So after many anxious months, waiting with baited breath we finally have news about  the UK TV coverage of IndyCar, with ESPN coming out on top. The news has inevitably and understandably caused a lot of debate and a fair bit of consternation amongst fans, as for most it will mean yet another subscription fee. Whether ESPN’s coverage will be worth this extra cost only time will tell, but I do worry that it may isolate even more people from a great racing series that is already under-reported and broadcast here in the UK. 

It will certainly be interesting to see how ESPN approach the job after so many years of Sky Sports coverage. Personally I always rather enjoyed Sky’s Indy Car programs. The excellent Keith Heuwen and various studio guests gamely filling the numerous US ad breaks with insight or, more often, banter. On this note special mention must go to Johnny Mowlem, Marino Franchitti and Thomas Sheckter as they always seemed to brighten up proceedings, and not just with an array of dodgy shirts! Seriously though, the presentation package couldn’t really be faulted. In particular the way they handled the impossibly difficult circumstances and emotion following the ill-fated Las Vegas event that took the life of Dan Wheldon was both sensitive yet professional. The shared sense of grief, loss and shock resonated with all stunned and devastated fans watching the tragic events unfold and earned a great deal of respect among the IndyCar family. I know I for one will miss Keith and co come 24th March and I thank them for their involvement in and passion for the sport over the years. It will be very strange without them after so long.

Having said all that though, it also has to be said that Sky Sports could and should  have treated IndyCar a whole lot better than they did. Most weeks it was tucked away on SS4 whilst they showed re-runs or old programs on the three main Sports channels. And far too often it was relegated to red button, causing havoc for people attempting to record the race. On several occasions I have come home looking forward to watching IndyCar only to find the program ‘starting’ on lap 40-something as they’d begun broadcasting on red button. It always bemused me that they had a dedicated F1 channel that on all but 19 race weekends shows nothing but re-runs of old races or interviews. What was stopping them making it Sky Motorsports and showing other forms of motor-racing as well? Indy & F1 very rarely clashed due to the time zone differences, so it wouldn’t have been too difficult to do. 

No, I’m afraid apart from the actual presentation, Sky’s treatment of IndyCar was bordering on contemptuous, chopping and changing, pushing it aside for Tiddly Winks Championships or some such non-event. On one occasion I actually missed a rain delayed race completely as they, without any notification to fans, showed the rescheduled event on SS4 red button with no replay on normal broadcast or red button. Everything else was reshown ad infinitum, but not IndyCar. 

There’s no reason that a major sporting series with such a large British involvement should be so poorly covered and publicised in the UK. We have several high profile British drivers competing, including a four time series champion and three time Indy500 winner, yet still it’s treated with less respect than Poker and Darts! It really does beggar belief as there is a huge UK fan base that would no doubt grow given better TV and media support. 
 
Of course poor coverage and the lottery of TV rights is nothing new to Indycar fans sadly. Back in the days of ChampCar & CART every off season felt like Russian roulette as to which minor Satellite channel would crucify the races ahead. I still have nightmares about the British Eurosport days, with its unpredictable start times, lousy commentary, disappearing feeds/signals and heavy emphasis on Icelandic Ski-Jumping that didn’t have a Brit in sight. 
 
We IndyCar fans are certainly a resilient lot, let’s face it, with year after year of sub-standard coverage of the sport we love, we’ve had to be. Getting used to taking whatever we can get when we all know IndyCar and its numerous UK fans deserve far better.

At present details of ESPN’s plans are still rather vague and sketchy, so we don’t know whether we’re looking at live or delayed coverage or even how many races will be shown. So for now, yet again, we can do little more than wait to see what develops, hoping that our subscription fees take us closer to the quality coverage we crave and not back to the future.

(Ed. ESPN UK have announced they have live rights, but if there is a clash with a 'high profile' event, the coverage could be delayed.)

Following several seasons with Sky Sports, in 2013 the IZOD Indycar Series’ UK coverage will switch to ESPN.

It seems ESPN were taken by surprise after the news was made public on the Sky Sports Facebook page! (The page also confirms there is currently no deal to air NASCAR Sprint Cup highlights, as they have before). After requests from Twitter users ESPN issued this confirmation:

Understandably, details are thin at the moment so we don’t yet know which ESPN channel/s will show Indycar – whether it’ll be the main ESPN station available across multiple platforms, or the niche ‘ESPN America’ station. Given Indycar’s lowly status in the Sky Sports structure, languishing down on Sky Sports 4 I would have to guess it will appear on ESPN America, perhaps with the 500 on the main channel. Hopefully ESPN will instead choose to give it a push on their primary channel.
Right now we don’t even know if the coverage will be live or delayed, in full or highlights. ESPN UK covers the DTM but has a habit of airing it on a delayed basis – DTM races happen at 1pm UK time but sometimes aren’t aired until 11pm. Hopefully Indycar’s schedule will help rather than hinder it.

Previously the UK’s coverage of ‘North American Open Wheel’ was served by Sky Sports (IRL, then post-merger Indycar) and Eurosport (CART, Champ Car).

While it did have fans, I’ve been quite vocal at my dislike of the Sky Sports studio coverage, there was good discussion at times but I often felt it was very dry and stale compared to the American presentation and even compared to other studio-based analyst formats in this country. I fully realise this was due to the low budget limiting their options, and I very much appreciated the cut to the studio during the interminable US ad-breaks!

What Is ESPN UK?
I’m sure you’re all aware of the American sports giant ESPN, even if you don’t watch sport it features in enough films and TV shows that most should know it! The UK operation is relatively recent addition to the portfolio, only about 4 years old, when ESPN bought the remnants of the folded Setanta Sports operation.

Soon after entering the UK market they went aggressive on rights acquisitions and took some notable properties from the hugely dominant Sky Sports. The way to get attention in the UK market is to get the rights for football (soccer) and they went for a shared deal for top line (English) Premier League, and the FA Cup (split deal with ITV), but also games from the UEFA Europa League, Serie A (Italy), Bundesliga (Germany), Ligue 1 (France), SPL (Scotland), and MLS (United States). They also took Premiership Rugby Union, boxing and some golf.
In addition they also show a lot of North American sports across ESPN and a dedicated network for US & Canadian sports, called ESPN America. ESPNA shows things like NBA and NCAA basketball, MLB baseball, hockey, and since you can’t have a US-focussed network without American Football and Sky has most of the NFL sewn up, ESPN picked up college football (and I think the CFL, too).

This isn’t meant as an advert for ESPN, I’m lifting this stuff from their own website, but as you can see, IndyCar is actually a pretty good fit among all of this, if there aren’t too many clashing events.

The catch:  You have to pay extra. More details on that below.

What Does This Mean For British IndyCar Fans?
Details are thin so we don’t know yet but one thing is clear:

A change was necessary. The excellent F1 Broadcasting blog conducted a ratings analysis of IndyCar in the UK and the results were utterly dire – more people watch GP3. A series as good as IndyCar has no business having such diabolical ratings. There is no way it could stay on Sky Sports 4 for another year. Either Sky had to bump it up to SSF1 or IndyCar had to take it elsewhere. Even if figures stay the same they have to try something.

The difficulty here is not knowing whether IndyCar will appear on ESPN or ESPN America. The former has a wider reach: ESPN is available on Sky satellite, Virgin cable, and the digital terrestrial services BT Vision and Top Up TV. ESPN America is available on Sky and Virgin but not terrestrial – exactly the same as Sky Sports 4, the former home of IndyCar.

How Do You Get ESPN UK And What Does It Cost?
As with anything the cost you pay depends what package you currently have. There are usually discounts available for new customers. As a reference please see the ESPN UK Website.

Sky
ESPN is an additonal £13 per month over your usual subscription. This isn’t a tier-system. For £13 you get ESPN + ESPN America in HD and SD, and the option of watching via the Sky Go web service.

If you subscribe to the Sky Sports Pack (Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 & 4) then ESPN drops from £13 to £10 per month.

The absolute minimum cost with Sky is £21.50/mth. Add the £13.00/mth for ESPN = £34.50 per month. This does not include the £10.25/mth  HD pack which you will need in order to see Sky Sports F1. It also doesn’t include the £5/mth Entertainment Plus pack including Eurosport 1 & 2 and ESPN Classic.

Again, if you are a new customer – or an existing customer in a renewal period – you might be able to get this cheaper.

Sky Website

Frankly, if you are a dedicated petrolhead who had Sky Sports for IndyCar alone, it’ll be worth cancelling it. You’re probably paying £21/mth now so you’d save £8 each month! Remember you had to subscribe to both SS1 + SS2 just to get access to Indycar on SS4. You only need the HD pack to get Sky F1, you don’t need another Sky Sports channel.

The winners here are those already with ESPN, and those who’ll cancel SS to switch to ESPN. Everyone else is going to have to find money. I don’t know if you can start it in March and stop it in October.. if not that’s £156 for a year.

Restrictions:  You need to be allowed to put a satellite dish on the wall! If you are renting a property, as I am, this might not be an option. If you’re allowed now you might not be in your next place, makes it tricky to sign up to their 18-month minimum. If you aren’t with Sky already £31.50 is a lot of money to find.

Virgin Media
Virgin also has ESPN in HD and a ‘go anywhere’ mobile option.

Unlike Sky, Virgin already includes the suite of 3 ESPN channels within their highest price tier, ‘XL’, so if you have that already you are in luck! If you can cancel Sky Sports on Virgin now Indycar has moved away, you might even make a saving!

If you aren’t on XL already, an upgrade from the L tier to XL looks like it’ll cost you an extra £8/mth over what you pay now.

You don’t have to upgrade to XL, the ESPN website says you can pay £6/mth to get just the 3 ESPN channels. I struggle to find any mention of this on the Virgin site. Bear in mind XL includes Motors TV which airs WEC, ALMS, V8 Supercar and all sorts. If ESPN is £6 of the £8 upgrade, if you get XL you basically get Motors TV for £2 – bargain!

The absolute minimum to get the XL package on Virgin Media is £24.50/mth with a V HD box, but you’d need to switch your phone line to Virgin as well else it’ll jump to £32. There is the option to get a TiVo box instead for £29.50/mth. New subscribers get a discount for the first 6 months.
It might be possible to get the L pack with ESPN for £18.50/mth and the M for even less, but as I say, I can’t see that ESPN offer on the VM website.

Virgin Media Website

Trouble is, this is only available on cable.

Restrictions:  Virgin Media’s TV offering is for cabled-areas only, you can’t just hook up with your phone line. Cable is available in many large towns and cities but a lot of people don’t have the option.

BT Vision
BTV is a box combining Freeview (digital over-the-air), PVR, and on-demand streaming over ADSL.

This is a very attractive option because of the price:

ESPN is a £10 one-off fee. There are two tiers on BTV:  Essential and Unlimited. The Unlimited tier includes ESPN for no extra monthly fee, just like Virgin, you just need to pay a £10 fee to get a viewing card to slotinto the box.

There is only one option to get ESPN on BTV:  pay £12.50/mth for Unlimited and a one-off fee of £10 for the card.

But there are a few catches, and some hoops to jump:

- You need to be with BT Broadband.

- You need to be in a BT Infinity-enabled area, even if you choose not to take Infinity. This is a recent development.

- There may be a hefty activation fee (£49 on one page I looked at).

- ESPN is not in HD on Freeview, and you don’t get ESPN America, but you do get content in the On-Demand area (potentially in HD).

- For the Indycar fan wanting to watch Fontana or Texas live, or Motegi if it comes back, on Freeview ESPN shuts down at 4am! Could miss the last few laps!

- If your Freeview has 30+ TV channels and a heap of radio stations you’re good. But if you’re stuck on a relay transmitter, like I am, and can only get 15 TV channels and just BBC radio only, you will NOT be able to get ESPN. Check yours here – if you get ITV3 you’re good for ESPN.

BT Vision Website – note BT are trying to push people on to YouView which is a new service. YouView does not include ESPN. Be careful to look for “BT Vision + Sport” which is getting quite hard to find.

That price though… if you can get it, get it!

Restrictions:  You need BT Broadband and you need to be an area enabled for BT Infinity, even if you don’t take Infinity. You also need to make sure you get the channel on your Freeview signal.

Top Up TV
This is a box you can buy for your Freeview, like BT Vision without the on-demand content.

ESPN here is £11.99 per month. That’s almost as much as Sky’s price and it isn’t in HD – but you won’t need to buy a whole Sky or Virgin or BT setup.

Top Up TV Website

As I said in the BTV section ESPN isn’t in HD here, it shuts down at 4am, and availability depends what signal you have. If your Freeview has 30+ TV channels and a heap of radio stations you’re good. But if you’re stuck on a relay transmitter, like I am, and can only get 15 TV channels and just BBC radio only, you will NOT be able to get ESPN. Check yours here – if you get ITV3 you’re good for ESPN.

Restrictions:  You need to make sure you get the channel on your Freeview signal.

You can visit Pat Wotton's blog -''I Watch Too Much Racing' for news and opinions covering many racing series all over the world., and follow on Twitter.

Another year, another announcement of a drive for a promising rookie that everyone gets excited about.

Days like last Tuesday are filled with optimism and excitement for the future.  That is quite right, but will the people who are so excited about the announcement be so enthusiastic about whichever rookie it is when the season gets rough? Too often, the answer is no.
 
Immediate pressure to perform is a problem in every form of motorsport these days, and in other sports too. Indycar is better than F1 in that drivers are less likely to find themselves out on their ear without being given a fair chance, at least when money is not a factor.  However, that does not mean that journalists, bloggers and fans are not frequently too harsh on drivers in the early stages of their career.

When Josef Newgarden was announced at Sarah Fisher's team  during the last off-season, many people were talking of him as “the next big American star” of Indycar, yet a year previously they had been giving the same tag to JR Hildebrand.  

The baptism of fire that was JR's debut season provided a perfect illustration of how people – whether they be fans, bloggers,  journalists or fellow drivers – can be way too harsh and judgemental.  It is not just the way that people were far too quick to say that he choked in the 500, without taking into account the  almost impossible situation he was placed in, but the comments  throughout the rest of the season. In Milwaukee, after a couple of rough weekends immediately following the 500, one of the commentators said that JR's drive could be in danger, which was strongly rebuffed on twitter by Panther team boss John Barnes.

Quite apart from the fact that he was completely barking up the wrong tree, should a commentator be putting pressure on a driver like that?  It's bad enough with a more experienced driver, but to be making comments like that about a rookie who had had to deal with more in the previous few weeks than a lot of drivers have to deal with in several years of racing, and who had dealt with it all with immense dignity that few more experienced drivers would have been able to match, was uncalled for.

That was probably the low point in terms of people being too harsh, but during the 2011/12 off-season, when people were mentioning the drivers they thought would be the stars over the next few years, it was noticeable that many people had stopped mentioning JR. He was basically being judged, not only for the impossible situation he had been placed in in the 500, and for the inevitable mistakes that any rookie makes, but also for his team's weaknesses.  Yet surely the fact that he had run strongly enough to almost win his first 500 should have meant that he should have continued to be included in such lists.  In most cases, these were not journalists or commentators who are more likely to lean towards sensationalism like the incident previously mentioned, but bloggers and fans.   

What JR experienced in his rookie year was exceptional, but the tendency that many people have to judge drivers too quickly also befell Josef to a lesser degree.  While opinions over the big incident of his year, the start at Long Beach, were split and he probably received more support than JR had after the 500, and he was not criticised quite so loudly, there were still rumblings on Twitter after his season tailed off after the initially promising start.
 
There are two main issues that become clear in both cases – firstly, that too much is expected too soon of rookies in terms of consistency and not making mistakes, and secondly, people judging drivers for the weaknesses of their teams.

The first is a fairly clear cut thing, because really it is unfair to expect the same level of consistency from a rookie or a second year  driver as from a veteran, but yet all too often, people judge them in the same way.

On the second issue, it is often harder to separate the driver's performance from that of their team, but it is clear that both JR and  Josef were affected by being in a single car team.  Single car teams can work well, as proven by BHA and also the team which is now SPM, but everything needs to run smoother for things to work than with a two car team, and when things get tough it is harder for a single car team to dig themselves out of a hole than a team with multiple cars, because they do not have additional sets of feedback to see where they might be going wrong.  Panther also had ingrained problems on road and street courses, and as JR was seen as stronger on twisties while in Indy Lights, this can not really be laid at his door.

It is not just a matter of not judging rookies too harshly, though, it is a case of being more supportive when things get tough. If everyone who gets excited at a promising rookie being confirmed in a drive was supportive when things get tough, the consensus of opinion would be less likely to put pressure on the rookie in question.

If everyone thinks a bit more before judging a young driver, they will not feel as much pressure, and are less likely to make mistakes because of that pressure. Yes, the responsibility of not putting pressure on drivers lies primarily with their teams, and then the media, but it is naïve to believe that drivers are not aware of fan opinion, and also fan opinion does sometimes affect what the media say.

So when Tristan inevitably goes through a tough spell at some point this season, I hope everyone will remember how pleased they were  when he got the drive, and give the support he needs instead of being far too quick to judge or write him off if he has a difficult year.