BBC shares F1 Coverage with Sky

[.Taffy 10]

F1 Deal Explained

In a bid to save costs the BBC has opted to share coverage of F1 with BSkyB, allowing Sky Sports to to show all races and qualifying live while the BBC only shows half the races and the rest as "Extended Highlight". This will cost them about £20 million as opposed to £60 million.

According to the Concorde Agreement between Bernie Ecclestone, the FIA and FOTA (teams association) coverage must remain on Free-to-Air television so as to maintain the value of the sponsorship deals that the teams depend on for finance. This has prevented Sky from gaining exclusive rights and this sharing deal (which will last several years) is the only way they could gain coverage.

While I expect this from Sky and Ecclestone, I feel that the BBC has betrayed Licence Fee Payers.

What do you think of this, even if you do not much care for F1 what are your thoughts on this sort of activity and the spread of Subscription TV?

I've avoided mentioning a certain Media Mogul embroiled in much of this though if you like, feel free to bring it up!

Rants welcome!

Edited July 31, 2011 by .Taffy

[Mr. Charles 22]

<- watches german TV

Well, that sucks for the fellow F1-fans up north :(

[SD_BOB 10]

I must admit, its not going to really effect me as Sky is the norm. But still i dont agree with the decision.

I think the current lineup of presenters/commentators is prob the best we've ever had aswell (just need to get Murray back in the box on race day). So i think the biggest loss will be if that gets split up. Not to mention the access they get, expecially to Mclaren.

[.Taffy 10]

I must admit, its not going to really effect me as Sky is the norm. But still i dont agree with the decision.

I think the current lineup of presenters/commentators is prob the best we've ever had aswell (just need to get Murray back in the box on race day). So i think the biggest loss will be if that gets split up. Not to mention the access they get, expecially to Mclaren.

The BBC coverage has indeed been excellent, though I'd happily lose it to be able to see all F1 races live. Due to the concorde agreement, BBC could have given it up and allowed Channel 4 to pick it up or better yet share coverage with another like Channel 5!

It just seems to me that BBC have selfishly thought it better that they get to cover it even partially than make sure licence fee payers get to see the whole lot.

@Mr. Charles, I increasingly ponder a life in Germany in future over the UK as common sense seems to prevail over greed there. As to German F1 coverage it reminds me of a time in 2008 when I was on holiday in Spain with some friends and we (sadly) decided that the Silverstone Grand Prix and the Wimbledon final were more important than the sun. I was greatful for the German TV channel in the hotel that allowed us to switch over for coverage whenever ITV went to ad breaks.

[ck-claw 1]

Sky just does sport soo much better!

But tis gonna be the adverts!

Bloody ITV had it a few yrs back,an advert, then why you ppl were away the whole track blew up!!!! :rolleyes:

[SteveJA 12]

Its a fucking joke.

Not impressed.

[Prydain 1]

Adverts... fuck me, I think I'll end up watching it illegally in 720p+ or not watch it at all. Adverts are killing sports events on TV and so sports should only be shown on the BBC or on SkySports.

It vexes me so much when I am watching a game of footie on an ESPN stream and, not only do the commentators sound like they haven't ever seen football before, but every 90 seconds a collection of adverts are doing the rape on my face. The MLS XI game against Man U was disgusting, they were advertising shit during the game and the commentators became salesmen telling me all about these products that I wasn't in the process of buying BECAUSE I AM WATCHING A FUCKING FOOTBALL MATCH!!!

If I was American, I'd probably be driven to killing George Clooney by feeding him those damn watches by the amount of times he appears with them.

Edited August 2, 2011 by Prydain

[STALKERGB 6]

Well Sky has said there won't be adverts during the race but it's still dreadful that it won't all be on the BBC, the coverage has been excellent since it returned from ITV. Gonna have to fork out for Sky now :( If the coverage costs the BBC £60 million a year, then it costs around the same as Dr. Who and all the period dramas they produce which are watched by less than the F1 I'd imagine. The global audience is like, 600 million a race so Bernie's attempt to get more people viewing with Sky (which I can't see happening) will make such a small difference!

Also, I wonder if the BBC have read their own remit recently, pretty sure it states that they are required to carry major sporting events on their channels.

Edited August 3, 2011 by STALKERGB

[Daniel 0]

Screw buying Sky just for one fortnightly event, i'll just have to get my arse down the pub more often.

Edited August 3, 2011 by Daniel

[.Taffy 10]

Well Sky has said there won't be adverts during the race but it's still dreadful that it won't all be on the BBC, the coverage has been excellent since it returned from ITV. Gonna have to fork out for Sky now :( If the coverage costs the BBC £60 million a year, then it costs around the same as Dr. Who and all the period dramas they produce which are watched by less than the F1 I'd imagine. The global audience is like, 600 million a race so Bernie's attempt to get more people viewing with Sky (which I can't see happening) will make such a small difference!

Also, I wonder if the BBC have read their own remit recently, pretty sure it states that they are required to carry major sporting events on their channels.

Bernie won't get more viwers, and he knows it. It's just a nice lump sum of cash to add to his retirement fund as far as I can see. The BBC got between 3 and 5 million viewers per race which while a small share of the global audience is still very good for BBC. It's also the advertisers key demographic.

As for the BBC remit I imagine they would argue that showing half the races and 'maybe extended highlights' does mean the are continuing to carry a major sport, even though it's insulting bullshit that everyone sees through!

[Daniel 0]

Someone's thrown up an e-Petition to keep F1 on the BBC. Sign it and pass it around if, like me, you won't be getting Sky any time soon. Worth a try.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/57

[Infam0us 10]

Disappointed ... I much prefer BBC's setup for watching F1 than any other. Will miss watching Free Practise on IPlayer when I'm at work also :(