ll, and you'll have a present waiting when you finally arrive at camp late. Well maybe not, I can't do that to Jham's camper.

You know he wasn't that great of a driver either, right?

Originally Posted by Richard Casto

I like Sam and all and I hate to say it... But I feel a bit the same way. It seemed a bit corny. However I really had no issue with the inclusion of his preamble message as I know some/many liked it.

Richard

I dig his enthusiasm and his knowledge of motorracing but the cheesiness of delivery gets the message lost on my end. I've fast forwarded through them for years.

[RWill2073]

I've got to say, other than a few hiccups like the static feed at the beginning of the prerace, I actually thought it was an improvement. I assume the hiccups will be corrected. But here are things I noticed:

The picture looks a little better. Might be my imagination.
The opening race info graphics with the previous year attendance, Melbourne rated 7th most livable city, etc was cool.
Fp3, on espnews, went slightly over am hour amd only had 3 commercial breaks. I can get behind that.
Commercials overall seemed to be fewer.
The sky team of commentators are enjoyable. I enjoyed the change of pace from the usual "get on with thr program" "push like there's no tomorrow" catch phrases I had tired of.
I too had become bored of the Sam Posey features.
Just like with radio lemans, having the accents make the coverage better. So glad they didn't 'muricanize the coverage.

Bottom line: I'm a fan. I am satisfied with the coverage, kinda like seeing fp3 over fp2, like the coverage and believe the bugs will be worked out.

[jdetray]

ESPN must, MUST improve the timing of advertising breaks. Perhaps employ someone who actually understands racing so as to avoid showing adverts at the moment a re-start is happening!

In addition, the first ad break included eight adverts and promos. EIGHT! That's far too many early in the race when the cars are still close together and overtaking is being attempted.

Other than that, I am OK with the SKY team. and I like the fact that SKY has more of its own cameras at the venue than NBC ever had.

- Jeff

[nezy37]

Originally Posted by jdetray

ESPN must, MUST improve the timing of advertising breaks. Perhaps employ someone who actually understands racing so as to avoid showing adverts at the moment a re-start is happening!

In addition, the first ad break included eight adverts and promos. EIGHT! That's far too many early in the race when the cars are still close together and overtaking is being attempted.

Other than that, I am OK with the SKY team. and I like the fact that SKY has more of its own cameras at the venue than NBC ever had.

- Jeff

I agree. It wasn't really any worse other than I will miss matchett and Hobbs for a while. If for no other reason than I grew up with those guys calling races.

As you said all ESPN needs to do is get someone that understands the flow of a race to initiate the adds. And hopefully that person is articulate enough to add a bit of commentary lead in and perhaps show a replay of anything that happened.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

For UK point of view, the race is shown commercial free. Crofty seemed to be doing outs for other broadcasters to take their breaks. I feel they were more pronounced than previous years and took these to be for ESPN.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

For UK point of view, the race is shown commercial free. Crofty seemed to be doing outs for other broadcasters to take their breaks. I feel they were more pronounced than previous years and took these to be for ESPN.

As mentioned above, the commercials were injected what appears to be randomly. Mid sentence type of thing. Apparently a total lack of coordination between Sky and ESPN?

Richard

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by Richard Casto

As mentioned above, the commercials were injected what appears to be randomly. Mid sentence type of thing. Apparently a total lack of coordination between Sky and ESPN?

Richard

Having only watched the replay currently available on E3, they slammed them in where the Sky broadcast cut to side-by-side adverts. On the replay, it was very awkward, so I can only imagine it live...

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Having only watched the replay currently available on E3, they slammed them in where the Sky broadcast cut to side-by-side adverts. On the replay, it was very awkward, so I can only imagine it live...

Sky in the UK do not do side by side adverts. The only side by side they do is where they will take one of the onboard feeds and pair that with the world feed.

[Richard C]

I would assume that ESPN has sold a combo of full screen (more expensive?) and side by side (less expensive?) advertisement slots. I wonder if the timing was done on a schedule, or if someone at the studio was dynamically trying to pick the right time to go to commercial?

Richard

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by Richard Casto

I would assume that ESPN has sold a combo of full screen (more expensive?) and side by side (less expensive?) advertisement slots. I wonder if the timing was done on a schedule, or if someone at the studio was dynamically trying to pick the right time to go to commercial?

Richard

It sounds like they said, "Oh ####, we've canned half our staff in the last 12 months and we have an F1 race to broadcast. Intern, click these buttons and throw a switch to show ads when it breaks feed."

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

Sky in the UK do not do side by side adverts. The only side by side they do is where they will take one of the onboard feeds and pair that with the world feed.

That makes sense as stated above, there's no indication that a change is about to occur. It's just "here's an ad".

[RWill2073]

Just thought this deserved an update. ESPN2 has been an improvement. Qualifying had, I think, 3 commercial breaks. The race was run in its entirety with zero commercials. That's right. Zero. And only 2 commercial breaks during pre race show. And the sky crew is good quality as well. I don't miss the catch phrases such as "push like there's no tomorrow" and "get on with the program" either. When there are complaints, it gets discussed, so I figured I would give credit where it is due.

[Richard C]

I posted in the race thread as well that I totally missed the lack of commercial breaks! I hope ESPN keeps this up!

As to catch phrases... The UK team does seem fond of idiom “the double bluff”. That one might wear on me

Richard

[fieldodreams79]

My brother was in town and it was about 45 mins in when he said, "you know there's been no commercial break yet?" First one we both watched live and we didn't have the oddly timed breaks on the replay. Fantastic! More of that, please!

There was too much conversation between us to notice the commentators again....

[RWill2073]

Originally Posted by Richard Casto

I posted in the race thread as well that I totally missed the lack of commercial breaks! I hope ESPN keeps this up!

As to catch phrases... The UK team does seem fond of idiom “the double bluff”. That one might wear on me

Richard

I'm with you on the double bluff phrase. My biggest issue is, it was just a bluff. They bluffed. A double bluff would have needed an additional move, like Mercedes crew coming out and setting up, going back in as though they aren't pitting as Ferrari approaches, see Ferrari stay out, then turn back around and set back up. So yeah, I agree, if they keep using that, especially if they use wrongly, it'll reach "push like there's no tomorrow" status.

[JHamilton]

Not a single commercial! I can put up with the Mothers' logo on the screen for more of that. Plus, Mothers make top notch stuff anyway.

...still miss Hobbo though.