uk f1 tv coverage - sky, bbc and ch4

[Mike Harte]

The problem at the top of BBC is that they are more concerned about paying themselves (and others further down the food-chain) ridiculously high salaries that they are more than prepared to ditch programmes in order to save their own bank balances. It is obscene!

How else could any corporation (business) justify recruiting an American to reorganise staffing in London, and allow the contract of employment to stipulate that the recruit would be able to continue living in New York, and that the employer (the BBC in this case) would pay for the recruit to commute weekly to the UK and provide 1st class tickets for such travel. There is more extravegance to that story, and there are countless other wastes of money that occur on a daily basis.

However, in defence of the Beeb, what other broadcaster in the world would allow one of it's current affairs programmes to investigate the actions of another of it's current affairs programme plus the behaviour of it's senior management, and then permit the resulting programme, which was pretty damming about what had happened, to be broadcast without any outside (or indeed, inside) interference or censorship? I don't think that there will be many, if any at all!

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by ECW Dan Selby

Totally agree. It feels like F1-lite now.

I don't get the butterflies when the lights go out. I genuinely used to always shout 'GOOO!' at the start, much to everyone's surprise who was with me at the time haha

I know what every race is going to be like now. Ok, they didn't all used to be unpredictable, but I at least believed these cars were pushing, pushing, pushing. I felt like they might break. I felt like the drivers were on the edge. The cars sounded like they were high strung.

All of that is gone, and i'm struggling to keep up the illusion...

Selby

F1 today looks very mickey mouse compared to the 80s/90s whenever I look back on those races. The enormity of the event as a major event is gone; the cars today look small...etc

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

he BBC needs to find £150 million savings in its overall budget and £35 million of it is to come from their sports budget.

I wonder are we going to see the end of FTA F1 coverage on these islands?

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/121853

It is possible that the BBC could move to a highlights only package or could the terrestrial coverage go to C4 or ITV?

BBC was happy to drop the F1 coverage to save money, but protect Wimbledon, which had less viewing figures for the price paid at the time. Partially due to Wimbledon being on at times when most of the country is at work.

BBC has not been big on motorsport since the management changed. Money is only part of that.

[chillibowl]

in Canada, our F1 broadcaster (TSN) uses, and i assume pays for, the BBC coverage. that might be unusual these days with many national broadcaster buying the rights to the feed directly from FOM and providing their own commentary, but i would have though that the sports broadcasting of the BBC was actually or could be a money maker in other English speaking regions.

Wimbledon i would have thought falls into that same category. perhaps more so if BBC has the ability to sell the rights to the 'world feed' so others could overlay it with their own commentators.

anyways if it goes i will miss their coverage.

[fourWheelDrift]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

in Canada, our F1 broadcaster (TSN) uses, and i assume pays for, the BBC coverage. that might be unusual these days with many national broadcaster buying the rights to the feed directly from FOM and providing their own commentary, but i would have though that the sports broadcasting of the BBC was actually or could be a money maker in other English speaking regions.

Wimbledon i would have thought falls into that same category. perhaps more so if BBC has the ability to sell the rights to the 'world feed' so others could overlay it with their own commentators.

anyways if it goes i will miss their coverage.

We like to moan about the BBC wasting money on certain programs missing the fact that some of the ones we villify actually make a profit. For example Strictly come dancing and Top gear both make very significant amounts of money just from the fees paid to the BBC by overseas broadcasters simply in order to use the format and title. My understanding is that in both these cases the income is higher than the cost of making the UK programs. I'm sure F1 at least covers the costs of having the team at the races from the fees they make by selling the coverage on.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

in Canada, our F1 broadcaster (TSN) uses, and i assume pays for, the BBC coverage. that might be unusual these days with many national broadcaster buying the rights to the feed directly from FOM and providing their own commentary, but i would have though that the sports broadcasting of the BBC was actually or could be a money maker in other English speaking regions.

Wimbledon i would have thought falls into that same category. perhaps more so if BBC has the ability to sell the rights to the 'world feed' so others could overlay it with their own commentators.

anyways if it goes i will miss their coverage.

Back in the day, dear old Murray on BBC and then ITV was heard across the English speaking world. Nowadays I believe it's split, with TSN having BBC as you say, but Fox in Australia taking Crofty and Brundle from Sky. In fact I think the Aussies take most the Sky Raceday programme. I know Lazenby has a one-to-one interview on camera every race weekend with Ricciardo that's filmed by Sky but exclusive for Fox.

[Sodemo]

The fact that the BBC could have spent £20 million upgrading Pebble Mill to modern standard, but instead decided to spend well over £100 million moving to the new Mailbox studio, which is totally not fit for purpose, should give some idea of how the BBC go about making management and budget decisions.

Pebble Mill was also subject to a ridiculously low rent which went back decades. BBC Mailbox the rent costs are colossal.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by fourWheelDrift

...I'm sure F1 at least covers the costs of having the team at the races from the fees they make by selling the coverage on.

i would have though so to but they must not be making enough to be able to stay affordable/competitive compared to SKY.

i dont know is how long TSN's contract is with the BBC (coming to an end one way or another now i guess) and since TSN already purchases a lot of other SKY/FOXSports programs, it probably means there is a much better deal to be made working with SKY over the BBC.

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

Back in the day, dear old Murray on BBC and then ITV was heard across the English speaking world. Nowadays I believe it's split, with TSN having BBC as you say, but Fox in Australia taking Crofty and Brundle from Sky....

going off topic, but i cant help but wonder how much more unified our opinions were when we all used to get the same coverage? Murray was great and in many ways his enthusiasm was one of the things that really got me interested in the first place (it certainly wasnt the TV quality lol). now with multiple TV sources, far too many reporters, and far far too many websites all offering their own perspectives its not surprising that there is more diverging opinions among what used to be a relatively similar group of people who were all watching the same thing from the same angle.

still makes me a bit sad that Coulthard and Brundle found themselves on two different networks. i thought they were great together and that BBC period from when The Chain came back to when Brundle left for SKY was the best coverage since the Murray days.

[djinvicta]

I disagree I'm afraid. I find Ted's Notebook on Sky very informative, MB with DH and JH on Sky, a professional team. What I can't stand is the excitable commentator on the BBC alongside DC, who screams away in excitement at the slightest thing.
As I've said before, Sky Go, here in France for £20 a month, covers all F1, 24 hours a day and most Sky channels, and no, it doesn't buffer.

[chillibowl]

yeah Ben Edwards is a bit too much. thats probably why i have feelings of nostalgia for Brundle/DC pairing.

although if the BBC walk away, should I hope for a reunion on SKY?

[Paradise City]

I like Edwards but I stopped watching it after the bad stuff with Anderson. Losing Anderson, Jordan barely being tolerable and Perry, who's competent enough but who doesn't inspire me either - it just doesn't move me to watch the BBC's offerings anymore.

Sky do a very strong job. They have Hill, Herbert, Brundle. The other presenters have all upped their game there. And that's where I go to watch F1.

[Sodemo]

Anderson was the best part of the coverage.

[wolfhound]

There might be a change on the way for UK TV coverage as ITV are rumoured to be taking over from the BBC with a similar type of coverage. Sky will still be doing their all live thing.

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/it...k-new-f1-deal/

With the BBC looking to cut costs getting rid of F1 would be a very cost effective way of doing it. What effect it will have on the commentary teams is anybody's guess.

[djinvicta]

As long as we don't "guess" James Allen and adverts during the racing with ITV

[ScotsBrutesFan]

It'll be interesting to see if ITV simply buy out the BBC contract leaving the existing production company in place. Or try and find something fresh or gimicky.

Given ITV4's coverage of Formula E on a Saturday and BTCC on a Sunday, it'll be interesting to see which 10 races they would take live.

Likely coverage clashes would include
2nd April Formula E Longbreach - FP3 and Qually Bahrain
3nd April BTCC Brands Hatch - Bahrain Race
17th April BTCC Donington - Shanghai Race .... Time Zones may help.
19th June BTCC Croft - Azerbaijan Race...The F1 race is already being time switched to avoid the end of LeMans. This will likely put it in conflict with race 3
2nd July Formula E London 1 - FP3 and Qually Austria
3rd July Formula E London 2 - Possible overlap into Race Austria
31 July BTCC Snetterton - Germany Race
28th August BTCC Rockingham - Belgium Race
18 Sept BTCC Silverstone - Singapore Race ... Runs to European times
2 Oct BTCC finale Brands HatchGP - Malaysia Race ...Time Zones help if run at normal time.

If ITV wanted to avoid clashes at all, and that Silverstone is a given then it's 9 races from below.

20 March: Melbourne, Australia - Early Morning
1 May: Sochi, Russia - Morning
15 May: Barcelona, Spain - lunch
29 May: Monte Carlo, Monaco -Lunch
12 June: Montreal, Canada - Evening
10 July: Silverstone, United Kingdom -Lunch
24 July: Budapest, Hungary - Lunch
4 September: Monza, Italy - Lunch
9 October: Suzuka, Japan - Early Morning
23 October: Austin, USA** - Evening
30 October: Mexico City, Mexico - Evening
13 November: Sao Paolo, Brazil - Late Afternoon
27 November: Abu Dhabi, UAE - Lunch

How much scheduling chaos do they want to cause, of course it'll be easier to show the Morning races as ITVplc now hold the Breakfast franchise.
Just to throw a cycling spanner into the Mix the Tour De France will be all over ITV4 from 2nd July London's Formula E weekend through to and finishing on the 24th of July during the Hungarian GP.
Would ITV want to go all the way from Silverstone on 10th July all the way through to Monza on September 4th with only Highlights of Hungary and Spa in between?

I can understand why ITV would take want F1 back, and with ITV 4 HD having sports all over it, it would be a perfect home to the Free Practice Coverage.
My only though would then be would, are the 10 Qually and 10 race programs going to be enough of a draw on ITV1.

[Moneyseeker]

Overall to have the BBC keep backing out of agreements is a bad thing and surely it will make other sports bodies wary of dealing with them if they simply break agreements or trade them elsewhere.

Overall it will surely further hurt UK viewing figures as ITV are bound to plague the coverage with adverts - try watching a film on ITV2 - you almost lose the will to live! Which will put off the occasional fans that make up the extra viewing figures on top of the die hards.

[S griffin]

What is interesting is that Mr Brundle himself has said F1 needs to stay on Terristial. I only hope someone listens to his common sense. Why it's a pain half the races are live, it's better than nothing

[alan1302]

Originally Posted by S griffin

I only hope someone listens to his common sense. Why it's a pain half the races are live, it's better than nothing

As most sports seem to be going pay only then having half live and half as highlights is a compromise I'm willing to make.

[Paradise City]

Well, they need to keep the adverts out of there if ITV are doing it. Edwards has a history ITV doesn't he? I'm sure he'd make the crossover.

Not that I care. I'm all for Sky these days.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

11:07 Uk time, BBC News confirms immediate termination of contract for F1. Unclear if this also includes Radio as well.

Edit.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-3514996...e=news_central

Not ITV but Channel 4

BBC Radio coverage contiues until 2021

[wolfhound]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

11:07 Uk time, BBC News confirms immediate termination of contract for F1. Unclear if this also includes Radio as well.

Channel 4 is to take over the TV broadcast rights while BBC radio 5 will continue to broadcast F1 until 2021.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35149963

I wonder will how much of the current TV operation will transfer to C4?

I would suspect C4 would like some of the commentry team for continuity purposes.

The deal is for 2016-18 according to C4.

http://www.channel4.com/info/press/n...de906f68a35e34

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Channel will go advert free according to broadcast now website.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/c...ontentID=42816

[wolfhound]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

Channel will go advert free according to broadcast now website.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/c...ontentID=42816

That was mentioned on Motorsport.com as well so that is good news.

[The Fat Clerk]

Let's hope they don't take on the BBC pundits and commentators, if I'm not at home where I watch in on Sky F1 I watch it on the Beeb with the sound off!

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

Channel will go advert free according to broadcast now website.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/c...ontentID=42816

ITV also claimed they would be ad-free, and they'd show all qualifying Live, and Free Practice would be viewable too. None of those claims were true.

This is another step backwards for F1 coverage in the UK. But it's been that way since BBC decided F1 was too expensive.