BBC possibly to drop F1 coverage...

ZG002 · 12 Feb 2012 at 22:01

For what it's worth

I find the "entertainment extra" has all the channels I actually watch, Well worth it.

timbob · 12 Feb 2012 at 22:07

Thanks guys, I'll take a look at Quidco

I'm not too fussed about the extra channels, as I barely watch TV really. Aside from the F1, I'll watch the news, Top Gear, the odd documentary once or twice a year and that's about it. We'll still have a freeview box too, so won't be losing what we have already.

ZG002 · 12 Feb 2012 at 22:10

All the channels that are on freeview are on Sky. It's just all your Documentary channels are in lovely HD etc if you pick the right package.

But you can add packages at any time so of course get what you feel and you might decide you would like the channels later, It's all pretty easy really. It's just a shame it's a 12 month contract as I think that puts a lot of people off of giving it a try.

timbob · 12 Feb 2012 at 22:18

ZG002 said:
All the channels that are on freeview are on Sky. It's just all your Documentary channels are in lovely HD etc if you pick the right package.

But you can add packages at any time so of course get what you feel and you might decide you would like the channels later, It's all pretty easy really. It's just a shame it's a 12 month contract as I think that puts a lot of people off of giving it a try.

Indeed, I would have quite easily forked out for a pay per view service for the F1, perhaps even at a tenner per race weekend. It's just the 12 month contract that was a hard pill to swallow - £360 expenditure over the year just to be able to follow the one sport I love...

I was all set to rebel against it until Brundle went to Sky, then the cars got launched and the testing's started, and my resolve has been weakening with the Australian weekend fast approaching!

ZG002 · 12 Feb 2012 at 22:23

I got lucky and the other half said she would pay half, Then announcement of you needing only HD to get the F1 channel and I went for it. Now GP3 and GP2 will be shown and I'm well happy.

With Sky + we hardly ever watch live tv any more either. Everything is series linked and we just watch it as and when we feel like it, Helps a lot being able to skip the adverts.

tbh I think this season I'm the most excited I have ever been about F1 kicking off again.

ps3ud0 · 12 Feb 2012 at 22:26

timbob said:
I was all set to rebel against it until Brundle went to Sky, then the cars got launched and the testing's started, and my resolve has been weakening with the Australian weekend fast approaching!

The force is weak with this one

ps3ud0

MissChief · 12 Feb 2012 at 23:52

I should point out that Sky's Introduce a friend offer is currently sitting at £75 M&S Vouchers EACH with existing subscribers able to introduce as many friends as they like for £75 for each person.

Irish_Tom · 13 Feb 2012 at 08:43

I've sorted out SkyGo with my Dad's Sky account so free premier league football and F1 for me.

SKYNHEDD · 13 Feb 2012 at 09:03

F1 is major fail now.

Its gonna end up like A1GP in the UK with nobody watching it.

arknor · 13 Feb 2012 at 09:04

SKYNHEDD said:
F1 is major fail now.

Its gonna end up like A1GP in the UK with nobody watching it.

wouldnt suprise me..
the bbc worked hard attracting new viewers on sky its just going to be another program on a pay to view channel a lot of people wont be willing to try.

i doubt the bbc will bother showing races all the way to 2018 if the viewing figures start to drop a lot and with them showing only half the races i see that happening

CaptainRAVE · 13 Feb 2012 at 09:07

arknor said:
wouldnt suprise me..
the bbc worked hard attracting new viewers on sky its just going to be another program on a pay to view channel a lot of people wont be willing to try

Wouldn't surprise me either. Such a shame given how well BBC were doing. Sky certainly aren't getting any of my money.

Duke · 13 Feb 2012 at 09:08

Panzerbjorn said:
I've sorted out SkyGo with my Dad's Sky account so free premier league football and F1 for me.

Works really well on an Xbox 360 if you have one. There is an app for it under TV on there. The quality seems a little better on that than on the PC.

Skeeter · 13 Feb 2012 at 10:40

SKYNHEDD said:
F1 is major fail now.

Its gonna end up like A1GP in the UK with nobody watching it.

You say it could be like A1GP...

I say it could be like Premiership Football or Test Cricket, or Speedway...

Either way, Sky have not invested that much into F1 with the intention of letting it flop.

Emlyn_Dewar · 13 Feb 2012 at 11:23

Basically, unless you are a Sky customer, you are shafted.
You can't just get the F1 channel on Virgin media, you have to sell your soul and all your possesions for the Sky Sports rip package, that doesn't even net you it in HD...

Such a massive let down for a sport to be taken away and reserved for those who want to have Sky in their homes, or pay a comedy amount per month.
Really hoping there's a massive slump in UK viewing figures this year.

Skeeter · 13 Feb 2012 at 11:41

Wow there are some bitter people on here.

You now have to pay to watch F1, just like many other countries already do, and just like you do to watch a lot of other sports or programming in the UK.

If you don't want to pay to watch it, then don't. But don't start whining as if you have some sort of 'right' to watch F1 for free. You don't. Get over it.

And as for people wishing that F1 now fails because its now on Sky and they don't want to pay for it, stop cutting off your nose to spite your face and grow up.

Demon · 13 Feb 2012 at 11:50

Even though I have SKY, and feel I get very good VFM from it, the F1 channel is risky.. it's going to be an instant/sizeable reduction in numbers, and how they 'build' that into something viable financially, I don't know..

Skeeter · 13 Feb 2012 at 11:59

Demon said:
Even though I have SKY, and feel I get very good VFM from it, the F1 channel is risky.. it's going to be an instant/sizeable reduction in numbers, and how they 'build' that into something viable financially, I don't know..

Advertising.

2m viewers with adverts > 8m viewers without.

Duke · 13 Feb 2012 at 12:04

And the subscriptions from people signing up who wouldn't have done before.

Emlyn_Dewar · 13 Feb 2012 at 12:46

I'd happily pay if it wasn't nearly £30 a month on top of normal fees.

(Not a Sky subscriber)

Give me the 1 channel for maybe £5 a month and I'd be happy... Well, not happy but less miserable about the whole situation.

Skeeter said:
And as for people wishing that F1 now fails because its now on Sky and they don't want to pay for it, stop cutting off your nose to spite your face and grow up.

I'm hoping it fails so that they think about offering some more ways to watch. I will not become a Sky subscriber and I do not want to pay for a load of **** sports channels that have nothing to offer me.

JeditOjanen · 13 Feb 2012 at 12:54

Skeeter said:
If you don't want to pay to watch it, then don't. But don't start whining as if you have some sort of 'right' to watch F1 for free. You don't.

Actually, we do. The Concorde Agreement states that F1 coverage must be shown on a channel that is free to view unless no such broadcaster exists that is ready to make an offer. Channel 4 were ready to make an offer, but were ignored for the Sky deal.

EDIT: if you have Sky HD, you get Sky Formula 1 as part of the package without having to pay for Sky Sports as well.