It was recently announced that F1 will be breaking it's partnership with Fox Sports and will no longer be shown on Speed Channel in the U.S. from next season. Not only does this mean that we will lose excellent coverage of every session of the season, but it may also see the end of Speed Channel altogether as the loss of F1 and GP2 would leave it without a top flight car racing series to air. Rumors are that the channel will be re-branded as a general sports channel. This would be a double kick in the groin for us U.S. based petrol heads. Once again the only thing that matters is the bid, the bottom line, how much money can be squeezed out of TV rights with absolutely no regard for it's fan-base, for it's bread and butter. How much longer can Bernie do this to fans around the world before the sport we love begins to suffer for it? Fans are being priced out of events, races are moving to wealthy nations with no fan-base, all online content is hunted down and deleted and TV coverage is being decimated around the globe. How can you take a sport and distance it so much from it's fans? How is it possible that one extremely wealthy man can insist on wringing more and more money out of the sport at our expense? I love this sport, I always will... but part of me wants it to die so that it can start fresh. The constructors should have broken away when they had the chance. I have no clue why the teams continue to let one man bleed the sport dry like this. Something has to change!
Completely agreed on all the points you made. Bernie seems to have no regard for the fan base, and its disappointing that yet again he has made a decision that seems to be purely motivated by money and not what is good for the fans. I too feel more and more distant from the sport as these decisions continue to be made, and its really sad that he doesn't really seem to care. I guess the billions he has already had for some time just isn't good enough for him.
I'm saddened by this... In the 11 years I have been in this country, I have grown to love Speed's F1 crew. I have a lot affection for them. Now it's going to be flushed away so one man can add a few more dollars to his bulging purse. I shouldn't have expected any less. I'm still trying to find out what this means for F1 in the U.S.
I honestly didn't even know about all of this so its all news to me. Its definitely been disappointing to hear, I'm relatively new to actually watching everything on my own (6 years) and these guys are always who I've heard so its going to be sad for me as well, as I have really enjoyed their commentating for the sport. I can only hope that maybe they get moved to the new coverage if they choose to do so, and that the coverage remains exactly the same even though it won't be on speed, but its hard to be optimistic about all of this.
Indeed. I really feel for you guys as Speed is internationally recognised as one of the best (if not outright) motorsport broadcasting channels and it sounds like they did a pretty good job. It also worries me how long us Aussies can get away with free-to-air before Bernie turns his gaze upon us and ruins it for us. As bad as our coverage may be here (although it's improved a bit lately), I can say with complete confidence that Bernie could make it so much worse.
Here a report on the matter: All things must pass⦠http://willthef1journo.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/all-things-must-pass/ ----- It had been a lovely evening in Mokpo. No, really. A fabulous meal was followed by a few shandies in a club, celebrating a good friendâs birthday. Bed had arrived possibly a touch later than it should have, and as I put my head down I thought Iâd just check twitter to see what was going on in the world. And then it hit home. We, on the SPEED F1 broadcast team, have known for some time that there was a possibility of us losing the rights or of there being a pretty big shift in the way F1 was going to be broadcast in America. But the news hit hard, and fast. I guess we never know how weâll take bad news, even when we know thereâs a chance it will arrive. Thereâs always that range of emotions: the seven stages I believe they call it. The same as when you break up with someone you love. And thatâs what this feels like. Because I truly love working at SPEED. I love the guys I work with and that I work for. They are all terrific people and they have become terrific friends. Bob Varsha is one of the finest commentators Iâve ever heard. He is such a professional, so knowledgeable and so damn good at his job. And if I have hair half as good as his when Iâm his age Iâll be a thankful man. Hobbo, what can I say? Like your crazy grandfather, heâs always got a story, always got an opinion and always delivers it with such panache. I smile every time he opens his mouth to talk. Stiffey, what a hero. His enthusiasm is infectious. We may only do a few races together a year, but my word theyâre always fun. And Steve. To be honest, given Steveâs technical background I was always fearful that he would think I was a bit of a soft option after Peter. Steve for me was like the cool kid at school that you always wanted to like you. But I have built such a solid relationship with him, and I canât tell you how proud I am every time I chip in with something and Steve responds with words such as âWillâs absolutely rightâ¦â There are so many people behind the scenes that you folks donât get to hear from or see. But each of them make the show what it is. Without the guys behind the scenes, pulling the strings and kicking our asses, there would be no show. Kirch, Goldie, Sean the statman, Cynthia, Dan, D-wayne, Kevin⦠just so, so many people. Frank Wilson has been the lifeblood of Formula 1 on SPEED. Pretty much everything you see and hear is as a result of his passion and his soul. If Formula 1 has a future in the United States, Frank will hold a huge chunk of the responsibility for that. Heâs a wonderful man and a great guy to work for. Iâll never forget my job interview at SPEED. It involved dinner with Frank and Dan Shutte, who was instrumental in getting me over to the States. Seriously, without Shutte I would never have got a call from SPEED. The next day we all went in to see Rick Miner who was running the station at the time. Rick took one look at me and said, âWell these guys didnât call me to say you were an asshole, so I guess you got the job.â At that point, I knew I was going to love my time at SPEED. The last three years have gone by so quickly. And I am gutted they are coming to an end. But I am so appreciative of having been a part of the most incredible team of people. SPEED took a chance on me, and I really hope they, and the folks at home, are happy with what they got. I had very little TV experience, and compared to Peter Windsor who I was replacing, very little F1 experience. Iâve been in this game for ten years now, but still, thatâs a drop in the ocean compared to some in this paddock. So SPEED took a huge gamble. And I am thankful everyday for their faith, for their support and for three amazing years. I have genuinely never enjoyed myself nor enjoyed the sport as much as I have since joining SPEED, and moving on at the end of the year will be a real wrench. But change in life happens, and often it leads on to bigger and better things. What will I be doing next year? I honestly donât know. Although Iâve known for a while that this day was coming, part of me never wanted to believe that it would. And thatâs why it hurts, and thatâs why walking into the paddock this morning absolutely choked me up. Whatever the future holds, be it in this paddock or elsewhere, I want to thank SPEED for an amazing three years. And I want to thank the fans for tuning in. Weâve got five races left, and you know weâre going to enjoy every single lap of what is fast becoming a legendary season. Thank you all for your kind words and support. Thank you, SPEED, for the memories. Now hereâs to the future⦠-----
I'm not optimistic about it either... It looks pretty clear that it's going to NBC, the channel that didn't even show the Olympics live and I feel they'd take image over knowledge when it comes to commentary. Bob, Steve and David are the best all-round group of commentators I have had the pleasure of watching. I've also really enjoyed the addition of Will Buxton after Peter Windsor left. Chances are that NBC will take something great and destroy it.
Now I'm sad too This really sucks. This group of guys have been some of the best commentators I have ever had the privilege to listen to. They were all knowledgeable and genuinely enthusiastic about the sport. The addition of Will Buxton 3 years back was something I wasn't sure about at first given Peter Windsors obvious knowledge and general awesomeness, but Will came into that position and has done an amazing job. I will miss having this team as commentators come next year if none of them are offered any sort of position to continue their commentary, and can only hope that any new people that are brought in also do a good job. But it won't be the same, and my race weekends will feel a bit empty.
I'll miss Hobbs and his comedy use of terms like 'He dropped a bollock" that he can get away with over here.
They've been covering the sport together for so long here in the States, even before Speed covered it, that I would hope they'd be the obvious people to get to continue coverage next year when it goes to NBC. They could do it so well if they got the right people and covered it the way speed does. I'd have no problems if they do it right, but thats whats up in the air right now.
If they did that... I'd be okay with it, but given some of their comments I get the feeling that they won't be making that transition. I could be wrong. I also get the feeling that they might not fit with NBC's "image". I'd love to see them all move though. NBC would be foolish not to because if they don't, they'l piss off the entire U.S. F1 community.
And here I was, thinking that Bernie wanted to raise the interest in the sport here in the US by having 2 new grand prix and having good television coverage. Apparently he just wants to piss us off instead by taking away the good coverage we already had.
Bernie is a leech.. He cares not for the sport nor it's fans and I don't believe he has any particular interest in expanding F1 here at all. He'll give us races then snatch them away leaving venues with massive debts. He's a cancer in the sport in my view and he needs to be cut out.
Me either... It makes my blood boil when I hear people within the sport talk about "How many great things he has done for F1". Utter crap that is... What he has done is ride it and make a lot of money from it IMO. He has too much power and influence in this sport... No one person should hold that amount of power. Any hint of a rebellion and he divides and conquers. Just look at what he did to FOTA.
I couldn't agree more. I've been wondering for a while how much more damage he can do before time inevitably catches up with him and now he has struck again. As it stands here, my viewing of the sport has been severely compromised starting this year and I can only sympathise with you guys.
How is this going to affect other series, like ALMS, that may rely on a filter down of money. It and SpeedTV are quite intertwined
