Speed Loses Out To NBC In North America

AMP Marshal · 13 Oct 2012, 00:49 (Ref:3150670)

Let's start with no Steve Machett, love the guy, no Will Buxton, a mate of mine, love the guy, Varsha I can do without. Hobbs always interesting to listen to.

What are the replacements, god only knows. Some say Lauer and Savannah Guthrie doing the commentary from Charlotte, while Al Roker and Kathie Lee Gifford doing the pit lane reporting.

What is the world coming to anyway, no more GP2 here, no more Friday practice, the end is nigh my freinds, the end is nigh.

God help us all in North America, especially in Canada.

Marbot · 13 Oct 2012, 00:54 (Ref:3150674)

Quote:

Originally Posted by AMP Marshal

God help us all in North America, especially in Canada.

I'm afraid that it's all going south (no pun intended).

JeremySmith · 13 Oct 2012, 01:06 (Ref:3150678)

This is a major mistake, just when we thought.....

shiny side up! · 13 Oct 2012, 01:48 (Ref:3150702)

Not happy.

JeremySmith · 13 Oct 2012, 01:50 (Ref:3150703)

Bernie cannot leave well enough alone...

What an extremely greedy man he is..

Richard C · 13 Oct 2012, 01:52 (Ref:3150704)

With the rumor that Fox is considering converting Speed into a general purpose sports channel, and that apparently NBC is looking to potentially increase their sports coverage (including potentially picking up some stock car racing that may disappear from Speed/FOX), I am not surprised to hear that Speed is loosing F1. Maybe they didn't even try to keep it if the rumors above are true.

I will really miss the current broadcast team.

Richard

Spritle · 13 Oct 2012, 02:01 (Ref:3150708)

That means 3, count them 3 races broadcast live.

US fans will NOT tune into F1 races on delay when their interest borders on casual to begin with.

Absolutely a moronic decision!!!

Austin is doomed...

broadrun96 · 13 Oct 2012, 02:17 (Ref:3150713)

After not having cable and thus speed for a couple years now the FIRST thing I noticed was the channel logo had changed to Fox Sports, with speed underneath it. Although making speed an all around sports channel makes sense with a lot of the old local fox sports affiliates have switched to completely local branding. If it goes to NBC Sports they will prob lose half or more of their viewers since Speed seemed to be moving to lower packages and NBC Sports/versus was offered on few networks and few people even knew it was around. And just ask the Indy guys what NBC Sports does for their viewership numbers.

willb · 13 Oct 2012, 03:13 (Ref:3150726)

ouch

wolfhound · 13 Oct 2012, 10:01 (Ref:3150815)

Some more on this story where Speed will become Fox sports 1 and cover Major League Baseball for the next 8 years.
F1 does not figure in their plans by the looks of it.

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns24559.html

Spritle · 13 Oct 2012, 11:08 (Ref:3150842)

Unless NBC plans to broadcast races on another channel, there is no way they would bump the Sunday Today Show & Meet the Press for F1 on a Sunday morning. That means tape delays for all but Canada, Brazil & the US, probably no quali and no practice, all because of Bernie's greed. Wasn't BE himself that said just a few months back that people don't want to watch F1 on delay?

"The thing that TV stations want to buy most is live sport," said Ecclestone. "People don't want to watch delayed stuff because nowadays it's hard not to know the result if you don't want to."

When CBS in the past broadcast races on delay there was NO pre-race show, no podium ceremony or an abbreviated version and no race summary; not to mention a LOT more adverts. They give the race a two hour slot and THAT'S IT! It totally sucks for the true F1 fan.

So it will be following F1 versus watching F1 for many who won't bother avoiding the internet or sports shows for information hours after a race conclusion. It just isn't the same and passion will wane, trust me.

JeremySmith · 13 Oct 2012, 13:09 (Ref:3150894)

If Fox are totally revamping The Speed Channel, then this might be for the best in the long run...

Its possible that we might get the same presenters, as David Hobbs and Steve Matchett are not contracted to Fox..

Bob Varsha is, however..

Apparently Will Buxton found out about this via Twitter..

Very *classy* Speed...

Silk Cut Jaguar · 13 Oct 2012, 15:41 (Ref:3150954)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spritle

That means 3, count them 3 races broadcast live.

US fans will NOT tune into F1 races on delay when their interest borders on casual to begin with.

Absolutely a moronic decision!!!

Austin is doomed...

Delayed races are doing fine on the BBC at the moment...

Airing races on a delay in a more suitable time slot might actually help the US audience, after all if they're going after casual fans then the results are still going to be unknown.

HughGJohnson · 13 Oct 2012, 15:54 (Ref:3150961)

Very sad, but not unforeseeable. Next year there will be 2 races in the US and it makes sense to sell F1 to a wide audience. Fox owns speed, and couldn't even air Austin live (competes with football). So if you want a US race aired live on network TV it would have to be ABC or NBC (CBS also covers football). ABC delegates most of it sports coverage to ESPN and between their highly rated football coverage, nascar and debate shows I doubt F1 would get very much coverage.

RIP to the speed channel

, or I as some may fondly remember it; the Sarcasm Channel. It is a shame to break up the team, that I would also say is the best in any sport. Hopefully we will see some, or all (fingers crossed) of them on NBC.

There are some positives, however. F1 will get more exposure now, perhaps network TV (if not, we can assume everything will remain live). It was pointed out on another forum that NBC Sports broadcasted all stages of the Tour De France live (and replayed them throughout the day). They also had very in-depth coverage. They also retained the broadcast team from Versus, although they inherited them -- they would have to hire away the Speed guys.

So there is hope that NBC/NBC Sports won't mess with it too much and we could actually get more coverage if NBC Sports dedicates anywhere near the resources and coverage that they do for the TDF. Keep in mind Speed commentates from a studio in North Carolina and only shows one practice live (on TV). But they have plenty of infomercials, car auctions, do it yourself programs, the dumbest stuff on wheels and a drag racing reality show. Can you blame Fox for wanting to cut the fat? I hope they keep the meat, though... if they try to compete directly with ESPN -- they're likely doomed. They tried it already and had to retreat to regional sports coverage and soccer. Plus they have NBC and CBS sports to compete with now.

If sure Bernie got paid nicely, but this is actually good for the sport I believe (if they don't totally screw it up). My hope was that the US races would mean Speed would increase their coverage and cover all the races on site. Obviously Speed won't be doing it, but perhaps NBC will...

mountainstar · 13 Oct 2012, 16:15 (Ref:3150969)

Speed going away just displays the depths to which pro motorsports in the USA has fallen and it's regressed back to late 1970's levels of interest. So FOX will turn it into a major sports channel and get out of the narrow framework of Speed.

Wouldn't surprise me if NBC Sports Channel ends up involved in this new deal.

JeremySmith · 13 Oct 2012, 16:27 (Ref:3150974)

Quote:

Originally Posted by mountainstar

Speed going away just displays the depths to which pro motorsports in the USA has fallen and it's regressed back to late 1970's levels of interest. So FOX will turn it into a major sports channel and get out of the narrow framework of Speed.

Wouldn't surprise me if NBC Sports Channel ends up involved in this new deal.

I think that is where F1 will go with NBC..

I love Speed, I have been watching it all morning, if we get the same team to present F1 with NBC ( fingers crossed) Then I will be happy, although many of the other shows are really good which I will miss...

Bob Varsha is really the glue for me, as a presenter he does a great job..

Catingaround · 13 Oct 2012, 16:30 (Ref:3150976)

Speedvision. Ah the memories.

Other than Formula 1 and Truck races SPEEDtv has become a completely useless channel over the years.

JeremySmith · 13 Oct 2012, 16:48 (Ref:3150986)

Speedvision was great I agree, but I am happy I get to see all of the F1 races...

JohnSSC · 13 Oct 2012, 20:48 (Ref:3151113)

This is truly bad news for fans like myself. I did not mind getting up early in the morning to watch the races live, and while some of the presenters drive me nuts (Will Buxton always sounds as if he on a never-ending adrenalin rush) the overall product was well worth watching.

Speedvision being purchased by Fox was the death knell. It became NASCAR Central and all of the quirky motorsports such as the Euro Truck racing and not-so-quirky motorsports such as WRC were replaced with NASCRAP, reality shows and the never-ending Barrett-Jackson auto auctions.

The worst thing is that we will likely no longer here those little vignettes done by Sam Posey for each race. They alone were often worth watching even when the race was crap.

NaBUru38 · 13 Oct 2012, 20:49 (Ref:3151114)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spritle

That means 3, count them 3 races broadcast live.

With no European soccer , I guess that early Saturdays and Sundays are available for qualifying and race broadcasts live on NBC Sports Network.

Ultimo · 15 Oct 2012, 03:27 (Ref:3151976)

I have not watched Speed's F1 coverage for awhile, but I always thought their motorsports coverage was garbage, and the channel in general was shoddy. Their Le Mans coverage this year was heinously crap. It's also expensive on our Rogers package in Toronto - you gotta order a 15 dollar a month package for a bunch of channels including Speed.

TSN is a widely available channel in Canada, and though they do not show prerace, they show live qualy and race (rarely on TSN2) that I typically DVR and watch later. They use the BBC commentators who I prefer.

Anyways, for those that bemoan this, there are always other ways to watch... Why do you think internet piracy is so prevalent?

JHamilton · 15 Oct 2012, 03:48 (Ref:3151983)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spritle

Unless NBC plans to broadcast races on another channel, there is no way they would bump the Sunday Today Show & Meet the Press for F1 on a Sunday morning. That means tape delays for all but Canada, Brazil & the US, probably no quali and no practice, all because of Bernie's greed. Wasn't BE himself that said just a few months back that people don't want to watch F1 on delay?

"The thing that TV stations want to buy most is live sport," said Ecclestone. "People don't want to watch delayed stuff because nowadays it's hard not to know the result if you don't want to."

When CBS in the past broadcast races on delay there was NO pre-race show, no podium ceremony or an abbreviated version and no race summary; not to mention a LOT more adverts. They give the race a two hour slot and THAT'S IT! It totally sucks for the true F1 fan.

So it will be following F1 versus watching F1 for many who won't bother avoiding the internet or sports shows for information hours after a race conclusion. It just isn't the same and passion will wane, trust me.

NBC Sports Network show Indycar qualifying, why would't they show F1? I always record grand prix anyway because they are on at the ass crack of dawn.

Purist · 15 Oct 2012, 05:35 (Ref:3152001)

I'm not sure what your problem is with Speed's F1 broadcasts is, Ultimo. About the only replacements I can think of that I would willingly choose instead of one of the three existing fellows (Varsha, Hobbs, and Matchett) would be Mike Joy and Derek Bell.

Eddie, David, Martin?, and whoever else the BBC have aren't bad, but they don't stick out as anything all that special for me. Hobbs, Bell, Watson, Hunt, or even Daly just have/had voices that grab(ed) my attention more.

And you can't use the camera work as an excuse, because EVERYONE uses the SAME feed.

NaBUru38 · 15 Oct 2012, 17:07 (Ref:3152402)

The NBC deal is official.

"NBC will air the Canadian Grand Prix and the final three races of the season, while the remaining 16 races will air on NBC Sports Network. All practice and qualifying sessions will also be on cable."

"The intent is to broadcast everything live, but the network is working through a small number of scheduling conflicts. All 20 races will be live streamed."

They will provide "over 100 hours of programming across NBC and cable channel NBC Sports Network." That's 5 hours per Grand Prix, not bad at all.

"NBC will use F1's world feed,. The network will likely use a reporter on site at every event with a booth based in the U.S., but there was possibility of having an expanded on-site crew at certain events."

JHamilton · 15 Oct 2012, 17:35 (Ref:3152417)

Quote:

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

The NBC deal is official.

"NBC will air the Canadian Grand Prix and the final three races of the season, while the remaining 16 races will air on NBC Sports Network. All practice and qualifying sessions will also be on cable."

"The intent is to broadcast everything live, but the network is working through a small number of scheduling conflicts. All 20 races will be live streamed."

They will provide "over 100 hours of programming across NBC and cable channel NBC Sports Network." That's 5 hours per Grand Prix, not bad at all.

"NBC will use F1's world feed,. The network will likely use a reporter on site at every event with a booth based in the U.S., but there was possibility of having an expanded on-site crew at certain events."

Perfect. All is well then.

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