Murdoch (AUS/USA) planning bid to take over F1

[bjohnsonsmith]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/form...e/13274848.stm

There was speculation recently and it looks like Murdoch has an ally.

[Marbot]

Read that too.

The phrase: 'Conflict of interests' springs to mind.

[Oldtony]

Mmmmm!
How did Todt get on with the Agnelli Family when he was at Ferrari?

I note that in the press release published by Joe Saward from Newscorp/Exor they say that the move is to aquire control of F1, but then go on to say that this did not neccessarily mean that they would be making an offer to CVC.
Bernie might be pretty big league, but in the Agnelli/Murdoch game he is liable to be both out-gunned and out-manouvered.
And the German bank story wouldn't be helping.
Very destabilising, but then maybe that is what is intended.

[wnut]

Murdoch is looking to purchase and trap content for his pay platforms, and Ferrari must see its target market as being able to afford pay media.
So we have a match made in hell.
If it comes off it will kill off F1 as a sport with a mass following unless they continue to provide the actual race on FTA and put the back up features on pay TV. This may in fact increase the audience.
The other point is that the viewer rating figures will become absolutely vital and the entertainment value will once again take preference over the product on offer; ever more complex aero tweeks; and we may see the show enhanced!

Maybe Bernie is just setting the stage for his exit, or for the prevention of the adoption of the global racing engine!

[duke_toaster]

It's not just Ferrari that will want FTA coverage, all the teams will. The Concorde Agreement doesn't have long to go. C G P W, rearrange letters until you get what could wind up happening ...

[Paradise City]

They'd kill the support stone dead if they put it behind a pay-wall and the Agnelli crew owning the sport is a MASSIVE conflict of interest.

I suppose it was inevitable some vultures would pick up the sport but this really a match made in hell.

[GTRMagic]

Woohoo! Webber to Ferrari! The Aussie connection rules

[Spritle]

Actually it may be EVERYBODY to Ferrari!

[chillibowl]

in a perfect world i would like to think that any pay per view income would be used to offset a decrease in sanctioning fees which would (again in a perfect world) be passed on to the fans by way of lower ticket prices.

i doubt that will come to pass, but it raises an interesting question, who do you think should be paying for F1?

currently the promoters pay sanctioning fees and naturally try to recoup their money by charging a lot for tickets.

people who stay home to watch dont pay anything and many quite naturally say they would not watch anymore if they have to pay.

the end result is that promoters will continue to gouge those who make the effort, save where they can, and put what they have together for the chance to see a race live.

not claiming i have a solution, but surely we must at some point realize that unless new streams of revenue are found for the owners, Bernie, teams and promoters it will only be those willing to show up who will bear the brunt of their rising costs.

so whats more damaging, losing part of TV audience or this unending trend of pricing out the live audience?

[duke_toaster]

It's the large TV audience that generates the sponsorship money that really funds the sport though; that's what will be harmed by Pay TV. If bums on seats were that big we wouldn't have races in Turkey and Bahrain.

To be honest, if this does happen, I think FOTA should start preparing for some form of breakaway series if the new owners wouldn't keep the FTA clause, it would kill F1 sponsorship, I guess many sponsor deals are contingent on maintaining FTA coverage. Look at how the Champions League works - sponsors insist on a live game every round. And by start preparing, I mean talking to circuits, MOUs, the odd provisional calendar - and something to set it apart (first race of the season to be on a Tuesday night or something?). Of course, there is the FIA veto, but who is it that has the veto - WMSC or President?

[bjohnsonsmith]

EJ has given his two cents on Murdoch's plan:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/form...e/13285715.stm

[duke_toaster]

People seem to pillory him (unfairly IMO) most of the time but the guy's talking sense.

[I Rosputnik]

Sorry as much as we all complain about him, F1 needs it's... well... Bernie! A mad man for a mad sport. But at least he acts with the sport in mind and it's still going strong!

Murdoch on the other hand is a megalomaniac. Again he's mad, but the wrong kind of mad. I just can't see it working.

And the FIAT connection... Formula Ferrari! It's just a number 1 driver or a number 2, but a number 3 driver, and a number 4 driver, and a number 5 driver, and so on. It would be a Ferrari love fest with Alonso winning everytime because he is faster then everyone else, and the number one driver.

[Oldtony]

Get over this fixation with FTA conventional TV. It mat be your favourite way of watching but FTA is looding viewers almost as fast as newspapers are loosing sales.
Rupert may be a power hungry poliyical manipulator, but this deal looks to be driven by James who is the new media savvy operator within News Ltd.
It is about all the delivery platforms and technology that F1 is ognoring at present. Not only pay and subscription TV, but more importantly cell phones, I.Pads, interactive games platforms etc. That is where the future potential audience and profit is for F1 and ignoring as Bernie seems to do just proves he is yesterday's man.
By the way the BBC isn't free, it comes with a wacking great license fee. Now that may be better than having to put up with commercials like most of us in the rest of the world, but it is not free!
The thing to come out of this is that CVC will either choose to move with developing technology or will see F1 supplanted by a form of Motor Racing more in tune with the platforms on which the coming generations want to recieve their news and entertainment.

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by Oldtony

Get over this fixation with FTA conventional TV. It mat be your favourite way of watching but FTA is looding viewers almost as fast as newspapers are loosing sales.
Rupert may be a power hungry poliyical manipulator, but this deal looks to be driven by James who is the new media savvy operator within News Ltd.
It is about all the delivery platforms and technology that F1 is ognoring at present. Not only pay and subscription TV, but more importantly cell phones, I.Pads, interactive games platforms etc. That is where the future potential audience and profit is for F1 and ignoring as Bernie seems to do just proves he is yesterday's man.
By the way the BBC isn't free, it comes with a wacking great license fee. Now that may be better than having to put up with commercials like most of us in the rest of the world, but it is not free!
The thing to come out of this is that CVC will either choose to move with developing technology or will see F1 supplanted by a form of Motor Racing more in tune with the platforms on which the coming generations want to recieve their news and entertainment.

It may be losing viewers (perhaps because until this year the racing has been a bit pants), but my thought is that it will lose a lot more if it goes to Sky, which incidentally, costs a LOT more than the 'wacking' BBC license fee.

I would agree that more work needs to be done to get stuff on to mobile platforms, but these are still in the minority compared with watching on a TV somewhere. That said, if I miss the race or forget to set the PVR, I can always watch it over the net on iPlayer already, which is available on most mobile platforms. Other countries I don't know about.

Streaming the races live to mobile devices is about the only area where work needs to be done, and there are BOUND to be some nasty licensing problems over multiple countries getting that in place! Bandwidth might be a problem too, as it always is!

[duke_toaster]

Surely streaming to mobile devices a general TV thing that can be handled by the broadcasters ...

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by JamesH

Streaming the races live to mobile devices is about the only area where work needs to be done, and there are BOUND to be some nasty licensing problems over multiple countries getting that in place! Bandwidth might be a problem too, as it always is!

I thought content can already be streamed to i-Phones/smart phones.

[neiltb]

it's probably just a BE wind up to press the teams into signing a new agreement.

"if you don't sign this here blank sheet of paper, I'm selling up to Murdoch."

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by neiltb

it's probably just a BE wind up to press the teams into signing a new agreement.

"if you don't sign this here blank sheet of paper, I'm selling up to Murdoch."

It could be the case of 'better the devil you know' with Bernie.

[csirl]

Dont see how FTA matters - there's very little sport on it nowdays. Most sport is on Sky Sports, ESPN, Setanta, Eurosport etc.

Premiership soccer has gone from strength to strength since moving from BBC/ITV to Sky Sports. Anyway, there are very few sports fans around who dont already subscribe to the satellite channels, so if it moves to Sky, it wont cost most fans any more money.

I do agree that FOTA is keeping its options open for 2013 and beyond. Buying F1 is no guarantee that you get the teams, so could be worthless. The likely outcome to all this is the teams agreeing to stay with a newly taken over F1 which is more team/fan friendly, has a more global appeal (i.e. less UK focused) and with more money filtering down to the teams (which will be possible if the new owners increase revenue).

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by csirl

Premiership soccer has gone from strength to strength since moving from BBC/ITV to Sky Sports. Anyway, there are very few sports fans around who dont already subscribe to the satellite channels, so if it moves to Sky, it wont cost most fans any more money.

Sky have an exclusive deal with the FA where by they give the FA a cut, which is a proprtion of advertising revenue and subscriptions.

[duke_toaster]

Premiership football is nowhere near as reliant on sponsorship as F1 though.

[foreversideways]

Lets be honest, when the BBC contract is up it looks pretty likely it won't be renewed anyway as the BBC simply cannot justify the cost to licence payers, where else could it go in those circumstances but Sky. Despite Ecclestone's protestations i believe that there is a high chance of a deal being done as long as the teams get what they want out of it, I believe they are tired of being part of the Ecclestone club.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by duke_toaster

Premiership football is nowhere near as reliant on sponsorship as F1 though.

True but sponsoring a football team is now standard practice. All those Premiership teams have someone's logo on them, not to mention the logo of the company that makes the team's strip.

[duke_toaster]

Yes, but they get far more in terms of gate receipts and TV money. Historically motorsport is about sponsorship funding first, TV second, gates third. F1 is a great marketing opportunity.