F1 goes to Sky sports

[henners88]

Originally Posted by Adam43

Me too!

Out of all this it is only really Five Live that has ended up with a team that is less than brilliant.

I agree and I love finishing work early on a Friday and watching the Free Practice on the red button. Admittedly alot of it is pointless footage, but the commentary is what makes it. With James now involved its off to a bad start already IMO and I think I'll find myself going to iplayer if anything exciting is reported rather than listening to Allen for 2 hours on a Friday afternoon.

I agree with the rest of the lineup though. Its looking that the BBC are edging Sky slightly with the strength of the team and this is the first edition I have been disappointed with.

[Paradise City]

Weird choice from the BBC, Allen. I was never much angered by him myself (unlike by JL) but he certainly got up most other people's noses. BBC must've known that but signed him up anyway perhaps for lack of a suitable candidate interested in the radio gig? Should've checked for Perry McCarthy's availability perhaps.

[Marbot]

James Allen! On BBC Radio Five Live! Get in there!

For the purposes of clarity that was also sarcasm.

[awrb]

I'm not sure about Allen on five live really. While I absolutely hated his ITV commentary his website is quite good. So while he may have been terrible shouting through the whole race, in the more laid back practice sessions he might work as he certainly knows what he's talking about. So I suppose I'll give him a chance, but in a few months time I might change my mind and be around the BBC studios with a shotgun

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by awrb

So I suppose I'll give him a chance, but in a few months time I might change my mind and be around the BBC studios with a shotgun

Will he be at the races or will he be locked in a studio in Manchester? I know which is cheaper.

[Gingers4Justice]

James Allen was a rubbish commentator, but the practice sessions hardly demand much commentating. It just needs someone knowledgeable with plenty of chemistry with his colleague in the booth.

I'll make my mind up on this in Melbourne.

Well, not in Melbourne. When it's on the TV.

[henners88]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

Weird choice from the BBC, Allen. I was never much angered by him myself (unlike by JL) but he certainly got up most other people's noses.

He certainly did. Does anyone remember the campaign that ran to get rid of him off ITV? The channel even had to release a statement about it if I remember correctly. I know there was a fairly large Facebook group with thousands of members related to the same thing and thats not to mention the twenty odd thousand "stop the c**k" t shirts that were sold in support of getting him off our screens lol. Such a strange choice by the BBC knowing how much viewers were angered by him. I'll be honest and say I'd rather have Legard than Allen. I won't be tuning into Radio 5 Live anytime soon and may sacrifice watching the practice sessions or at least watch them without sound. When I had F1 Championship Edition for the PS3, I changed the language format to German so the commentators would change because they used James Allen on that bloody game!!

PS: I do like his writing and his articles are very good. I often browse his website and feel he should stick to what he is good at.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by henners88

Then why are you consistently poking fun at anyone who is slightly critical of Sky?

.

Slightly ??? <-- note the winky

[ghinzani]

Originally Posted by Down F0rce

James Allen will replace Croft on Five live.

http://twitter.com/#!/EllyOldroyd/st...09641435250688

Eleanor Oldroyd - why have I heard that name before, did she used to be on Newsbeat when I was a lad?

[henners88]

Originally Posted by Mr V

Slightly ??? <-- note the winky

See above.

[strider]

Here's a video clip for (a) those who still have reservations about Ben Edwards' commentating ability, (b) those who don't think that the old Champ Car format was infinitely better than the current IRL and (c) those have forgotten just how good JPM was in single seaters. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZQZ6MjtGPQ

[Mr V]

Strider, i knew what that clip was going to be before i even clicked on the link. My favourite ever finish to a race

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by henners88

See above.

I apologise if it seems that i'm overly harsh on you, but you've spent 90 odd pages (108 of your 261 to date posts on this forum incidently), criticising Sky, their costs, their product, their boss etc etc, you then post that you will have the ability to watch it for free via someones elses cost, yet you proceed to carry on criticising them, just smacks of a bit of hypocrisy to me.

[strider]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

Should've checked for Perry McCarthy's availability perhaps.

Definitely not.

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by henners88

He certainly did. Does anyone remember the campaign that ran to get rid of him off ITV? The channel even had to release a statement about it if I remember correctly. I know there was a fairly large Facebook group with thousands of members related to the same thing and thats not to mention the twenty odd thousand "stop the c**k" t shirts that were sold in support of getting him off our screens lol.

I don't mind stinging criticism but I thought all that was way out of order. He's supposedly a bad commentator not a pedophile. I think he deserves a 2nd crack at it as long as he stays off the telly.

Leggard>Allen. What??! I must be the only sane man alive

[strider]

Originally Posted by Mr V

Strider, i knew what that clip was going to be before i even clicked on the link. My favourite ever finish to a race

I did give you a few clues and the link to F1 is pretty tenuous, but I thought it was putting up the link just for the reason you mention.

[henners88]

Originally Posted by Mr V

I apologise if it seems that i'm overly harsh on you, but you've spent 90 odd pages (108 of your 261 to date posts on this forum incidently), criticising Sky, their costs, their product, their boss etc etc, you then post that you will have the ability to watch it for free via someones elses cost, yet you proceed to carry on criticising them, just smacks of a bit of hypocrisy to me.

I'm sorry you feel that way, but its not hypocritical in the slightest. Just because I'll be able to watch for free does not change my opinion about the deal. I suppose I am lucky I can get access via somebody else but many can't and at the end of the day it an extortionate amount of money to expect someone to pay for a package I don't feel is worth the money. If I didn't have a relative who had it, I would miss out on something I have dedicated alot of my life to following and that still makes me angry. I don't expect them to be anywhere near as good as the BBC and feel the free option still have a better line up. Why is it hypocritical to feel that? Surely it would be hypocritical for me to criticize them and then turn around and say "actually my Dad is giving me his Sky Go login so they are actually alright now"... Incidently I haven't based my reasons for disliking Sky on their owner either. Many have but I am not one of them.

[Flavio Galtieri]

Just to emphasise how stupid the decision is to take F1 off free to air TV, even I am going to watch Man City vs United today on ITV and I am hardly a football supporter, but I so like big events with a bit of edge to them.

It 's the same with F1 I'm sure, the audience of casual viewers will be gone, much to the sponsors' displeasure.

[Adam43]

Remember to buy some Manchester when you are done.

[strider]

I dare say this has all been covered before at some point in this very long thread, but here is a Q&A from Sky which should clear up any points of doubt that still exist: http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/...-Sky-Sports-F1

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by strider

Here's a video clip for (a) those who still have reservations about Ben Edwards' commentating ability, (b) those who don't think that the old Champ Car format was infinitely better than the current IRL and (c) those have forgotten just how good JPM was in single seaters. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZQZ6MjtGPQ

Thank You strider.
I loved it.
It reminded me what we have all missed since the decline of CART and the emergence of the IRL.

It reminds me of just how good CART was......

[Marbot]

CART was great. They raced on some great tracks and there were some great races. And the cars were good enough to be raced, but flawed enough to make for good racing. And all of this was for free on Eurosport.

[safc_fan89]

Originally Posted by Mr V

Of course, forgot about that.

I have to say, when Sky show adverts of what they, personally will be showing sports wise over the next year, F1, The Masters, The Ryder Cup, Champions League (final), not to mention Premier League and Championship it makes it money well spent imo.

Not if you can watch it all on numerous websites which I won't bother mentioning I've never tried watching F1 on an internet stream before, but since it is possible to watch just about any football match (Premier League, Champions League, La Liga etc) I'm sure the F1 will crop up somewhere.

I would never pay for a Sky Sports subscription because all they do is poach from other channels. I don't think they have any creativity and the "Sky Sports Treatment" is just PR nonsense. What people want more than anything is just to be able to watch whatever sport is being covered. Fancy extras aren't really worth paying 500 quid for. Their attitude to F1 before they got the rights was awful. Barely mentioning it on the news. Then there's their attitude to anyone who doesn't have Sky Sports. I remember their SSN advert for the channel being removed from freeview, about one minute of sneering at those without a Sky Sports subscription.

I'd happily watch their coverage for free of charge at a friend's house or if any pub/bar dares to show it, but pay for it? No way.

Regarding the BBC F1 team, so far there's nothing particulary troubling. The 5 live team I think was good for practice but I was never sure about David Croft's race commentary, and I grew tired of Davidson's patronising manner quite early on in 2009. Natalie Pinkham offered nothing. In terms of the "main" crew, Ted Kravitz was surprisingly good compared to how he was for ITV, and to be honest I was starting to get bored of Martin Brundle. He seems to have an air of "self-importance" around himself now, which annoys me slightly. Ben Edwards should do a good job, and I'll be interested to hear who the new addition is that Jake Humphrey is advertising on twitter at the moment.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Humphrey has said it's an ex world champion non driver.

[henners88]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

Humphrey has said it's an ex world champion non driver.

Could it be someone like Pat Symonds I wonder?