BBC losing F1 coverage

[Darandio]

Why not simply axe BBC3? There's never anything on.

Completely agree.

What has been pointed out in response to the blog post that I took a quote from above is completely relevant. Whether the facts are correct or not, I am not sure but it wouldn't surprise me. Despite this "cost cutting".....

400 reporters and technicians sent to Glastonbury to provide blanket radio and tv coverage.

250 people covering the "1 year to go" palava about the olympics earlier this week.

Then there is the actual cost of this olympic coverage, both the never ending build up and the actual event itself, most likely costing several times more than multiple F1 seasons.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

400 reporters and technicians is quite small for such a large event as Glastonbury, if you are aware of the manpower and equipment needed to even do an ENG OB.

 

[GearJammer]

I'll be very interested what the F1 teams themselves have to say about it, was there not talk some time back about the bigger teams forming there own race seasons, maybe if all the F1 teams and drivers realise just how many people can't or just won't pay out for sky (i can't afford it so i guess this will be the last complete season i see for a long time) then maybe the teams might kick up, strike/not race or just stick two fingers up at Bernie ecclestone and say sod ya, were form are own breakaway races?

Ive always been a loyal F1 follower, im gutted this has happened, almost feels like a kick in the...... well, you know what!

 

[Darandio]

400 reporters and technicians is quite small for such a large event as Glastonbury, if you are aware of the manpower and equipment needed to even do an ENG OB.

Most likely, but the question I would ask is "why?". Do we really need blanket coverage of such an event, as good as it is? It cannot be cheap. Problem is though, there will be people out there that would rather money is spent on Glastonbury than sport, people have different tastes.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

Most likely, but the question I would ask is "why?". Do we really need blanket coverage of such an event, as good as it is? It cannot be cheap. Problem is though, there will be people out there that would rather money is spent on Glastonbury than sport, people have different tastes.

And that is the crux of the problem. The BBC have to cater for everyone. Some people will like BBC3 and not like F1. Some people will not like BB3 and like Glastonbury. Some people will want to watch F1 and the Olympic stuff. I don't think there really is a "perfect" solution.

 

[Turbostar]

Well, it's only been decided today, & it's not the end of the season yet. Who knows what could happen between now & next March, they might change their plans again. :roll:
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I've noticed as well, petitions are already showing up on Facebook.

 

[Liam]

From Martin Brundle's Twitter:

BBC/Sky/F1 2012+. Found out last night, no idea how it will work yet I'm out of contract, will calmly work through options Not impressed

Interesting stuff, wouldn't be surprised if he tells them to stuff it.

 

[Lampshade]

And that is the crux of the problem. The BBC have to cater for everyone. Some people will like BBC3 and not like F1. Some people will not like BB3 and like Glastonbury. Some people will want to watch F1 and the Olympic stuff. I don't think there really is a "perfect" solution.

Agreed - although the German GP last weekend peaked at nigh on 50% of the audience share; I doubt the Glastonbury coverage got more than a tenth of that.

I might have been alright about it if it was going to be shown on Sky One but because it's Sky Sports - and no doubt 2 or 3 meaning Virgin Media viewers can't get away with just subscribing to 1 - I am extremely annoyed.

 

[Turbostar]

With Virgin, if it's on SS1 or SS2, that's fine as you can subscribe to 1 or 2 seperately at £14.50 per month, if it's on 3 or 4 your buggered, & you''ll have to subscribe to the full SS package.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I have never in my life paid as much as a single penny towards any of Murdoch's companies and never will; I will simply not watch half the races.

 

[Lampshade]

There are still the 'unofficial' ways of watching it

If they wanted to go down the pay TV route, what was wrong with ESPN or Eurosport - who, incidentally used to share with the BBC in the early '90s anyway?

 

[Metrailway]

So sad. The Beeb have provided great coverage since 2009.
Some would say that Sky got the rights because there have been rumours that Murdoch intends to buy the sport off CVC and Bernie...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/13274848.stm

Bernie prefers free to air coverage over satellite channels. This allows greater coverage for the sport and thus greater sponsorship money. However, the BBC made it clear that it couldn't afford to pay for the full rights. Bernie is not going to let the rights go for half price to the BBC, ITV isn't that interested, so the only feasible option for him was Sky.

Now looking at the 2012 provisional calender, there are 20 races, with 8 being held in Europe. Now we know that the Beeb have got Monaco and British GPs, as well as the the final race in Brazil.

If the Beeb guys who hammered the deal out had any sense, they would get 5 or 6 European races. This would maximise viewers per race (most viewers are casual so will never wake up for Asian races) making this deal reasonably acceptable for the price they've paid.

Let's hope that the beeb are also allowed to show full re-runs of the races they don't show, which mitigates the fact that they can't show some races live.

From Martin Brundle's Twitter:

BBC/Sky/F1 2012+. Found out last night, no idea how it will work yet I'm out of contract, will calmly work through options Not impressed

Interesting stuff, wouldn't be surprised if he tells them to stuff it.

I doubt much would change for him. He would still have to commentate for all the races for the highlights show, most likely do the grid walk for most races as well. Most of the world uses the BBCs commentary, and are unlikely to move to Sky, so he should be fine. It'll be people like Jake Humphreys and Eddie Jordan who will be most affected by this.
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Just read this on the telegraph

Telegraph Sport understands that BBC executives did not even make an offer to Ecclestone to keep the exclusive rights. Instead, and in an irony that will not amuse everyone, it was the BBC who took Sky executives to Ecclestone to propose the sharing arrangement.

Mark Thompson, the director general of the BBC, attended the British Grand Prix at Silverstone last month along with various Sky executives.

 

[Statto]

Not a surprise, there's been rumours on other Forums that the BBC wanted to ditch F1 altogether & cut back on the other Sports including Wimbledon. At least this way there's still F1 on FTA rather than no coverage whatsoever.

 

[Eng274]

Agreed - although the German GP last weekend peaked at nigh on 50% of the audience share; I doubt the Glastonbury coverage got more than a tenth of that.

I might have been alright about it if it was going to be shown on Sky One but because it's Sky Sports - and no doubt 2 or 3 meaning Virgin Media viewers can't get away with just subscribing to 1 - I am extremely annoyed.

I also happen to agree. I'm one of the few people on this thread that doesn't mind BBC3; the Top Gear repeats are handy when I am too busy to catch the original broadcast; repeats of the last season of doctor Who are still better than any soap offerings from 7pm-9pm, and there's a chance of an unseen Family guy at 11pm.

That said, I have been re-drawn to F1 since it went to the BBC; purely for the lack of adverts. Since I started watching it in 1996 the ITV adverts were always a haven for important race-defining moments, that could never be seen 'first-hand' as it were. Their coverage wasn't terrible other than that, but the cock-up with going to a poorly-timed break during an important World Cup goal last year (possibly Engerlund?) summed up the channel's sports coverage for me: generally committed but still panders to advertising revenue that ALWAYS takes centre stage over the nagging inconvenience of the sporting event being covered at that time.

I wouldn't have paid Sky any money regardless of whether their owners have listened to my (inherently uninteresting) voicemails or not; I am vehemently opposed to them for the irreparable damage they've done to football, and while Radio 5 isn't ideal I'd rather miss out on the detailed DRS application data from the drivers-eye cam, than give Sky any money

A terrible decision from Big Bernie IMO, and one which will do the sport more harm than good in the UK, and will lead to a nice peak/trough sin wave graph when they come to review the viewing figures I daresay..

I wonder how next year's Silverstone ticket sales will be affected by this?

 

[SS4]

That said, I have been re-drawn to F1 since it went to the BBC; purely for the lack of adverts. Since I started watching it in 1996 the ITV adverts were always a haven for important race-defining moments, that could never be seen 'first-hand' as it were. Their coverage wasn't terrible other than that, but the cock-up with going to a poorly-timed break during an important World Cup goal last year (possibly Engerlund?) summed up the channel's sports coverage for me: generally committed but still panders to advertising revenue that ALWAYS takes centre stage over the nagging inconvenience of the sporting event being covered at that time.

Yeah, they cut out England's goal against the USA on ITV HD. I can't remember it was adverts or a glitch though.

I wouldn't have paid Sky any money regardless of whether their owners have listened to my (inherently uninteresting) voicemails or not; I am vehemently opposed to them for the irreparable damage they've done to football, and while Radio 5 isn't ideal I'd rather miss out on the detailed DRS application data from the drivers-eye cam, than give Sky any money

Given the lack of quality of non-BBC commentators even the audio only is a lot better than the tv. I only follow football but IMO the radio gives more tension IMO.

A terrible decision from Big Bernie IMO, and one which will do the sport more harm than good in the UK, and will lead to a nice peak/trough sin wave graph when they come to review the viewing figures I daresay..

I wonder how next year's Silverstone ticket sales will be affected by this?

Didn't Bernie want Silverstone (and by extension the British race) taken away recently? I see it as closure by stealth by engineering a lack of demand for free to air viewers as well as sly dealing by the BBC - they could have forced the concorde agreement on Bernie and shared with Channel 4 for example but decided against it since they're more likely to keep viewers than if it was free to air.

Viewing figures will be like the graph of y=cos(x) between 0 and pi.
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Sky is my ISP (their internet isn't bad) so I can't get rid of them but I can certainly not pay any extra for sport. It's a rip off

 

[Eng274]

Didn't Bernie want Silverstone (and by extension the British race) taken away recently? I see it as closure by stealth by engineering a lack of demand for free to air viewers as well as sly dealing by the BBC

I believe he did, I think it was more to do with the outdated facilities Silverstone offered at the time (which has since been drastically improved I think) that he threatened to have the British GP removed/forcibly relocated if nothing was done. If I remember correctly, it was partly to do with fans being stuck in a muddy overflow car park one rainy year that set him off on one :roll:

And that **** who wandered onto the track in ~2003, dressed in a kilt of all things to great affront of Sir Jackie stewart, did the venue and its security no favours at all.

Thankfully the venue as a whole has undergone a big transformation, so as long as there's demand for a UK race and there's a few million mugs with Sky Sports 4 or whatever it's dumped on, it'll continue unabated.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

With Virgin, if it's on SS1 or SS2, that's fine as you can subscribe to 1 or 2 seperately at £14.50 per month, if it's on 3 or 4 your buggered, & you''ll have to subscribe to the full SS package.

I can't see the benefit of Sky putting it straight on to SS3 or 4, that would drastically reduce the viewing figures and money income. They'll want to show how much better than the BBC they are. Also, you can get SS1 and SS2 on Freeview top up (you have to get the top up card (with ESPN - £10ish) and then the sports package (£12.50ish)), although £20 odd is still a lot for no more than three races each month.

....And that **** who wandered onto the track in ~2003, dressed in a kilt of all things to great affront of Sir Jackie stewart, did the venue and its security no favours at all....

I believe he was Irish......

 

[Zoe]

Will Sky have ads mid-race like ITV or will they just have ads before and after the race? I doubt anyone would have an ad break during a football match other than at half time although ITV did by mistake go to ads when Everton were playing Liverpool in an FA Cup replay. The match was in extra time and Everton scored during the ads.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Sky have said they will not show adverts during the race, we will wait and see what happens though.

Just seen an interview with Bernie Eccleston on the BBC F1 website and he says he asked BBC if they could show highlights of the races they don't show live, after the event in prime time, then said he told the teams it would be the whole race re-run, then said he would prefer it was highlights.

It seems the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Sky is my ISP too, and it's crap.

I hate their monopoly of any decent sport, and I would never dish out extra to watch them in addition to monthy payments (I don't pay for it personally as I'm only 16, but if I did I certainly wouldn't).

Having said that, if Georgie Thompson presented it I'd pay £100 a month to watch it!

 

[DarloRich]

Agreed there (I used to have TMS on with the Channel 4 pictures). F1 doesn't translate so well onto the radio, the pace is wrong, but I will still do my best to listen to it.

I dont think BBC do to badly on the radio. I think a lot of it is to do with the commentator, You need a different sort of commentator for radio work. They need to be more descriptive becuase you dont have the pictures to sek for you

 

[GB]

Sky is my ISP too, and it's crap.

I hate their monopoly of any decent sport, and I would never dish out extra to watch them in addition to monthy payments (I don't pay for it personally as I'm only 16, but if I did I certainly wouldn't).

Having said that, if Georgie Thompson presented it I'd pay £100 a month to watch it!

Really? Sky is my ISP as well and it's probably the best ISP I have been with. The only one I have used where "unlimited" truly means unlimited and I have never been slowed down at any time of the day either. Still, I won't be shelling out for sky sports though that is for sure.

 

[Zoe]

The only one I have used where "unlimited" truly means unlimited

So no Fair Usage Policy then?

 

[SS4]

So no Fair Usage Policy then?

Not if you're on the super-expensive plan. Sky are not a bad ISP, they told us how much speed we could expect before signing up.
Makes me sick to the teeth to be paying Murdoch but to use another ISP would be cutting off my nose to spite my face.

 

[Failed Unit]

So no Fair Usage Policy then?

Hopefully fair usage will soon be made illegal, if you have fair usage it is not unlimited you are paying for 60Gb per month or whatever the limit is!

 

[Metrailway]

4700+ negative comments on the BBC Sport editors' blog.

If anybody wants to complain to the BBC about the deal click here.

This is Murray's take on it all:

I have concerns that if the television audience goes down, Formula One itself is going to suffer.

There is also a problem in that the BBC are only going to be doing half the races now and they will inevitably spend less money on them. Hypothetically, their coverage will not be as good, which is a great pity.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

The complaints form link doesn't seem to be working, wonder why....

There is a petition here

 

[newbie babs]

Having watched F1 for 32 years I have seen it on many channels, BBC has the best coverage, Martin asks what we all want to know. I hated it when it went to ITV and I think it will be the same on Sky, no feelings for the passion of the sport..

I have sky for Rugby Union and cricket so for me won`t make any difference price wise just the quality of interviews etc will suffer.

Yet another change and loss to BBC sport

 

[Trainbuff]

Yeah, I am an avid F1 fan.

I know that Sky Sports will probably not put adverts in the actual Grand Prix itself (like ITV did). However I totally resent the thought of having to pay Sky to watch.

I will watch the BBC coverage for the 10 live races and the highlights. After all I work on the railways so often have to record a Grand Prix and watch when I get home. Now I will be even less likely to hear the result from passengers or colleagues!

There are many online petitions to which I have signed.

I also understand that FOTA (the teams organisation) are raising concerns about this breaching the Concorde agreement, though of course this can be re-written.

What sport is next? Wimbledon, The World Cup, the Olympics? I dont follow the first 2 but believe they, just as F1 should be free to air.

I will NOT be paying for Sky Sports.

A terrible thing

 

[Darandio]

What sport is next? Wimbledon, The World Cup, the Olympics? I dont follow the first 2 but believe they, just as F1 should be free to air.

Problem is, F1 was never on the government list that protects free-to-air events.

As it stands, the following are protected until 2013, when another review will take place to determine what will be free and what won't. Cricket (specifically The Ashes) was actually due to be discussed last year with a view to bringing it back to FTA but all decisions are now deferred until after the switchover from analogue.

World Cup Finals
Olympic Games
European Championship Finals
FA Cup Final
Scottish FA Cup Final
Wimbledon
Grand National
Epsom Derby
Rugby World Cup
Rugby League Challenge Cup Final