AC35 Match: Not all NBC affiliates are carrying the live America's Cup show from BDA

SAN FRANCISCO – During today's AC racing, my mother called from Ann Arbor to ask if it was called off due to no wind. Racing was not being shown, she said, on the local NBC station – Detroit's WDIV, Channel 4. I assured it was happening, and the Kiwis were about to win another race. I talked her through how to watch it on her computer via the NBC Sports website, which she accessed without problem having done so when during the Challenger series. She caught the end of the first race and all of the second.

This afternoon I checked the online TV listings for Detroit, and, indeed, WDIV aired 90 minutes of infomercials (the brown square called "Commercial Products" that extended until 2:30p Detroit time) instead of the America's Cup....

I checked other major markets, and it appears that at least in the big markets the AC aired on the local NBC affiliate, including NYC, LA, CHI, SEA, DEN, DFW to name six, as it did here in the Bay Area. Why not the Detroit area? Who knows. Tomorrow the schedule says WDIV will cover the AC live at 1300.

Moral to the story – if you can't find the AC telecast tomorrow on your local NBC broadcast affiliate, you can watch in the excellent NBC Sports App on your phone or tablet, or on www.nbcsports.com via your computer's browser.

Sad, too, that again today NBC did not use the excellent world feed commentators Alastair Eyken and Ken Read, which means they also didn't have the benefit of the on-the-water commentator (only available via the world feed).

Again, today, the NBC commentators missed the big gain by OTUSA in the second race that brought them back into contention and, ultimately, a win. Those of us watching here at the Beach St YC in SF could plainly see that OTUSA was on the march while NBC's non-sailing Todd Harris and his two sidekicks were gas-bagging about pedaling vs. grinding or somesuch, instead of talking to the pictures.

A sorry repeat of last weekend, which your Ed. wrote about here.