OT: USGP Coverage - ABC vs. Speedvision

greg · 26th September 2001, 18:29

Saw this on the Indy site. Interesting to compare the ABC commentators to the Speedvision ones:

ABC:

Quote:

Bob Jenkins will serve as host, with Eddie Cheever Jr. as color analyst and Jason Priestley as pit reporter. Jenkins and Priestley are part of the ABC/ESPN broadcast team for Indy Racing Northern Light Series events, and Cheever, winner of the 1998 Indianapolis 500, is one of the top drivers in Indy Racing. Cheever also competed in the Formula One World Championship from 1978-89 and started 132 races, the most of any American driver in history.

Speedvision:

Quote:

Bob Varsha will lead Speedvision's coverage of the Grand Prix with commentary from David Hobbs, Sam Posey and Steve Matchett. Hobbs was a starter in seven Formula One races between 1967-74 and a veteran of four Indianapolis 500 starts in the 1970s. Posey, a starter in the 1972 Indianapolis 500, also competed in the United States Grand Prix in 1971 and 1972 at Watkins Glen, N.Y. He also served as an analyst on ABC's Indianapolis 500 coverage in the 1980s and early 1990s. Matchett was chief mechanic for Michael Schumacher's World Championships with Benetton in 1994 and 1995.

ABC can only muster one pro with very little commentator experience. Speedvision lines up an ALL-PRO cast. I know which channel I'll be watching.....

KirklandM5 · 26th September 2001, 18:37

Unfortunately, Speedivions is NOT showing it live....they're doing a rebroadcast on Oct 7th.

JL

Jim Dolan · 26th September 2001, 19:01

I like Hobbs commentary and insight. I saw him race M3's years ago at Daytona. David is down to earth.

For me ABC will put in a retail version of the event.

greg · 26th September 2001, 19:41

Kirkland said

Quote:

Unfortunately, Speedivions is NOT showing it live....they're doing a rebroadcast on Oct 7th

That sucks! I didn't even realize that. They are carrying the practices and qualifying live Friday and Sat. Too bad. On the other hand, I looked at their schedule and it looks like they're going to air on Sunday the Laguna Seca GT some of us watched in person a few weeks ago.....

HadE55NowM5 · 26th September 2001, 20:13

I'm a seriously avid follower of Formula One. For the most part, Bob Varsha and David Hobbs get it right on the Speedvision coverage. Steve Matchett is impressively knowledgable. Sam Posey, however, makes plenty of mistakes (above and beyond his mispronunciation of many of the drivers' names). Considering that he suffers from an advanced case of Parkinson's Disease, it's amazing that he is able to commentate at all. I genuinely applaud the fact that he is still doing it.

A while ago, Eddie Cheever participated in a Speedvision Formula One telecast (I can't remember which race(s)). The point is that Cheever is very, very well spoken, articulate and genuinely erudite especially when it comes to Grand Prix subject matter. I think you will all be impressed by the job he will do on the ABC broadcast.

Last year, I spent four days at the USGP. I even was lucky enough to watch the race on Sunday in an acquaintance's suite (which David Coulthard rented out for his guests/his then-girlfriend's family -- at the time DC was dating an American named Heidi). While I've been again invited to view the race from this same suite, I somehow have not mustered up the enthusiasm to travel to the USGP, mainly due to our recent national tragedy.

Enrique · 26th September 2001, 21:28

As I've just become a fan of F1 (started watching at Monaco) I'm interested to see how ABC handles F1. I also wonder what their usual audience will think of F1. I can picture, "What da hell is dis? Them funny cars goin round that squiggly track is weird. Hakkinen? Montoya? What kinda names is those? Gimme a beer."

Nothing against NASCAR fans, just that most people I've talked to think NASCAR is the ONLY (literally) form of racing.

Jim Dolan · 27th September 2001, 02:00

Quote:

Originally posted by KirklandM5
Unfortunately, Speedivions is NOT showing it live....they're doing a rebroadcast on Oct 7th.

JL

Speedvision is no threat to ABC. Given their support of F1 a dual broadcast would have been great. I'ts to bad they were excluded from live broadcast all things considered.

Isn't Fox taking over Speedvision soon. They said they would be ending live coverage of F1 for lack of viewership or something like that. I think I heard that on this board.

greg · 27th September 2001, 02:47

Jim - I think Fox may have already taken over Speedvision. Did you notice that during the terrorist attack Speedvision was carrying the Fox newsfeed?

I think there was a scare (I was the one who posted that message) about Speedvision ceasing to cover other events once controlled by Fox - i.e., only Nascar. They are starting to provide some Nascar coverage now (yawn) but it doesn't look like theyre dropping anything else.

It would be weird for Fox to care enough about them to buy them and then radically change the formula that made the attractive in the first place.

VanCooper · 27th September 2001, 10:11

We have TSN here in Canada and they broadcast the qualifying session and race live plus, I think that we have Martin Brundle and Murray Walker (I could be wrong there) as commentators.

Martin Brundle used to be a Formula 1 driver up to about 4 or 5 years ago. I remember him mostly by his huge accident at Melbourne in 1996 where his car was basically shattered in two pieces...and he walked away

kees · 27th September 2001, 11:41

Quote:

Originally posted by greg
Saw this on the Indy site. Interesting to compare the ABC commentators to the Speedvision ones:
ABC:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Jenkins will serve as host, with Eddie Cheever Jr. as color analyst and Jason Priestley as pit reporter.
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You guys in the States get all the good stuff! We only get a couple of ex F1 stars as commentators, but you get a lineup including a 'color analyst'

I'm sorry, but I've obviously been away from the US sports scene for a while...is this a new addition for all those female viewers? I can see it being an obvious crowdpleaser!

"As you can see Michael is wearing a fine racing suit by the star designers at Ferrari in a dashing bright red with some adorable yellow accessories. His brother Ralf sports a slightly more ulitarian 'Germanic' style racing ensemble in the new autumn colors of white & grey."