ESPN acquires US television rights for Formula 1 from 2018

[airshifter]

Well I'm not that fond of the Sky coverage at all so far. The on screen graphics and position bars are great and easy to follow, but the commentary is a bit on the easily excitable side for my preference. Combined with ESPN giving minimal coverage to what Sky feeds, overall things have been quite a bit reduced from the previous years.

As it turns out I dropped a bunch of fiber channels but retained ESPN. I'm hoping the F1 TV thing works out much better, as I'd gladly pay for something better.

[Jag_Warrior]

There's not really anything wrong with the Sky coverage, and there's certainly a more of it than what we typically got with NBCSN. I mean, with NBCSN, I'd have to fire up my Roku and watch FP1 with no commentators on the app. NBC's focus was more on FP2. But anyway, mine isn't so much a complaint as just not being in love with the commentators on Sky. Too much of the time they seem to want to attempt being witty (when it's not necessary or welcome) and they banter just because they enjoy hearing themselves talk. The overall coverage is good - track coverage is great. I like that they're live at the races. I personally don't miss Will Buxton one bit (sorry, I just never liked him). But I do miss Steve Matchett and David Hobbs massively. Those were guys who I always thought it would be so cool to sit down and watch a race with. I just haven't warmed up to the Sky crew in that way yet.

[airshifter]

There's not really anything wrong with the Sky coverage, and there's certainly a more of it than what we typically got with NBCSN. I mean, with NBCSN, I'd have to fire up my Roku and watch FP1 with no commentators on the app. NBC's focus was more on FP2. But anyway, mine isn't so much a complaint as just not being in love with the commentators on Sky. Too much of the time they seem to want to attempt being witty (when it's not necessary or welcome) and they banter just because they enjoy hearing themselves talk. The overall coverage is good - track coverage is great. I like that they're live at the races. I personally don't miss Will Buxton one bit (sorry, I just never liked him). But I do miss Steve Matchett and David Hobbs massively. Those were guys who I always thought it would be so cool to sit down and watch a race with. I just haven't warmed up to the Sky crew in that way yet.

I'd pay just to have the Sky feed with Matchett and Hobbs back on commentary. As for Buxton, I always got the impression he is a well connected guy with a lot of facts, but seemed to lack much passion about the whole picture. Brundle is what kills the current coverage for me. I mostly enjoy the input by the others, and the post race stuff is usually good as well.

[Jag_Warrior]

I hate to quote myself, but after last weekends race, I have to say this again:

and they banter just because they enjoy hearing themselves talk.

Thank goodness for Anthony Davidson. I enjoyed his presence and input. But the rest of them... I felt like I was listening to a bunch of old hens rattle on about nothing. I'm definitely going to search for another way to watch the coverage by next season.

[zako85]

The French GP coverage had no commercial interruptions! I like.

[mr_swiss]

Luckily Mother's products pays in the US for commercial free coverage of every Grand Prix (at least after the disaster of the first telecast)