By David G. Firestone
It was announced on Tuesday that Formula E has a deal with Disney Plus as a media rights deal. This would help stream Formula E in over 100 countries. One aspect of the deal, according to Adam Stern, is that there are still some linear TV relationships in certain areas. Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds is that they are not ready to discuss Formula E remaining on CBS Sports Network in the US.
While I HATE streaming platforms, ANYTHING is better than the coverage that Formula E gets on CBS Sports Network. CBS Sports Network compresses the entire race into an hour long telecast. The problem is, since the races take place over the course of, if not longer than an hour, it’s badly edited to add commercials.
The editing is so god awful, that it’s almost unwatchable. There are times an announcer will be in the middle of a word, and the broadcast cuts to a commercial. Decent chunks of the race will be lost due to this terrible editing.
While this might be forgiven if this was a highlight video, Formula E has no live coverage in the United States. So this hacked up video is all American television audiences get. CBS Sports Network has killed off any interest Americans may have had in Formula E.
Again, I HATE STREAMING SERVICES. but at this point, anything is an upgrade. I’d rather watch a full uninterrupted race, or past races, on ESPN+ than what we currently get, and I’m not the only one.
I get that the American media doesn’t really see racing on the level as they do other sports, but there are audiences there. There are fans, and they want racing. Advertisers are willing to pay money. Stop screwing over the fans and give us good racing telecasts.
Next week, I give my thoughts on the Washington DC IndyCar race.
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