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In the UK, it's being demanded because to watch it on Sky, it now costs a minimum of £40 (currently $52.50) per month; that is a big chunk of money in anybody's language. Before anyone jumps down my throat, the F1 channel is now £18 p.m. but you also have to have the basic package at £22 p.m. to get the F1 add-on.
However, how long this story will continue is difficult to predict. For many reasons, the audience for F1 is shrinking, and certainly in the UK, that is largely due to moving towards PTV. The UK has an abundance of FTA, through the aerial and also via non-subscription satellite (Freeview and Freesat). And it needs to be remembered that we also have to pay for a TV Licence - currently £147 p.a. - if you watch live or catch-up programmes (no matter on which device), so in effect all our TV is PTV.
So, when it goes entirely behind the paywall, in just over 12 months time here in the UK, the audience numbers will start to dwindle. Unlike football (soccer), there is no bidding war between broadcasters to host F1, and F1 will then find that it has lost it's largest viewership.
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