Monaco and Monza will be broadcasted at 6:30AM CST - does it really matter if ABC carries it at all? Most race fans in the US are NASCAR fans right - and I am sure that unless the fire alarms go off these people are not getting up at 6:30AM. Also consider the fact that NASCAR - along with baseball go hand in hand with beer drinking and the thought of inviting a bunch of friends over to drink beer at 6:30AM does not sound to appealing - not too mention that some of our wives may be a wee bit upset with us being drunk by 10AM!
Perhaps a tape delay would be better in these cases...lets face it F1 fans would still watch even if we did already know the results. And the fact that a tape delay may place the race in a noon or 1PM time slot may catch a few other race fans - or atleast is more likely to do so then at 6:30 in the morning.
As far as commentators are concerned...last year was a joke but perhaps we can chalk that up to last minute details that simply could not be shored up in time - although seeing Bob Jenkins as the official host for the IRL does not please me thus far. We know that Varsha is out - and more then likely Mike Joy as both have commitments on other channels. My guess is Paul Page, Jack Arute and a handful of others - with of course Jenkins as the host - but at least if the format is the same as in the IRL he will not be in the booth. Either way BE and FOA must address this issue - we have seen what happens just this year when a great broadcast team is re-configured (SpeedChannel - one Bob Varsha).
Marketing...it's still crap!
Here is the ABC sports site. And guess what??? Not one hint of the four races. Maybe Bernie needs someone here in the States to follow up with ABC, help them promote F1 in a manner which F1 deserves. Certainly the current standard is not effective at all...http://espn.go.com/abcsports/
