F1 at NBC

[KingOfJericho]

ditto.

[E90SLAM]

Watched all BBC, SkySportsF1, Speed, and now NBC.
The US broadcasters will never catch up with the UK ones who had done better and better.

From commercial breaks from iTV, to no interruption with plenty pre-race and forum on BBC, then further dedicated channel on SkySports. There were major leap forward in terms of viewer experience from 2009 onwards.

Here in US, Speed had stuck with their format without much improvement.
Last year they just finally put Qualifying sessions live, instead of a 5 mins delay. But the commercial break issue was never being addressed by Fox Sports.

Then we just saw NBC Sports first attempt on F1. So far many noticeable small steps of improvements. Better studio, uninterrupted commercial break (all except two), and post-race coverage. So far I do get a feeling that they do want to promote the sport and give American viewers a better experience.

They might never be as good as SkySports, but its a delight that viewers don't know what's going on during commercial breaks.

[hellrotm]

Diffey needs to quit screaming over pointless sh*t.

Is it that difficult to get some younger blood in the studio?

[MLSavage]

Originally Posted by BlackJetE90

Diffey needs to quit screaming over pointless sh*t.

Is it that difficult to get some younger blood in the studio?

The Diffey voice inflection over meaningless moments is the only thing I don't like about him. I actually like him, I just preferred Varsha, possibly a sentimental pick, but neither is so much better than the other that it would be anything else.

I do love Buxton, too bad NBC has removed the best part of SPEEDs coverage (that I know of) and that is paddock pass. I could listen to Buxton and Matchett for the entire race and be happy.

[six_timer]

Who is it who does the unintelligible goading-on when a driver is approaching the finish of a qualifying lap? It's like the end of a sex act.

[FormulaMMM]

Originally Posted by five_timer

Who is it who does the unintelligible goading-on when a driver is approaching the finish of a qualifying lap? It's like the end of a sex act.

I believe that's the Matchett. "Get over the line! Get over there! push push push!"

That?..

[six_timer]

Originally Posted by FormulaMMM

I believe that's the Matchett. "Get over the line! Get over there! push push push!"

That?..

Yes, exactly.

[xbook]

Did anyone let David Hobbs know that Lewis Hamilton is no longer racing at McLaren? He called Perez Hamilton on a number of occasion from FP1 to the race. And Matchett with the "Push Push come on boy", dude you realize you aren't on a team anymore right? You aren't on the mic talking to that driver, did you know that Matchett? You just sound like a tool.

Same ol' SHIT commentary from the F1 commentators. It's almost as if they refuse to do any homework prior to the Grand Prix.

[FormulaMMM]

Is there anywhere online to catch the practices sans commentary? Miss those with Speed.

[KingOfJericho]

Just to be clear, many of you guys would prefer a broadcast with zero enthusiasm while some would prefer no commentary at all. Got it. Some of this can be achieved with the mute button on your remote.

The only real difference between what we get in the US and what's on in the UK seems to be their accents...

That constant yammering would give me a severe headache after an hour and a half.

[BrokenVert]

All I got out of that was that they had much better camera angles 6 years ago.

Whered the cockpit cameras go? Those are fantastic! And the long shots? Whoever was the broadcast director then was great at his job.

[MLSavage]

The tight cockpit shots illustrate just how strong these guys have to be to fight the steering lap after lap.

[johanness]

Who's the monotone-Sally female commentator??? Malaysia practice was the hardest to watch EVER because of her borrrrrring voice. Not talking about Suzi Perri either

[AM150]

No F1 commentary can compare to the legendary Murray Walker. It's how F1 should be watched, with the sound track provided by a real fan.

[z4z4z4]

Welcome Back to the commentary team Mr. Bob Varsha!

[happos2]

I end up talking over the commentary with my friends so I am not too bugged by it. And all sports it seems have commentators that say stupid things so nothing new. I don't like the 5 laps and then break for commercial (even with the dual screen; half commercial - half race deal).

[E90SLAM]

Despite all but three commercials are picture in picture, but commercial in about every 5 laps, lasting 1.5 laps (about 2 minutes) are getting annoying!!!

[MLSavage]

I streamed the Sky coverage side by side and the lack of commercials alone makes the coverage infinitely better. That, and the coverage is in fact, infinitely better. haha

Interesting insights from Sky and BBC that NBC didn't spot was that Webber could have forced Seb off the track in turn 4 where Seb finally passed him but chose not to. Coulthard noticed it immediately and Sky analyzed it shortly after the race.

I will say that NBC did spot a few things that the brits missed, but on a whole Sky and BBC give the viewer a better picture of what is going on. As they should because they have at minimum twice the manpower covering the race and no commercials.

I'm hoping NBC will give this sport more of the budget soon so that they can take out the commercials, at minimum dual screen all of them. And send more people, especially the commentators, to the races. Too much going on for Will to cover by himself.