Formula 1 races on CBS in 2006

[Doug G]

Well, once again the folks at CBS have decided to stick it to F1 fans here in the US by agreeing to broadcast superficial, inadequate, time-edited and tape-delayed coverage of several races in 2006.

The following Formula 1 races are to appear on CBS this year, beginning with Imola next weekend.

4/23 1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. Formula 1: San Marino Grand Prix (SD) - Imola, Italy
5/14 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Formula 1: Spanish Grand Prix - Barcelona, Spain
5/28 12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. Formula 1: Monaco Grand Prix - Monaco
6/11 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Formula 1: British Grand Prix - Silverstone, Great Britain

Also, guide data seems to be messed up again. Friday practice makes no mention of "practice" in the title so you may need to manually add Sunday's race depending on your SP settings.

[phodg]

I hate the CBS coverage. it wouldn't be so bad if the Speed coverage was still shown so we had the option.

[BluesFools]

The SPEED coverage is shown a week later. If Bernie let them run it the same day as CBS, no-one would watch the CBS version!

[Hemi]

I just set the manual recording of the CBS broadcast but the more I think about it, the more I just want to wait a week and see it on Speed. Maybe I'll record both and see if I can hold out for a week. CBS just does the worst job - I can't understand why they spend all that money to get the rights and then spend so little time and effort in doing a good job.

Dan

[wonky67]

Thanks for the info... Without the SPEED channel, I will take what I can get.

[jsmeeker]

Better than nothing. I too don't get SPEED, so I'll also take what I can get.


Why no converage of the US Grand Prix?

[BluesFools]

Because being the host broadcaster would take some effort on CBS's part - more than sticking Derek Daly in a studio watching the world feed which is what they do for the other races.

[tivogurl]

Seeing some F1 would be nice, though the absurd new rules (2.4L engines? Aren't F3000 engines bigger?) makes things less interesting. The bozos at FIA say "we wanted to make things cheaper and more competitive by restricting exotic engine materials". Are these people insane or just certifiably stupid? Materials costs are trivial in F1, R&D is where all the money is spent. Every time they change the rules to "make things more competitive" they make things less competitive, because the R&D costs of optimizing for the new rules are most easily absorbed by the big teams. By the time the lower tier teams start catching up (3 or 4 years at their R&D budgets) the idiots at FIA go and change the rules again.

[jaydro]

Actually last year at Monza (I think?) the CBS crew noticed that Renault was having a problem with their rear brakes, while the Speed crew was too busy patting themselves on the back over their witty repartee on Fisichella's ongoing bad luck in the past to notice what was happening. I agree that CBS generally isn't as good, but Speed bugs me because they can be so smug and self-congratulatory when in reality they're just sitting in a little studio in Charlotte watching the race (except for the USGP--no wonder Bob Varsha acts so worried by any talk it will go away, since it's the only F1 race he actually gets to attend). The odd live comment from Peter Windsor in the pits is a help this year. And I do hand it to them for covering practice and qualifying. They're just not the be-all end-all until they actually start sending their commentators to the races.

[lander215]

Even if they were at the race, they'd just sit in the tower and watch the monitors...which feed the world feed...which they can sit in Charlotte and watch. The only thing that I didn't like was they pretended to be there..everyone knows they're not. Peter Windsor live adds a different aspect to the event, but I prefer his contributions pre-race better.

[dwette]

I like the Speed crew. At least they get their facts straight. Derek Daly on the other hand... :rolleyes:

I'm not even sure I can bear to sit thru 2 hours of Daly and the CBS commentary. I might have to wait for the Speed delayed broadcast the next week.

[lander215]

Just a reminder...the race is on CBS Sunday, 1:00-3:00pm this weekend.

[coffeefinca]

Disappointed that CBS has picked up more races this season. The only amusing part is the inane banter between the announcers.

Listen for the check list of "interesting" facts on each driver. Last year we were treated to this gem "Michael Schumacher is quite the Harley enthusiast. He has a fleet of them stored all over the world so he can ride on a moment's notice. He also gives them to his friends". They just insert random facts, apropos of nothing.

Make it a drinking game, that's the only way I can stand the CBS coverage.

Be sure to check out Inside Grand Prix on Speed. Very German production values, great animation on the track ride.

[jaydro]

Inside Grand Prix? The drinking game for that (mostly lame) show is every instance of the announcer horribly mispronouncing names. Does no one preview his narration (obviously being translated from the original German)? The one that killed me last year was "Hunga-ROARing." (And mea culpa if that instance falls into the category of the quaint British practice of saying "Muh-KNOCK-oh," but the announcer has made plenty of other mistakes with names.)

That said, the clips of GPs from 30 years ago make it worth TiVoing. Too bad Speed doesn't look like they're going to do "Grand Prix Decade" this year.

[lander215]

I ended up FF'ing through the last half of the race just so I didn't have to listen to Daly..what an ass.

And was it just me, or did it appear that there were only two cars racing at Imola? From the (lack of) TV coverage you wouldn't have known there were any other cars out there but Michaels and Alonsos! Piss poor coverage (thanks world feed and being at Ferrari's home track).

[TR7spyder]

Overall, I found it a pretty good race! It was nice to see Ferrari back on top!

As expected, CBS did their usual sub-par job! I would have been really pissed if I was Kimi fan. Was he even in the race? :) I was also hoping for HD feed, but only got to see it during the commercials :(.

There are rumors of HD coverage of North America races, but since they are not on CBS, I am not sure where would they show them.