F1 goes to Sky sports

[Adam43]

Raise the casual viewer? Make F1 more popular? This has been what Bernie has being doing wrong since the mid 70s.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Tim Wilkinson

It doesn't matter if F1 loses up to 8m viewers / potential consumers, because there's billions in other economies who now have the money to cough up. It's the same as he did with the circuits - the circus goes where the pull (money) is strongest.

I think you've hit the nail on the head and this is what lies at the heart of Bernie's ethos regarding F1.

Originally Posted by Tim Wilkinson

How long does Silverstone have the right to host a GP for? What are the chances that the British GP vanishes sooner rather than later because BCE feels that the UK doesn't have a level of interest (TV viewers) to make it viable?

I thought they had a 17 year contract, which will see them through, long after Bernie's expiry date.

[Minicross424]

Sky have just announced that the new anchor man will be Andy Coulson with Rebecca Brooks in the pit lane hacking all the transmissions.
HRT is to be brought by James Murdoch and sponsored by the Sunday Sun.
Now if we can get them to all share a plane and give Bernie a lift........
Surface to air missile anyone?

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Minicross424

Sky have just announced that the new anchor man will be Andy Coulson with Rebecca Brooks in the pit lane hacking all the transmissions.
HRT is to be brought by James Murdoch and sponsored by the Sunday Sun.
Now if we can get them to all share a plane and give Bernie a lift........
Surface to air missile anyone?

The Lybian rebels might be able to spare one.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Rennen

When I was a kid the BBC only showed the British and Monaco GPs !

It was so much more simple then, the sport has become too complicated to follow now, especially for Dads according to your son!

Oh, and I'm watching the excellent red button practice replay on the free BBC.

[Down F0rce]

It would seem that the BBC will be showing all the races in full after all - half of them live, half of them "deferred".

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/93494

Deferred to what though? Sunday evening is tolderable, Wednesday at 2AM on BBC Seven is not.

[wolfhound]

If F1 goes to pay TV based on what has happened to other sports (excluding soccer) viewer numbers will drop by about 3/4 leaving only hard core viewers watching. New or casual viewers will have no easy access and are unlikely to become motorsport fans. This has to be of concern to both the teams and sponsors. It will also have long term knock on effects in future participation in motorsport. one has only to look at what has happened to English rugby over the last few years to see the effects of fewer participants.

The cost of the sky package at £600 is almost as much as 10 basic admission tickets to F1 races if you are able to take in some from outside Europe where tickets can be found to Gp's for about £25. At £60 per race for ten races does not look like value to me.

[Super Hans]

The worst thing is - whoever finishes P3 has to take their top off.

[Super Hans]

Originally Posted by Down F0rce

It would seem that the BBC will be showing all the races in full after all - half of them live, half of them "deferred".

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/93494

Deferred to what though? Sunday evening is tolderable, Wednesday at 2AM on BBC Seven is not.

You appear to have a sex toy as your avatar. Please read the FAQ.

[Super Hans]

I hear the News of the World hacked Colin Kolles's phone. And put £10 credit on it.

[Born Racer]

I hope it all goes tits up. This would be good for the sport.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

If F1 goes to pay TV based on what has happened to other sports (excluding soccer) viewer numbers will drop by about 3/4 leaving only hard core viewers watching. New or casual viewers will have no easy access and are unlikely to become motorsport fans. This has to be of concern to both the teams and sponsors. It will also have long term knock on effects in future participation in motorsport. one has only to look at what has happened to English rugby over the last few years to see the effects of fewer participants.

There are more English rugby games on telly than ever before and covered in a more professional way than ever before. There is even a weekly magazine programme and they show Worcester games just for their only fan Woolley. I'm a big beeb fan, but they just can't do this.

Apart from the last couple of years my understanding was that rugby participation has increased since it has been on sky?

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Born Racer

I hope it all goes tits up. This would be good for the sport. There are so many in F1 up their own arse. I hope it fails miserably, the selfish *******s.

That isn't a nice thing to say about F1 fans.

[Born Racer]

I hope this time the people that only care for the bottom line will realise they've actually cocked the bottom line up because they've lost so many fans. The sport of F1 doesn't deserve support. The fact the teams haven't spoken out is a disgrace and demonstrates their own up-their-arses way of life. They've forgotten what being a fan of F1 is.

[GT6]

I hope the teams have something to say about this idiotic direction bernie is taking their sport, sponsors will not be so keen to spend money on reduced exposure and as we all know without massive sponsorship no team can survive.

[wolfhound]

In reply to Adam 43

My point was there may be more rugby on TV but its almost all on sky where it is only seen by sky sports subscribers.

[medius]

MotoGP has been (for the past few years), live on BBC and deferred a few hours later on Eurosport. I watch the Eurosport coverage as Toby and Julian provide FAR better information, stats, insight and in general, a better viewing experience than Charlie and Steve.

IF the F1 has better coverage on Sky than it currently does, then I'd watch it on Sky*. However, my current method is BBC 1 pictures with 5Live commentary as David Croft and Anthony Davidson are better than Martin and DC (IMO of course).

If 5Live continue with live race broadcasts, alongside Sky pictures, I'll probably stick to that route depending on who Sky parachute in.

Please no Keith Huewen and Jon Mickel in a plain studio! No Georgie Thompson (despite how pleasing on the eye she is!).







*I'm already a Sky subscriber with the full package, but if I didn't have Sky Sports already, I wouldn't pay the extra for it just because F1 will be on.

[Super Hans]

Originally Posted by Born Racer

I hope this time the people that only care for the bottom line will realise they've actually cocked the bottom line up because they've lost so many fans. The sport of F1 doesn't deserve support. The fact the teams haven't spoken out is a disgrace and demonstrates their own up-their-arses way of life. They've forgotten what being a fan of F1 is.

What is an F1 fan? All it means for me is that I like watching F1. If it isn't free-to-air then I have to make a decision whether it's worth the outlay, and it probably is, in my case. I already have Sky for the football, and for watching other forms of motorsport and the TDF and whatnot.

[Born Racer]

Someone who thinks of the sport as more important than their own arses and impressing Bernie. They are all his lapdogs. That guy really does laugh all the way to the bank.

[Born Racer]

Great headlines here from the Beeb too:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/form...e/14330259.stm

[Born Racer]

Originally Posted by Super Hans

What is an F1 fan? All it means for me is that I like watching F1.

For you, indeed. But you are a hardcore motorsport fan. What about all the potential fans who won't subscribe? They won't get into F1 and perhaps ultimately, into motorsport in general. This is not just an awful day for Formula 1, it's a potential travesty for motorsport in general, which deserves better.

Grassroots motorsport could suffer too, because F1 is the flagship. It's hard enough for it as it is. F1 lives in its own world and deserves a harsh reality check. The rest of the world's had one, but F1 has somehow deviously escaped from this. That's why I'd quite like to see it fall on its own arse.

[Jamesy-18]

Originally Posted by Born Racer

For you, indeed. But you are a hardcore motorsport fan. What about all the potential fans who won't subscribe? They won't get into F1 and perhaps ultimately, into motorsport in general. This is not just an awful day for Formula 1, it's a potential travesty for motorsport in general, which deserves better.

Grassroots motorsport could suffer too, because F1 is the flagship. It's hard enough for it as it is. F1 lives in its own world and deserves a harsh reality check. The rest of the world's had one, but F1 has somehow deviously escaped from this. That's why I'd quite like to see it fall on its own arse.

On the contrary, I think something like BTCC could come out of this sorry story very well. Seen a number of comments of people saying with F1 on Sky, they'll give their attention to BTCC which I'm sure will please Alan Gow no end.

[Born Racer]

I was thinking more grassroots than BTCC, more of clubbie stuff.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

In reply to Adam 43

My point was there may be more rugby on TV but its almost all on sky where it is only seen by sky sports subscribers.

I realised.
For me, a fan, it is better. I can now, albeit by paying, watch lots more. Before there was hardly any on telly so I didn't get to see much even though it was free.

The fact that Bernie managed to achieve free and every round was quite impressive. There aren't many sports that have achieved coverage on a mainstream channel every weekend it is on. It was rare.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by GT6

I hope the teams have something to say about this idiotic direction bernie is taking their sport, sponsors will not be so keen to spend money on reduced exposure and as we all know without massive sponsorship no team can survive.

Someone at work, with little interest in F1, pointed out that sponsors aren't only paying for telly coverage in the UK. I think he may be on to something.