In the latest Motorsport Broadcasting round-up, ESPN extends their relationship with F1 stateside, whilst British Speedway finds itself with a new home in the UK…
The round-up gives a bite sized view of the latest news making the waves, as well as interesting snippets that I have picked up along the way.
ICYMI: Round-Up #6 (October 15th): New Brabham film released; MotoGP moves towards HDR resolution
ICYMI: Round-Up #5 (September 12th): Bratches set to exit F1 role; Eurosport executive joins Formula E
ICYMI: Round-Up #4 (July 23rd): New Formula Two documentary coming soon; Facebook touts MotoGP success
ICYMI: Round-Up #3 (July 1st): Sky F1 to air special Williams documentary; Formula E wins award for TV product
Site update
Some of you may remember the site update I posted at the end of September, with details on a major change for me (not for the site). The good news: I moved into my own house in the middle of October! So far, I am pleased to say that everything has gone according to plan, with no hitches.
Of course, that does mean I have spent less time on the site front in recent weeks, a situation I expect to continue until the festive period before the usual New Year cycle kicks in.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed the guest articles from Jack Ainslie and Nigel Chiu focusing on IndyCar and World RX respectively, giving a different perspective on motor sport broadcasting. A huge thanks to both Jack and Nigel for their contributions in recent weeks.
If anyone else is interesting in writing a guest article over the next few months, please drop me a line, all ideas are welcome.
Formula 1
- ESPN have retained the rights to broadcast F1 in the US through to the end of 2022 in a new three-year deal. The broadcaster will again simulcast Sky Sports’ UK offering commercial free, covering every F1 session as well as F2, F3 and the Porsche Supercup.
- Despite earlier suggestions that NBC were interested in reclaiming the rights they lost back in 2017, I understand that NBC and F1 were some distance apart from both a financial and forward-thinking perspective.
- F1’s US audience figures have increased significantly since ESPN came on-board, increasing by 24 percent since NBC’s final season in 2017.
- Netflix’s Drive to Survive, which returns for season two in early-2020 has undoubtedly helped the surge in interest stateside.
- The increased interest also applies to Mexico where circuit organisers say has caused an increase in the number of women attending the Mexico race.
- Speaking to RaceFans, Mexico’s race promoter Alejandro Soberon said “We noticed that we have like a 30 percent increase in interest [from] women. We have tested and it’s related directly related to the Netflix series. And they answer and they comment and at least in Mexico, it was wildly successful.”
- By far the biggest story in terms of column inches surrounded a new graphic which debuted at the Japanese Grand Prix showing the condition of each tyre. The graphic depicted the condition in intervals of ten, in percentage form from 100% (full grip) to 0% (no grip).
- However, the graphic came under heavy criticism, with Pirelli’s Mario Isola calling the graphic “misleading“, and that they are not supplying F1 with the data.
- It did not take F1 to respond, issuing a press release just an hour before the Mexican Grand Prix, with a full explainer of what the ‘improved’ graphic contained.
- In their explainer, F1 noted that the graphic, powered by AWS, uses several public sources, such as live timing data, live telemetry data, tyre compound and stint length to build the overall picture.
- RaceFans have a detailed article on F1’s thinking on the graphics front, featuring comment from Dean Locke, who is F1’s Director of Broadcasting and Media.
- Leeds Crown Court have jailed a man for 18 months after he threatened to shoot BBC F1 commentator Jack Nicholls and journalist Clive Myrie.
- Ian Hargreaves, 66, sent threatening messages about both Nicholls and Myrie through the BBC’s online complaints form.
- Writing on Twitter, Nicholls said “Some people really don’t like my commentary. A huge thanks to the BBC who have been amazing throughout.”
- Good news for fans of the official F1 season reviews: Duke Video have confirmed that the 2019 season review is reverting to the 2017 format after heavy criticism of the 2018 review.
- As in 2017 and before, additional content will supplement the feature-length four-hour review.
- The F1 team performed what was a herculean effort to get operations back up and running following Typhoon Hagibis ready for race day at the Japanese Grand Prix.
- Motorsport.com interviewed Andrew James, who works as F1 centre’s technical director to get the inside story.
- F1 came away as winners from the Broadcast Tech Awards, winning ‘Best 360 / VR Production’ award.
Formula E
- As first revealed by e-racing365, Bob Varsha will not be part of the Formula E commentary booth for the upcoming season, which begins on Friday 22nd November in Saudi Arabia. Jack Nicholls and Dario Franchitti remain with the team on commentary.
- I am expecting Formula E to announce this week the destination of several television deals for season six, including their UK free-to-air partner.
- Last season, the championship aired across the BBC, Quest, Eurosport and BT Sport. The Eurosport arrangement is a two-year agreement that started last season, but the status of the other three are unknown as of writing.
Meanwhile on two-wheels…
- A new MotoGP television graphic debuted during the Japanese Grand Prix weekend. First focusing on Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales, the graphic shows the heart rate of a rider during the heat of the action.
- In the example Vinales tweeted, his heart rate is at a rather calm 112 beats per minute.
- Eurosport in the UK have secured the rights to British Speedway until the end of the 2024 season.
- British Speedway for many years aired live on Sky Sports, gaining a passionate following, but since 2017 has aired to a smaller audience on BT Sport.
- The move to Eurosport, along with free-to-air highlights on Quest and DMAX, will help revitalise speedway in the UK, which has been on the decline in recent times.
See anything else worth mentioning on the news front? Drop a line in the comments section below.
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Motorsport Broadcasting 
I am not surprised by the ESPN dealings. They are trying to push the Disney+ franchise that will likely become home to their top properties (CFP, UFC) and the difference between what NBC wanted and F1 was probably integration with NBC’s different shows after buying Sky in 2018.
NBC already airs the 4 PM Sky Sports News (11 AM Connecticut time, NBC studios location) and has adopted Sky graphics for Premier League coverage (not the NBC graphics we see in INDYCAR) and has been contemplating going to Sky graphics.
I have to wonder if NBC’s plan had included integrating the misnomer NASCAR America daily motorsport magazine that features four different formats (race debrief Monday, Dale Earnhardt Jnr Download highlights Tuesday, Motor Mouths call-in Wednesday, and Motorsport Hour on Thursdays where INDYCAR, IMSA, and motocross are prominently profiled) weekly into F1 coverage. The Download is a highlights package from the podcast NBC’s prominent motorsport commentator does as a long-form interview with a motorsport personality, and I have a sense he wanted NBC to expand back to F1 in order to allow F1 interviews between him in Charlotte and an F1 driver or engineer in his signature long-form style that can last two hours, but is universally praised.
His podcasts with Simon Pagenaud and David Hobbs are gems. Imagine if F1 drivers did the two-hour show and you’d hear Dale’s storytelling for that style. Of course, Sky would probably not want the storytelling style that Dale has offered.