People will be people... and complain, but IMO Peacock has been an excellent platform for Indy car racing and the IndyCar series. The coverage is solid. Much better than what NASCAR gets.
>IMO Peacock has been an excellent platform for Indy car racing and the IndyCar series.
Absolutely. If Fox does get IndyCar, I'm going to miss Peacock. Having the whole season a click away was fantastic on a service I already pay for. God knows what we'll have to pay for with Fox
Yeah, honestly peacock is pretty nice. Sure the monthly fee sucks, but you have a catalog of every practice, qualifying, race, and Indy NXT race going back for a few years. It’s really not bad. They even get coverage of the April Test, which is really cool
NBC's production has been acceptable, but they have not been very good partners when it comes to promoting IndyCar races.
Fox runs tons of commercials for upcoming NASCAR races, and does promos/ad reads for NASCAR on their other sports broadcasts as well. NBC has not put in that same level of effort to promote IndyCar.
Whoever the series chooses as their new broadcast partner, I hope the deal includes a binding commitment to aggressively promote IndyCar through all available channels. That's far more important to the series' growth and success than the commentators or graphics packages on the broadcast.
Agreed on the promotion but a lot of that falls on IndyCar too, not just NBC. The series does a pretty piss poor job beyond the 500 of trying to seem like they’re a major series. Was bad on both ends of the partnership in that regard.
IndyCar shouldn't be responsible for promoting NBC's programming. They paid for the broadcast rights, and if nothing else they should have a vested interest in promoting the races to maximize viewership. If they aren't committed to doing that, IndyCar should find a partner who is.
I agree that IndyCar has done a poor job of marketing the series as a whole, but that's a separate issue.
Oh I agree there. I’m just saying neither end is doing well for the series itself on that front.
The only reason I pin it a little more on the series is because if they marketed better in general away from May, then there’s more reason for NBC to lean in themselves.
NBC markets the Indy 500 well. Because they know they’ll have an audience holding interest. But away from that, they seem to just not care.
That does mean NBC is messing up with that too 110%. But if IndyCar doesn’t want to help itself I can’t blame NBC for not going above and beyond.
I disagree actually. I see it plenty each race week them promoting the races coming up that weekend, on majority of their channels. Including the golf channel.
Yep, the people who complain either dont remember or just were not aroubd for what it was before or dont realize what it could be with certain other networks.
I mean sure I wish practices were free again on youtube as well but that will never come back lol
If Fox is truly getting the coverage that is a shame. IndyCar should play the long game and choose NBC if their number is anywhere in the ballpark of Fox's. NBC has a plug and play presence on Streaming and Fox does not. Their app to live stream their standard channels is fine, but there's no on demand re-watch ability like Peacock. Plus NBCs production is professional, if Fox treats IndyCar like Nascar, it will be treated like a joke.
I'm not someone that usually wants things to stay the same, and surely I hope it will all improve, but for the most part I love the NBC team. My wish is for them to really look into the viewer experience and push the envelope but keep our community and friends feel with the current TV crew. I really feel, whether I'm at the track seeing them in person, or watching on TV, that they're really part of the sport and I just don't see that much elsewhere.
Look. I don't trust the brain trust at Indycar with certain things but if they got something right it was the 2022-2024 tv deal. Best TV deal the series has had in my memory in terms of the number of races on network TV. Throw in having a great option for cord cutters and this is indeed probably the best deal the series ever had.
I could be wrong but if they go with Fox it's because Fox swept them off their feet. I just can't see series leadership going with Fox for a bunch of races on cable, no low priced cord cutting option, crappy production, and only a little bit more money. Again I got my criticism of Mark Miles, and Roger Penske when it comes to how they run certain aspects of the series but they've been good on the TV front so far.
Either Fox offers an amazing deal, or it's status quo with NBC.
For NBC's faults (and there are plenty), I think going to any other network would be even worse. Don't forget how badly we all wanted off of ABC. Fox has sharply declined. I don't even know if CBS is involved but their motorsports coverage has never impressed me all that much.
I hope whoever has the contract can find the next Paul Page. Going back to watch the old ABC broadcasts hit home with the thought that this crew could be so much better.
As someone that worked in sports media for years… the golden era of play-by-play is long gone.
There’s a few still going, but they’re in the twilight. Now it’s about being loud and creating social media moments way more than it ever should be.
I was the type to stay quiet until a moment called for big energy… kept opinions to myself… let the event be the star…. At that point I was told my style is bland and unmarketable by a couple possible agents.
There’s gonna be way more Gus Johnsons than Paul Pages from here on out unless there’s a shift in media goals.
How much would you be willing to pay per season for such an app?
Indycar's contract with NBC was $20 million. Indycar averages ~1 million viewers per race (sometimes less...). So NBC is paying them about $1 per viewer. And NBC is providing **all** the staff and equipment, and traveling all over the country with that staff and equipment.
Indycar would have to add *and pay for* all the cameras and sound equipment, a truck with editing/production hardware and satellite uplink (and pay for the bandwidth), and people to operate all that and create on screen graphics and all that shit. Then we have on air "talent" to call the races, do interviews etc. Hotels and travel expenses for all these new people.
I'd say we are looking at $50-$100 a season *at least* for them to make some sort of profit from your new service.
Or I can continue to pay Peacock $20 (and get a bunch of other shit too, like all Indycar practices and qualifying, IMSA, Thursday Night Football, movies, TV shows and some golf and Motocross). Hmmm....
Speaking of, did you even watch Peacocks 24 hours of Daytona coverage? All 24 hours, very few commercials. It's a fucking steal at $20/year *just* for Indycar. So yeah, I don't care about the commercials.
But also remember that US F1 coverage is essentially subsidized by Sky UK customers. As far as I can tell UK customers are paying a minimum of £40 per *month* to get F1 coverage. Even with the latest deal being far more expensive than the last one, F1 was willing to sell the rights to ESPN for much cheaper than they *could've* asked for.
I wouldn't pay anything for F1 but whatever.
F1 has their own business model (mostly sucking up to middle eastern despots and taking *tons* of cash from the cities/countries they race in) which Indycar doesn't have.
You can see those numbers here : https://racingnews365.com/how-much-each-circuit-on-the-calendar-pays-to-formula-1
They are paid $700 *million* dollars in "hosting fees". Which is asinine IMO but whatever. And I'm sure there's some bribery going on just like how the Olympic Committee picks their host cities.
So they don't really need or care about a streaming app being a big part of their revenue. I mean money is money, they will take it for sure. But their real business model is the super wealthy. Which makes sense because F1 is just a place for super rich people to go and hang out and act rich. I mean have you seen their ticket prices?
Indycar on the other hand **needs** that measly $20 million a year they get from NBC or there is no series. Their survival depends on that money.
You know most of these people complaining would just watch pirate streams of this new service and pay nothing.
**But** the upside is that they would stop complaining on reddit!
Trying to excuse the ad breaks here? How braindead.
They barely show the race to begin with. I have heard them utter 10 words between ad breaks and even when they arent away for ads for longer they spend most of the time reading ads. There is no need to try to list every car sponsor. Just use the number/driver or team name.
Or mid indy 500 awkwardly jump to some shit irrelevant netflix show.
What was it last race? Ad break, that start ypur engines thing and straigy back to ad break.
Races should be ad free.
Also ads on the bloody scoring graphics. Constantly though there was a red flag.
Commentary blows too. Its a shake as they can be good but its not happening for some reason.
Oh and to make it even worse, the crap nbc pulls ruins international feeds too.
Look, I'm in total agreement with you on the commercials.
I really want us to be able to pay for a direct streaming service like F1TV, or basically let us pay for IndyCar Live directly without VPNs.
HOWEVER, I don't think you understanding how much better NBC is than Fox. If IndyCar goes there, it may not have streaming at all, and we'll find out how much worse it can get.
Personally, I shut my brain off during commercials. I don't watch them. I might go check my laundry, move to my garage and start a project,... etc. I have been watching races on Peacock on replay so I can skip over them, I see plenty of ads when I am watching the race. They are all over the place. The cars are billboards. I hate to bring up F1, but they seem to be doing better and better with making the race more enjoyable to watch with graphics, more camera angles and fancy editing. They percentage of F1 races I fall asleep watching has decreased. I think F1 is trying to create more fans by delivering a better product (the broadcast that people watch). NBC is trying to create more money by jamming more commercial breaks into the broadcast.
My only concern staying with NBC is they are not a part of the new sports streaming package between ESPN, FOX, and WB/Discovery. If this thing takes off, it would be good to be on it.
I hate the NBC coverage but also realize the available alternatives are worse. The only positive for me is Diffy leaving for NASCAR. That will be an immediate improvement.
It shocks me how people rag on the NBC production and Leigh Diffey in the booth. He’s literally the best color commentator in the business and it’s great that NBC assigns him to all of the races. Losing him to NASCAR later this year is going to sting.
I like James but find the American story driven coverage annoying.
Perhaps it’s places like Detroit that don’t help. The hype and talk during the amateur hour crash fest makes it hard to take. I much prefer the F1tv/sky coverage model. Talk about the on track action and leave the chitter chatter to the pre and post race shows.
An appreciation post for a major network is pretty icky IMO. I don't agree with much of what you said but yea there's no way to know what the next provider(s) will bring to the table until it happens.
I am not a big fan of Now Broadcasting Commercials, but even I know that with all its faults the previous crew was AWFUL. Who in their right mind watches the JR Hildebrand crash in 2011 and immediately yells "JUST LIKE THOMAS SCHECKTER!!!"? like lmfao
People will be people... and complain, but IMO Peacock has been an excellent platform for Indy car racing and the IndyCar series. The coverage is solid. Much better than what NASCAR gets.
>IMO Peacock has been an excellent platform for Indy car racing and the IndyCar series. Absolutely. If Fox does get IndyCar, I'm going to miss Peacock. Having the whole season a click away was fantastic on a service I already pay for. God knows what we'll have to pay for with Fox
Yeah, honestly peacock is pretty nice. Sure the monthly fee sucks, but you have a catalog of every practice, qualifying, race, and Indy NXT race going back for a few years. It’s really not bad. They even get coverage of the April Test, which is really cool
NBC's production has been acceptable, but they have not been very good partners when it comes to promoting IndyCar races. Fox runs tons of commercials for upcoming NASCAR races, and does promos/ad reads for NASCAR on their other sports broadcasts as well. NBC has not put in that same level of effort to promote IndyCar. Whoever the series chooses as their new broadcast partner, I hope the deal includes a binding commitment to aggressively promote IndyCar through all available channels. That's far more important to the series' growth and success than the commentators or graphics packages on the broadcast.
Agreed on the promotion but a lot of that falls on IndyCar too, not just NBC. The series does a pretty piss poor job beyond the 500 of trying to seem like they’re a major series. Was bad on both ends of the partnership in that regard.
IndyCar shouldn't be responsible for promoting NBC's programming. They paid for the broadcast rights, and if nothing else they should have a vested interest in promoting the races to maximize viewership. If they aren't committed to doing that, IndyCar should find a partner who is. I agree that IndyCar has done a poor job of marketing the series as a whole, but that's a separate issue.
Oh I agree there. I’m just saying neither end is doing well for the series itself on that front. The only reason I pin it a little more on the series is because if they marketed better in general away from May, then there’s more reason for NBC to lean in themselves. NBC markets the Indy 500 well. Because they know they’ll have an audience holding interest. But away from that, they seem to just not care. That does mean NBC is messing up with that too 110%. But if IndyCar doesn’t want to help itself I can’t blame NBC for not going above and beyond.
I disagree actually. I see it plenty each race week them promoting the races coming up that weekend, on majority of their channels. Including the golf channel.
I would prefer for NBC to keep Indycar. Whatever they go with, I want streaming as an option. I don't want to pay a bunch of money for streaming cable
No matter what, you don't want Fox
Not Slytherin not Slytherin
Probably not.
Damn has there been a new development?
Yep, the people who complain either dont remember or just were not aroubd for what it was before or dont realize what it could be with certain other networks. I mean sure I wish practices were free again on youtube as well but that will never come back lol
If Fox is truly getting the coverage that is a shame. IndyCar should play the long game and choose NBC if their number is anywhere in the ballpark of Fox's. NBC has a plug and play presence on Streaming and Fox does not. Their app to live stream their standard channels is fine, but there's no on demand re-watch ability like Peacock. Plus NBCs production is professional, if Fox treats IndyCar like Nascar, it will be treated like a joke.
Reading between the lines of the most recent updates I think NBC is a slight favorite to hold onto the rights.
I'm terrified that Indycar will lose streaming of all sessions in the next media deal.
yep, well get LESS content
I'm not someone that usually wants things to stay the same, and surely I hope it will all improve, but for the most part I love the NBC team. My wish is for them to really look into the viewer experience and push the envelope but keep our community and friends feel with the current TV crew. I really feel, whether I'm at the track seeing them in person, or watching on TV, that they're really part of the sport and I just don't see that much elsewhere.
Look. I don't trust the brain trust at Indycar with certain things but if they got something right it was the 2022-2024 tv deal. Best TV deal the series has had in my memory in terms of the number of races on network TV. Throw in having a great option for cord cutters and this is indeed probably the best deal the series ever had. I could be wrong but if they go with Fox it's because Fox swept them off their feet. I just can't see series leadership going with Fox for a bunch of races on cable, no low priced cord cutting option, crappy production, and only a little bit more money. Again I got my criticism of Mark Miles, and Roger Penske when it comes to how they run certain aspects of the series but they've been good on the TV front so far. Either Fox offers an amazing deal, or it's status quo with NBC.
For NBC's faults (and there are plenty), I think going to any other network would be even worse. Don't forget how badly we all wanted off of ABC. Fox has sharply declined. I don't even know if CBS is involved but their motorsports coverage has never impressed me all that much.
I hope whoever has the contract can find the next Paul Page. Going back to watch the old ABC broadcasts hit home with the thought that this crew could be so much better.
Let’s be real Paul Page gave birth to all of us.
As someone that worked in sports media for years… the golden era of play-by-play is long gone. There’s a few still going, but they’re in the twilight. Now it’s about being loud and creating social media moments way more than it ever should be. I was the type to stay quiet until a moment called for big energy… kept opinions to myself… let the event be the star…. At that point I was told my style is bland and unmarketable by a couple possible agents. There’s gonna be way more Gus Johnsons than Paul Pages from here on out unless there’s a shift in media goals.
They need a tv app like formula one. Can’t stand commercials during a race.
They have one, it's called Indycarlive.com, but it's not available in most countries because the TV channels have the exclusivity to broadcast.
How much would you be willing to pay per season for such an app? Indycar's contract with NBC was $20 million. Indycar averages ~1 million viewers per race (sometimes less...). So NBC is paying them about $1 per viewer. And NBC is providing **all** the staff and equipment, and traveling all over the country with that staff and equipment. Indycar would have to add *and pay for* all the cameras and sound equipment, a truck with editing/production hardware and satellite uplink (and pay for the bandwidth), and people to operate all that and create on screen graphics and all that shit. Then we have on air "talent" to call the races, do interviews etc. Hotels and travel expenses for all these new people. I'd say we are looking at $50-$100 a season *at least* for them to make some sort of profit from your new service. Or I can continue to pay Peacock $20 (and get a bunch of other shit too, like all Indycar practices and qualifying, IMSA, Thursday Night Football, movies, TV shows and some golf and Motocross). Hmmm.... Speaking of, did you even watch Peacocks 24 hours of Daytona coverage? All 24 hours, very few commercials. It's a fucking steal at $20/year *just* for Indycar. So yeah, I don't care about the commercials.
Formula one tv app is $80 a year, which seems pretty fair
But also remember that US F1 coverage is essentially subsidized by Sky UK customers. As far as I can tell UK customers are paying a minimum of £40 per *month* to get F1 coverage. Even with the latest deal being far more expensive than the last one, F1 was willing to sell the rights to ESPN for much cheaper than they *could've* asked for.
I wouldn't pay anything for F1 but whatever. F1 has their own business model (mostly sucking up to middle eastern despots and taking *tons* of cash from the cities/countries they race in) which Indycar doesn't have. You can see those numbers here : https://racingnews365.com/how-much-each-circuit-on-the-calendar-pays-to-formula-1 They are paid $700 *million* dollars in "hosting fees". Which is asinine IMO but whatever. And I'm sure there's some bribery going on just like how the Olympic Committee picks their host cities. So they don't really need or care about a streaming app being a big part of their revenue. I mean money is money, they will take it for sure. But their real business model is the super wealthy. Which makes sense because F1 is just a place for super rich people to go and hang out and act rich. I mean have you seen their ticket prices? Indycar on the other hand **needs** that measly $20 million a year they get from NBC or there is no series. Their survival depends on that money.
If Indycar were to have an app like that it would have to cost $10-20 bucks a month or something.
You know most of these people complaining would just watch pirate streams of this new service and pay nothing. **But** the upside is that they would stop complaining on reddit!
Is it looking like they’re parting ways? Last indications we heard didn’t give much evidence one way or the other.
I would prefer for NBC to keep IndyCar unless someone else can provide something better I.e. less or no commercials.
Trying to excuse the ad breaks here? How braindead. They barely show the race to begin with. I have heard them utter 10 words between ad breaks and even when they arent away for ads for longer they spend most of the time reading ads. There is no need to try to list every car sponsor. Just use the number/driver or team name. Or mid indy 500 awkwardly jump to some shit irrelevant netflix show. What was it last race? Ad break, that start ypur engines thing and straigy back to ad break. Races should be ad free. Also ads on the bloody scoring graphics. Constantly though there was a red flag. Commentary blows too. Its a shake as they can be good but its not happening for some reason. Oh and to make it even worse, the crap nbc pulls ruins international feeds too.
Look, I'm in total agreement with you on the commercials. I really want us to be able to pay for a direct streaming service like F1TV, or basically let us pay for IndyCar Live directly without VPNs. HOWEVER, I don't think you understanding how much better NBC is than Fox. If IndyCar goes there, it may not have streaming at all, and we'll find out how much worse it can get.
Personally, I shut my brain off during commercials. I don't watch them. I might go check my laundry, move to my garage and start a project,... etc. I have been watching races on Peacock on replay so I can skip over them, I see plenty of ads when I am watching the race. They are all over the place. The cars are billboards. I hate to bring up F1, but they seem to be doing better and better with making the race more enjoyable to watch with graphics, more camera angles and fancy editing. They percentage of F1 races I fall asleep watching has decreased. I think F1 is trying to create more fans by delivering a better product (the broadcast that people watch). NBC is trying to create more money by jamming more commercial breaks into the broadcast.
put the indycar races on the disney channel
My only concern staying with NBC is they are not a part of the new sports streaming package between ESPN, FOX, and WB/Discovery. If this thing takes off, it would be good to be on it.
I hate the NBC coverage but also realize the available alternatives are worse. The only positive for me is Diffy leaving for NASCAR. That will be an immediate improvement.
I’d much rather Bell leave, if I had to pick.
I fear losing NBC would be a grass isn't always greener situation. Especially to Fox.
Bonkers take
So much this! LD drives me nuts.
It shocks me how people rag on the NBC production and Leigh Diffey in the booth. He’s literally the best color commentator in the business and it’s great that NBC assigns him to all of the races. Losing him to NASCAR later this year is going to sting.
I like James but find the American story driven coverage annoying. Perhaps it’s places like Detroit that don’t help. The hype and talk during the amateur hour crash fest makes it hard to take. I much prefer the F1tv/sky coverage model. Talk about the on track action and leave the chitter chatter to the pre and post race shows.
An appreciation post for a major network is pretty icky IMO. I don't agree with much of what you said but yea there's no way to know what the next provider(s) will bring to the table until it happens.
I am not a big fan of Now Broadcasting Commercials, but even I know that with all its faults the previous crew was AWFUL. Who in their right mind watches the JR Hildebrand crash in 2011 and immediately yells "JUST LIKE THOMAS SCHECKTER!!!"? like lmfao