uk f1 tv coverage - sky, bbc and ch4

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by Casper

Contracts are written to suit the contracted parties and no one else. It obviously suited all parties to agree to what they signed and the subsequent actions. I repeat though that the UK is not the centre of the viewing universe and BE knows it. There has been a point made that it is being done to increase the value of the commercial rights as moves are made to sell those rights, all speculation of course but it seems reasonable. If that were the case wheels within wheels have been turning and it profits everyone involved to go along with the new arrangements. You scratch my back and I will scratch yours.

Casper, I tend to agree with you but don't forget this is UK TV we are talking about and I'm sure you will agree that the UK fan base was, for many years, the largest or at least one of the largest groups.

Thus if that group is diminishing because it won't pay then it may not, IMHO, be the tv company's problem, rather it's the sport itself.

So, many of us will vote with our feet/TV remotes and not bother anymore. How does that increase the commercial viability of the product?

[ECW Dan Selby]

Does anyone know if Channel 4 are doing the onboard feed online for the race? I asked and got no response, so i'm guessing it's a no?

Selby

[Akrapovic]

This wastage applies to a lot of big companies. I work for an oil and gas production company. It's utterly horrendous how much money is wasted. And now we (like the BBC) now have to save money, and the current management don't know how because they've never had to.

Do not under estimate how much money management can waste through sheer stupidity.

[bella]

ah yes, cost savings. where you cut frontline staff before middle management, because turkeys don't vote for christmas.

[wolfhound]

Bernie claims that sky are going to get 25 million viewers on their new deal.
Currently they only get 2 or 3% per GP maybe if they add up every viewer over the entire deal but I can't see how they are going to get over 40% of the UK population watching one GP.

http://classic.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/123543

[S griffin]

Classic Bernie, rabbiting out of his jacksie again

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

Bernie claims that sky are going to get 25 million viewers on their new deal.
Currently they only get 2 or 3% per GP maybe if they add up every viewer over the entire deal but I can't see how they are going to get over 40% of the UK population watching one GP.

http://classic.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/123543

I suppose these 25 million viewers are predominantly made up from those 70 somethings who buy Rolex watches; Bernie's target market.

[chunder]

Wastage in big companies is hilarious.

They will often push employees into lean programs and all sorts of ways of saving a few pence and waste millions by lighting buildings they dont use or using forests worth of paper.

It is the way of the world

[Alan52]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

Bernie claims that sky are going to get 25 million viewers on their new deal.
Currently they only get 2 or 3% per GP maybe if they add up every viewer over the entire deal but I can't see how they are going to get over 40% of the UK population watching one GP.

http://classic.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/123543

Again the hilarity of Dieter Rencken's open letter to Bernie(which would probably be a good read) being behind a paywall.How open does that make the letter Autosport?Couldn't be better than some of Joe Saward's recent posts on his blog.

[Akrapovic]

Bernie appears to have gone from a bit silly to properly crazy. 25 million viewers? Ha.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

Bernie appears to have gone from a bit silly to properly crazy. 25 million viewers? Ha.

It's not necessarily what he said, but what was left unspoken. We, obviously, are not privy to the contract that he has conclude with Sky, reportedly for over a billion pounds sterling, but it may include the rights to syndicate the programmes in countries that FOM doesn't have current deals. This was the basis of the deal that the BBC used to have before it lost the bid to ITV, and I don't believe that they got them back when the took over again.

If that was the case, then it may be possible. Otherwise, he is talking out of his bottom as Sky do not supply feeds, directly or indirectly, to 50% of the households in the UK.

[bjohnsonsmith]

So far I think C4 have done a good job with their coverage of the Bahrain GP.

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by Alan52

Again the hilarity of Dieter Rencken's open letter to Bernie(which would probably be a good read) being behind a paywall.How open does that make the letter Autosport?Couldn't be better than some of Joe Saward's recent posts on his blog.

The subscription is still affordable compared to Sky. And it's a very brave letter too

[Adam43]

OT. Before the Internet you'd only read the open letter in a publication like Autosport if you bought the magazine. Unless Dieter also posted it to everyone.

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

So far I think C4 have done a good job with their coverage of the Bahrain GP.

Excellent. Are all the team doing well?

[Mystery]

Is Steve Jones always like this or is he having a breakdown of some kind? Asking for a friend

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Mystery

Is Steve Jones always like this or is he having a breakdown of some kind? Asking for a friend

I think he fancies Suzy Wolfe.

[ECW Dan Selby]

Originally Posted by Mystery

Is Steve Jones always like this or is he having a breakdown of some kind? Asking for a friend

From what i've seen/heard today, he looked tremendously out of his depth.

I never thought Jake looked this bad in his first few races. Seems like people were having trouble understanding the accent, too.

Selby

[ECW Dan Selby]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

I think he fancies Suzy Wolfe.

He might want to do a touch more research and check to see who that surname belongs to

Toto would crush him!

Selby

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by ECW Dan Selby

He might want to do a touch more research and check to see who that surname belongs to

Toto would crush him!

Selby

He didn't do too well when interviewing Toto. It was a bit cringeworthy. Where was EJ?

[BSchneiderFan]

I thought DC and Webbo were great today. Funny and sharp.

[Adam43]

Tightie whities!

[OZ_HCR32]

I am jack of the Sky team. Its the small things but is ruining the viewing.

I thought Rosberg was perfectly ok at the quali press conference. Yet 10 mins later I am listening to Ted tell us that he was shaken and gutted to have missed pole. Sensationalist much?

Ditto all the rubbish about Alonso. Ragging on him saying he is wasting his time hanging around. He is only hanging around as he is protective of his seat and wants to see what is going on....I dont get it. If he had flown home all the Sky team would be saying he is selfish and not a team player. Should have hing around like Vettel does when he crashes out/retires etcetc

Then after beating the grass for some sensationalist stories about how Alonos is failing and Herbert saying he should retire....it goes barely without saying that a complete rookie who before this weekend has never driven teh 2016 McLaren goes and out qualifies Button. Its not everything but it was something....I can only imagine the BS that would be flying if it was Button that was out and Steff out qualified Alonso.

Clean up your act Sky....frankly the cheap sensationalist statements and fishing for a rise out of the people you are interviewing is amateur hour

Shame I cant get more of the Ch 4 coverage

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by OZ_HCR32

Ditto all the rubbish about Alonso. Ragging on him saying he is wasting his time hanging around. He is only hanging around as he is protective of his seat and wants to see what is going on....I dont get it. If he had flown home all the Sky team would be saying he is selfish and not a team player. Should have hing around like Vettel does when he crashes out/retires etcetc

They're just loving to hate Alonso right now, presumably because of Herberts chip on his shoulder. There was a BBC bit a few years back (before Sky took the coverage) where different drivers talked about Senna. DC recalled being a Williams test driver, where Senna had a shunt on day 1 and was forced to sit out the entire test after that. But Ayrton hung around to hear every word and get every input from DC so he knew exactly what the case was. Meanwhile, Nigel would do minimum testing then sod off to the golf course.

Here, we have Alonso recovering from a rather serious accident, and being told to sit out due to injury. He turns up to the track anyway to be part of the team, and is criticsed for it. He cannot win in this case, because if he hadn't of turned up then old Johnny would have cried about lack of motivation.

[MarkG]

There is no doubting Sky coverage is getting worse and irritating. The interviewers (Rachel and Craig Slater) just seem intent on goading drivers, there is a lot of unnecessary padding in the show, and you have the poison-dwarf who talks rubbish interspersed with "coming into play" and other terms he uses which display his lack of command of the English language. His recent comments about FA are laced with bitterness it seems to me.
I like Martin Brundle though and Ted's Notebook.

[chillibowl]

its not just a SKY problem as this affects all sports broadcasting...increase the number of 'experts', pundits, reporters, ex-athletes etc for a broadcast and inevitably some, if not all of them, will start spouting more and more sensationalized stories in order to justify their airtime. sign of the times im afraid.

'opinions' masquerading as journalism and click bait for the TV.