USA fans: say goodbye NBC, hello ESPN

[dren]

I'm moving closer and closer to just buying the F1 OTT service this year. ESPN isn't looking promising so far.

[Tifosi01]

I knew as soon as ESPN’s name was mentioned everyone in the US was in for some hurt. I ditched cable so only have access to certain channels via their Roku app. I loved NBCSN’s app, I could watch any race weekend segment from their replay section at any time, ESPN’s app has no such feature so it’s watch live or you’re out of luck. Not sure how I’m going to manage until OTT is available for the Roku.

[dren]

I have live Hulu with cloud DVR, so I'm going to give that a shot with ESPN.

[TAG]

Does that Crofty guy EVER shut up?

At least ESPN is showing the Q session without commercials, don't know if they'll do that for the race but it was nice seeing the entire session without interruption.

[1158]

Does that Crofty guy EVER shut up?

At least ESPN is showing the Q session without commercials, don't know if they'll do that for the race but it was nice seeing the entire session without interruption.

While I was annoyed that they tape delayed FP3 by an hour last nite due to college baseball I believe they only had 3 commercial breaks during that hour. NBC would have 3 in 15 minutes.

[strad]

Have to say I was kind of disappointed by the SKY commentary group. After all I have heard for all these years I expected better.

[strad]

I don't know what ESPN you were watching but that was one more thing I was disappointed in. Had just as many commercial breaks as NBC here.

[TAG]

I don't know what ESPN you were watching but that was one more thing I was disappointed in. Had just as many commercial breaks as NBC here.

I was watching what was shown on ESPN2 at 1:55 to 3 AM EDT. Not a single commercial during each qualifying session. Only a break between the sessions. NBC never did that.

[DM0407]

Have to say I was kind of disappointed by the SKY commentary group. After all I have heard for all these years I expected better.

If possible, shut off your center speaker. All the commentary is removed but the race sounds remain. Crofty is worse than Diffey during races which is saying something... I much prefer Brundle doing play by play and Coulthard giving color commentary like the BBC had.

The ESPN Go app on Roku is lightyears better than NBC. At least now we get 60fps in 1080p. NBC app would struggle to show 480p at 30fps. It would flucuate between OK and horrible. I could use the web gave a better picture but you're stuck with a banner ad at the top of the page, unable to go full screen.

Its also nice to join the stream and not be greeted with the same AWFUL Chevy commercial, and in general there were fewer commercials and no stupid scenery shots when coming back from break. Here's hoping for limited commercials during the race.

[1158]

I don't know what ESPN you were watching but that was one more thing I was disappointed in. Had just as many commercial breaks as NBC here.

I was watching what was shown on ESPN2 at 1:55 to 3 AM EDT. Not a single commercial during each qualifying session. Only a break between the sessions. NBC never did that.

Yeah, the only commercials during Q were during the breaks. All the Q time with cars on track (save for 30 seconds at the start of Q3) were commercial free. Even during the red flag. NBC would have crammed all sorts of commercials in there.

[strad]

I Watched ESPN 2 from 11 til whatever(I'd have to go back and check when it ended) but didn't I notice when they were on so perhaps the commercials I saw were during the time between sessions. I will go back and watch the recording. However no commercials, to me, mean no commercials. I shall check later and get back to you on it. One thing for sure NBC would have packed the whole thing with commercials. I won't make any definitive statement till I watch my recording later.
Sometimes I swear they ,NBC, had 3 minutes of commercials for every 5 minutes of show.
Quite frankly I hated NBC but don't care for ESPN in general any more so.

[Mr Alcatraz]

I Watched ESPN 2 from 11 til whatever(I'd have to go back and check when it ended) but I assure you I had commercials.

I don't have any illusions that ESPN will show substantially less commercials for the race than NBC did. I simply switch to Univision Deportes during commercials. They have always shown the race commercial free (in Spanish).

[Ringleheim]

I was nervous about the switch away from NBCSN, but after 2/3 of a race weekend, I couldn't be happier!

We get more coverage and much better coverage this way.

I watch FP1 and FP2 both live streaming with super high res HD online; loved it; watched FP3 on TV...and qualifying live on TV too.

The Sky team is so superior in every way to the tired old US broadcast team...and don't get me wrong. I love old David Hobbs and Steve Matchett but they are not tuned into how F1 works these days. Hobbs' commentary became obsolete probably 20 years ago!

The live camera shots with Martin Brundle trackside moving from viewing location to viewing location was worth the price of admission alone, with Martin commenting on which cars were planted, which drivers had confidence in the car, etc. Loved that!

This is the best F1 viewing in America has been in a very long time.

PLEASE ESPN: Don't screw it up! Just continue as you are doing.

[strad]

My apologies to ESPN/SKY.
I went and quickly watched Q1 and there were no commercials till the break betweenQ1 and Q2 so I'm sure you must be correct about the rest of Qualifying.
I must hate commercials so much that they just jumped out at me without noting when they were. Better than breaking into the action to be sure but Like I said to me no commercials means exactly that.
Thanks for pointing that out though. Makes it a little easier to stomach.

[Ringleheim]

Have to say I was kind of disappointed by the SKY commentary group. After all I have heard for all these years I expected better.

If possible, shut off your center speaker. All the commentary is removed but the race sounds remain. Crofty is worse than Diffey during races which is saying something... I much prefer Brundle doing play by play and Coulthard giving color commentary like the BBC had.

The ESPN Go app on Roku is lightyears better than NBC. At least now we get 60fps in 1080p. NBC app would struggle to show 480p at 30fps. It would flucuate between OK and horrible. I could use the web gave a better picture but you're stuck with a banner ad at the top of the page, unable to go full screen.

Its also nice to join the stream and not be greeted with the same AWFUL Chevy commercial, and in general there were fewer commercials and no stupid scenery shots when coming back from break. Here's hoping for limited commercials during the race.

I rather like Crofty. The guy I find highly annoying is Ted Kravitz; luckily his presence on these broadcasts is somewhat kept to a minimum.

Love the commentary from Paul Di Resta and old Martin Brundle as well.

ANYTHING is massively better than the shouting Aussie Leigh Diffey...with that highly annoying tone of voice. So glad to be rid of him.