TV coverage gripes

[GitanesBlondes]

Jeeeeez I've said from the moment they took over NBC sucks.
They've crammed in more commercials..they start late and end early every qualifying.
We now have to put up with the idiot that is Will Buxton.
All you cats that think the side by side is a good thing...think it through,,they keep adding more and more and you think that's great...How ya gonna feel when the whole race is one long side by side advert?

The announcing team is terrible...whenever you see some near close contact, you always get the reliable "Ohhhhhhhhhh" followed by nervous giggling. It's gotten so old and tired. They add absolutely nothing to the broadcast for any genuinely informed F1 fan.

Hobbs is as flyboy said, a waste of space for the fact that he has zero relevant experience in modern racing as far as I am aware. The last major race he ran was the 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans. The last time he drove in F1 was at the 1974 Italian Grand Prix where he only mustered a mere 9th in the McLaren M23 of all cars. Really imagine that...the least technical circuit on the calendar, and he was lapped by Emerson in the same car that almost won the race. That's a sign of little talent. Needless to say he never drove again after that race.

[djos]

Diffy is a moron, so glad he's gone to the USA and we don't have to put up with his idiocy commentating the Aussie V8 SuperCars anymore!

[f1ssk]

This might sound picky but, I was screaming at the teli during the last few laps.. they DID NOT once show the race leaders on the last lap!! WTF stupid sky sports director!

Its customary to follow the lead car on the last lap.. it wasnt like Hamilton was just cruising around too..

[flyboy2160]

Diffy is a moron, so glad he's gone to the USA and we don't have to put up with his idiocy commentating the Aussie V8 SuperCars anymore!

dj,

Please take this in good humor:

Your quote reminds me of a comment made to me by an Australian woman here in the U.S. Years ago Fosters Beer put on a big advertising blitz in the U.S. with sort of clever TV ads, so I tried it. I hated it. It was worse than my previous most hated beer, Budweiser. I told this to an Australian woman I knew and she replied "We Australians know it's sh*t. We don't drink it. We export it to fools who are dumb enough to believe the ads."

All right, all right, no beer flame wars now.

[djos]

Lol, she's absolutely right, no one drinks fosters here because it's garbage!

We are spoilt for choice and have many many great local and imported beers to choose from.

PS, if you are ever in Aus there are 3 other beers to avoid (only bogans drink them), VB (Victoria Bitter), XXXX (because queenslander's can't spell beer) and West End (so bad it almost rivals Fosters, drunk by bogans due to cheap and high alcohol content - similar to VB but worse).

[flyboy2160]

...The broadcast team is for the newbie viewers, to help them understand things, and to this end I think the NBCSN team is fine...

Moxie, respectfully I disagree and think this is where they make a crucial mistake.

F1 hasn't ever really been popular in the U.S. I don't even think a U.S. F1 driver would change that, unless, perhaps, he was some outspoken character who generated social media buzz like Johnny Football. I don't think the 'dumbed down' broadcasts are going to turn an average U.S. TV viewer into an F1 fan.

Can you imagine a new watcher tuning in:

"OMG! Why do the cars have those penis things on them?"

'Well they changed the rules to try to prevent head injuries while maintaining airflow under the nose.......'

"What? Who cares, they look stupid. And there's no noise. I mean, C'mon, when you stand in a turn with a pack of big V8s coming at you, it's like the earth is shaking all the way to its core. Your insides even vibrate. You can sort of hear that even on TV. My lawnmower makes more noise than these."

'Yes, but these are the most efficient, most sophisticated, technically advanced cars in the world..."

"So what? It's a parade. You guys have an orgasm or something if somebody even just gets close to passing. What a bore. I'll watch NASCAR or WOO or Australian V8s or MotoGP where at least it's loud and where they have some racing."

"But you're missing all that technology...."

I think they'd be better off catering to the real F1 diehards and hope that the diehards convince their friends by word of mouth about F1. I just can't imagine a casual viewer being turned into a fan by the NBC broadcasts, no matter how much they hype the 'great' racing.

[rssh]

Anyone shares my dis-grunt of the highlights of the weekend (race is highlight with breaks of 3.5 minutes) from STAR SPORTS (in Asia Pacific region). Now wonder I will have to stream if I want to watch the race.

Alex Young and Pala are past it now they aren't interested in their work any more and the half feed from Sky is the only good point.

[strad]

This might sound picky but, I was screaming at the teli during the last few laps.. they DID NOT once show the race leaders on the last lap!! WTF stupid sky sports director!

Its customary to follow the lead car on the last lap.. it wasnt like Hamilton was just cruising around too..

I agree totally except I believe we all get the same feed from the FOM.

[Kiril Varbanov]

Dear me, it seems nobody likes its TV pundits. Well, OK, shoot me, I do the commentary for Bulgaria on the free-to-air national television (kinda like BBC), but I'm really eager to understand whether you people need higher volume from the track?
I have argued with the sound engineer (after re-watching what I've done, every race) that the atmosphere sound coming from the worldwide TV feed is too low, especially given the new lower decibels.

Personally I feel that there's a piece of drama lost right now ... Your take?

P.S. What's the typical profile of a good TV commentator? What do you want to see|hear?

[tok-tokkie]

I heard some of the USA commentary as I have to use live internet feed. I really appreciate what you guys are bitching about now that I have seen a bit of it.

Kiril, you ask what we like. I used to like the way Murray Walker did his commentary. He never spoke down about any driver or team, he was never a know-it-all person who was being condescending to 'lesser' teams. He was enthusiastic about the sport. He got really excited & showed it when exciting things were happening. He had a fantastic memory of past events which he would refer to at the appropriate moment - to give context to what was happening.

He pissed me off by concentrating on anything British & neglecting lots of non British stuff. Towards the end he used to get a bit confused & mixed up - but Brundle would sort it out for us so it did not upset me.

Very pleased James Allen is off tv. Hell he was boring & knew nothing technical. I am interested in the technicalities of F1 so anyone who can highlight that aspect I would appreciate.

[rssh]

I like the SKY commentary very much but Martin Brundle is fixated on some drivers and always highlights his opinion when that driver make a mistake ; also he speaks too highly of British drivers which really gets annoying. But the analysis of sky (with Davidson and now Senna) is superior to other broadcasters, I really like Ted's notebook because he tries to explain the performance of team over the weekend.

And yes a bit more track volume is more desired, also once I streamed live race with no commentary (speed or maybe other EU broadcaster) which felt nice.

[Juzh]

I only watch sky because they have no commercial breaks for quali & race and have all the events covered live. Their pundits are pure #%%# though (ted kravitz included - apart from his notebook). Overzealous about everything involving a British driver and are seeking conspiracies in just about any overtake or radio message (especially when concerning red bull). They also don't know the first thing about technical aspects of the sport and despite having something like 6 screens in front of them showing every possible on track information still miss half the stuff that's going on. Crofty and Brundle suck as a commentators big time, always repeating the same drs rules of 1s and so on. They're also almost always completely oblivious to any yellow flags preventing DRS usage and then scratch their heads for minutes as to why that was the case. Don't even get me started on Davidson and his stupid sky pad and "pole lap analysis". I just want to see the fricken pole lap with onboard sound and telemetry and that's it.

[Phillyred]

I hope as TV switches to more "internet based" that we will be able to customize our viewing options as far as choosing which camera angles and onboard cams etc.. In theory this should not be too hard to achieve technically. It would be so nice to be able to have a split screen for example showing track layout and car positions while also being about to watch your fav driver.

[astracrazy]

I only watch sky because they have no commercial breaks for quali & race and have all the events covered live. Their pundits are pure #%%# though (ted kravitz included - apart from his notebook).
....
Crofty and Brundle suck as a commentators big time, always repeating the same drs rules of 1s and so on. They're also almost always completely oblivious to any yellow flags preventing DRS usage and then scratch their heads for minutes as to why that was the case. Don't even get me started on Davidson and his stupid sky pad and "pole lap analysis". I just want to see the fricken pole lap with onboard sound and telemetry and that's it.

Teds ok. He seems the only one there who actually knows what he is talking about.

I can't stand Crofty though, he doesn't have a clue. As you say he'll scratch his head for 5 mins as to why something has happened when its the most obvious thing going. And he always gets things totally wrong, i think it was malaysia when the mercs lined up in quali to leave the pit lane. he made out hamilton over took rosberg on the out lap when hamilton was always infront (the camera was on them in the pitlane for like 2 mins). I feel sorry for the fans who listened to 5 live when he commentated because they must of listened to a completely different race to what we watched.

Brundle gets a pass, he has good races and bad. He does correct Crofty sometimes but sometimes he gets just as confused.

And don't forget they have so much more info than what we get

Simon, Johnny and Damon i'm not fussed. Anthony gets on my nerves, if he knows how its done why didnt he do it. He has the nerve to stand there saying how Alonso etc. should of done this and that. If he was that good he'd still be in f1.

And Nats - can't complain . But on another note much better than georgie, she was crap. Scripted questions and had no idea of the sport. She was like one of them ditzy blondes. Nice to look at but then seriously gets on your nerves

[bonjon1979]

Thought it was dreadful how little of the lead battle was shown at the end. I suspect it was because they thought paddys call meannt team orders so werent ready to follow that battle. no excuse for not showing final view laps though.