BBC possibly to drop F1 coverage...

Reaper 392 · 12 Jan 2012 at 13:16

Duke said:
Very doubt any feed will be more than 720p for sometime.

sorry, derp moment. was just after it being recorded somewhere after the race, not a live feed. even youtube would be fine if it was on there. just some sort of high quality recording that the guys at slightly mad studios can look through for reference shots

~Mike~ · 12 Jan 2012 at 14:00

Hoping the Edwards/Coulthard partnership works well. Happy with the BBC lineup for this year. Not really heard Edwards style of commentary before, at least its not Allen or Legard. I did think that MB last year was starting to make too many mistakes in his role as lead commentator.

Will be interesting to see how James Allen adapts to radio commentary.

Skeeter · 12 Jan 2012 at 15:43

Tweaker said:
I think the coverage on BBC could actually be better this year without MB, plus the lineup they have are proven. I really want to see the viewing numbers for the non BBC races, hopefully the viewing numbers are in the 100-200 thousand range, that way Sky wont be able to sell adds, which has to be their end game

I see. So you are hoping that Sky get very few viewers, and therefore decide to drop F1?

So.... what then? The BBC aren't suddenly going to be able to find money they couldn't find now, and Sky are hardly going to sell up cheaply are they. If the Sky coverage fails, F1 coverage will die.

I hope, for the sake of being able to watch F1 live and in full at all in the future, that the Sky coverage is a roaring success. If its not, the alternatives don't bear thinking about (see WRC).

ZG002 · 12 Jan 2012 at 17:04

Skeeter said:
I see. So you are hoping that Sky get very few viewers, and therefore decide to drop F1?

So.... what then? The BBC aren't suddenly going to be able to find money they couldn't find now, and Sky are hardly going to sell up cheaply are they. If the Sky coverage fails, F1 coverage will die.

I hope, for the sake of being able to watch F1 live and in full at all in the future, that the Sky coverage is a roaring success. If its not, the alternatives don't bear thinking about (see WRC).

So much this, WRC coverage is pretty much non existent. With you not having to buy Sky sports but being able to get the package with HD I'm now hoping they get some half decent viewing figures.

Skeeter · 12 Jan 2012 at 17:19

People hoping that the Sky coverage fails are cutting off their nose to spite their face. If Sky can't make live F1 coverage work for them, then its curtains for live F1 all together.

I fully understand peoples bitterness at the thought of having to buy Sky to get F1 if they have no interest in anything else it offers, but wishing for Sky's coverage to fail is just short sighted.

ZG002 · 12 Jan 2012 at 17:42

To be honest I was one of those people when I first heard the news, It was a bitter pill to take.

But I saw a way of shearing the cost of getting Sky (and the news you only need the HD)

We got it all put in just before xmas and tbh I always find something on to watch, The other half always has something to watch and my sister who has multi room also has something to watch all the time. It's been worth it for us and that is before F1 comes on.

Glaucus · 12 Jan 2012 at 17:54

ZG002 said:
(and the news you only need the HD)

.

This has been the deal changer for me, I wasn't and still am not prepared to pay for sky sports 1 and two and switching to sky isn't realy an option. So I'm praying for a decent virgin deal

Lunatic Dreyfus · 12 Jan 2012 at 18:51

One hopes this Sky F1 channel makes it to Virgin Media, as this might justify me keeping the service, as currently I just don't use it. Depends on the deal of course.

Wouldn't go SKY though, too expensive.

As for the news concerning 'that man' getting the 5 Live gig. Well... :eek:

Duke · 12 Jan 2012 at 19:23

Lunatic Dreyfus said:
One hopes this Sky F1 channel makes it to Virgin Media, as this might justify me keeping the service, as currently I just don't use it. Depends on the deal of course.

Wouldn't go SKY though, too expensive.

As for the news concerning 'that man' getting the 5 Live gig. Well...

Still waiting for VM info as well. They will have it no doubt, just depends how much

Weebull · 12 Jan 2012 at 21:01

I was trying to look up the actual cost to the BBC of filming F1, versus how much it paid Bernie for the rights, and I can't work it out. Does anyone know?

All I see bandied about is this £300m figure, but I can't work out if that includes the budget for the show too. The Daily Mail seems to just take that figure and go: 5 seasons of about 20 races is 100 races, so therefore it costs £3m per race - which would imply that it does. But then they also say "£300m for the rights". Everywhere else seems to be coy on the actual costs.

Does anyone know? :confused:

Duke · 12 Jan 2012 at 21:24

I think that excludes the production costs. I believe the costs they keep mentioning are just for the FOM rights/feed. I don't think they have mentioned the production costs (do the BBC publish these anywhere?).

spudbynight · 13 Jan 2012 at 15:30

Skeeter said:
People hoping that the Sky coverage fails are cutting off their nose to spite their face. If Sky can't make live F1 coverage work for them, then its curtains for live F1 all together.

I fully understand peoples bitterness at the thought of having to buy Sky to get F1 if they have no interest in anything else it offers, but wishing for Sky's coverage to fail is just short sighted.

If it fails it will just be auctioned to the highest other bidder - almost certainly at a lower price.

The price will be whatever the market is willing to pay. Bernie will get the most cash he can - if that is half what he wants he won't walk away from it.

lauy · 13 Jan 2012 at 16:25

Hate the idea that all races on sky with BBC only showing a select few

~Mike~ · 13 Jan 2012 at 16:35

spudbynight said:
If it fails it will just be auctioned to the highest other bidder - almost certainly at a lower price.

The price will be whatever the market is willing to pay. Bernie will get the most cash he can - if that is half what he wants he won't walk away from it.

Agree. Can't see Bernie not doing some sort of deal. TV coverage is too important for F1 to lose.

koolpc · 13 Jan 2012 at 19:16

lauy said:
Hate the idea that all races on sky with BBC only showing a select few

Doesnt bother me as i used to tape quite a few races and skip through them. Glad they still have 10 live races though.

I def wouldnt give SKY any of my money for watc hing F1 even though i love the sport

Skeeter · 13 Jan 2012 at 19:58

Mike306 said:
Agree. Can't see Bernie not doing some sort of deal. TV coverage is too important for F1 to lose.

This is tv coverage in the UK only. It's a small market.

Bernie has both the BBC and Sky tied into nice fat contracts. For either of them to give it up would mean selling to someone for at least the cost of the rest of the contract, or the fines for breaching, whichever is highest. It's the whole reason why the BBC didn't just drop it all together. The new deal with Sky was cheaper than being sued by Bernie.

Sky can, and have, out bid everyone. If they can't make it work, then its game over.

Personally, I'm trying to decide if i even need to wait until March to get Sky. The Motorsport in TV in 2012 thread just shows what additional motorsport you get by having Sky.

arknor · 13 Jan 2012 at 20:29

Sky can, and have, out bid everyone. If they can't make it work, then its game over.

if they cant make it work its because they overbid....

someone else like channel 4 who were interested when ITV didnt renew the contract would get it at a cheaper rate and it would work for them.

skys main issue is a lot of people arent willing to pay to watch f1 and they cant really offset the cost with adverts while charging a subscription

MissChief · 13 Jan 2012 at 21:36

arknor said:
if they cant make it work its because they overbid....

someone else like channel 4 who were interested when ITV didnt renew the contract would get it at a cheaper rate and it would work for them.

skys main issue is a lot of people arent willing to pay to watch f1 and they cant really offset the cost with adverts while charging a subscription

Erm, Sky made a billion pounds profit last year. I doubt a few hundred million a year extra is going to bother them too much. Besides they'll no doubt grab a few hundred thousand extra customers in the next few months as well, not to mention advertising sales and sponsorship of the programs themselves.

Skeeter · 13 Jan 2012 at 21:57

Your missing the point arknor. Sky can't just 'drop' F1 if it doesn't turn out to be as popular as they hoped. They are tied into a contract and that has a cost. If they breach that contract then Bernie would sue them for at least the remaining value, likely a lot more. Sky would have to sell their contract to someone else for at least as much as it would cost them to eaither keep showing, or pay the penalties for breaching, otherwise they would just keep the contract and run at a loss.

It's this being 'tied' into a contract that is the only reason the BBC still have coverage. It was cheaper for them to negotiate a new deal with Sky than it was to drop the contract and pay costs of being sued by Bernie.

But its all a pointless discussion anyway. Sky is not run by idiots. Some intelligent people have worked out the numbers and figured out that F1 will be profitable. Sky do not sign contracts for things they know will fail.

People need to stop confusing 'F1 on Sky is bad' with 'F1 on Sky is bad for me'.

MissChief · 14 Jan 2012 at 18:26

Skeeter said:
Your missing the point arknor. Sky can't just 'drop' F1 if it doesn't turn out to be as popular as they hoped. They are tied into a contract and that has a cost. If they breach that contract then Bernie would sue them for at least the remaining value, likely a lot more. Sky would have to sell their contract to someone else for at least as much as it would cost them to eaither keep showing, or pay the penalties for breaching, otherwise they would just keep the contract and run at a loss.

It's this being 'tied' into a contract that is the only reason the BBC still have coverage. It was cheaper for them to negotiate a new deal with Sky than it was to drop the contract and pay costs of being sued by Bernie.

But its all a pointless discussion anyway. Sky is not run by idiots. Some intelligent people have worked out the numbers and figured out that F1 will be profitable. Sky do not sign contracts for things they know will fail.

People need to stop confusing 'F1 on Sky is bad' with 'F1 on Sky is bad for me'.

Is there an applaud smiley?