BBC possibly to drop F1 coverage...

Skeeter · 13 Feb 2012 at 13:01

JeditOjanen said:
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.

The Concorde agreement is between FOM and the teams, who all benefit from going with the highest bidder. Sky massively outbid anything that Channel 4 could or did offer. The Concorde agreement expires this year anyway.

It is still on free to air too, just not live, and the Concorde agreement does not stupulate the free coverage should be live either.

So no, you have no 'right' to watch F1 for free. Its a premium sport that now has a premium service to watch it. If anything, we should all be thankful that the free live coverage has lasted this long.

james.miller · 13 Feb 2012 at 13:12

It was never free, the tv licence paid for it. Well, unless you count the add-invested itv coverage. Some of us now have to pay a lot more than others to watch it because it's now on sky, and I'm sure you'll find those who have to pay more are of course those who are most vocal.

With the BBC, everybody has it, everybody (well, lol) paid the same amount for it. That isn't the case any more so yes, people will be bitter about it and as far as I'm concerned they are entitled to be, especially given that we already know that money the bbc has saved is being redirected to more reality trash such as the voice (yawn)

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

(Not a Sky subscriber)

pretty much.

Skeeter · 13 Feb 2012 at 13:17

james.miller said:
Some of us now have to pay a lot more than others to watch it

Really? Is there a gun to your head or something?

Also, don't forget, that in the same way that you think The Voice is rubbish, there were millions of people paying their TV License who couldn't care less about F1...

Emlyn_Dewar · 13 Feb 2012 at 13:19

Skeeter said:
Really? Is there a gun to your head or something?

Get over yourself, we're all F1 fans, we all want to watch it.
You have to admit that the cost for non Sky subscribers is a bit steep.

james.miller · 13 Feb 2012 at 13:20

Skeeter said:
Really? Is there a gun to your head or something?

funny

I am of course referring to the fact that people who dont have sky and want to watch it HAVE to pay more. It's pretty obvious that the other option is to not watch it.

Skeeter · 13 Feb 2012 at 13:22

james.miller said:
funny

I am of course referring to the fact that if people who dont have sky want to watch it, they HAVE to pay more. It's pretty obvious that the other option is to not watch it.

Not really. The other option is watch 10 races live and the rest as extended highlights.

james.miller · 13 Feb 2012 at 13:24

Skeeter said:
Not really. The other option is watch 10 races live and the rest as extended highlights.

yes, really. I can't watch all of the live races if i don't have sky. Can't you have a sensible discussion?

Skeeter · 13 Feb 2012 at 13:25

Emlyn_Dewar said:
Get over yourself, we're all F1 fans, we all want to watch it.
You have to admit that the cost for non Sky subscribers is a bit steep.

No its not. For £35 I get hours of documentary and drama content, and coverage of tens of different motorsport series from accross the world, with large chunks of it in shiny HD (I currently don't have Freeview HD where I live) that I otherwise wouldn't have.

If people are going to completely ignore everything else Sky offers and just hang the whole price on 1 channel, then that's their problem.

Skeeter · 13 Feb 2012 at 13:28

james.miller said:
yes, really. I can't watch all of the live races if i don't have sky. Can't you have a sensible discussion?

So, if you want to watch all the races live, you have to pay for it.

If you don't want to pay for it, you don't get all the races live.

I fail to see the problem?

If I want KFC for lunch, I have to pay for it. If I don't want to pay for it, I make some sandwiches and bring them in.

The core of this issue is that people have grown to think that Live F1 is something that should be free. The simple fact is, it isn't. Its an expensive premium product, why should the makers not charge you to watch it?

Fr0dders · 13 Feb 2012 at 13:30

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

(Not a Sky subscriber)

.

You are aware you don't need sky sports ?

Sky sports f1 is free to anybody with Sky HD which is £10 a month on top of a basic sky subscription

Emlyn_Dewar · 13 Feb 2012 at 13:30

I don't live infront of my TV unfortunately so all those things are meaningless. It IS a large amount to pay for ONE channel.

I only have Virgin for normal TV as the reception in my house was god awful and the cost was extremely small on top of my broadband package.
It's a nice attitude you have, you were already a Sky customer I guess so you have not been put out in the slightest?
Meanwhile, a large number of people are left without the option to watch the sport.

ps3ud0 · 13 Feb 2012 at 13:32

MrLOL said:
You are aware you don't need sky sports ?

Sky sports f1 is free to anybody with Sky HD which is £10 a month on top of a basic sky subscription

Try and read again what he wrote and realise your reply isnt that appropriate

ps3ud0

Skeeter · 13 Feb 2012 at 13:34

Emlyn_Dewar said:
It's a nice attitude you have, you were already a Sky customer I guess so you have not been put out in the slightest?

On the contrary. Only yesterday did I sign up for £35 of Sky Entertainment Extra + HD Pack. Until now I have only had Freeview.

Emlyn_Dewar · 13 Feb 2012 at 13:45

MrLOL said:
You are aware you don't need sky sports ?

Sky sports f1 is free to anybody with Sky HD which is £10 a month on top of a basic sky subscription

Sucks if you don't want Sky.

Hopefully at one point in the future there'll be a website where you can pay per F1 race and watch online. I don't care about commentary, I don't care about features. Hell, I don't even care about the practise sessions.
I'd just like to see the quali and race feed. I don't want to be sign up to other services I do not want/need.

Fr0dders · 13 Feb 2012 at 14:04

I wasnt sure if by normal fees you meant normal TV license or normal sky subscription

ps3ud0 · 13 Feb 2012 at 14:06

I would have thought the phrase in brackets may have giving that away

- not having a go at you MrLOL just trying to lighten up a frankly fruitless argument

ps3ud0 :cool:

james.miller · 13 Feb 2012 at 14:08

Skeeter said:
So, if you want to watch all the races live, you have to pay for it.

If you don't want to pay for it, you don't get all the races live.

I fail to see the problem?

The problem is the cost, this is something that's been mentioned again and again.

If I want KFC for lunch, I have to pay for it. If I don't want to pay for it, I make some sandwiches and bring them in.

I don't think that analogy works. I can walk in to KFC and buy the same meal for the same price as you. This isn't the case for people on virgin who want to watch ALL (for the pendants among us) of the live f1 races. I either have to pay more on virgin, or i have to move to sky and get an overall worse package (no tivo, no 100mb broadband....) and probably take installation costs on the chin too. The saving in overall cost isn't worth 'downgrading' my virgin package and the addition cost to get F1 on virgin isnt worth it to watch 6 races live. This my my personal view, of course, but It is the same for many fans on virgin. Rock and a hard place but I made my decision months ago. Doesn't mean I'm not allowed to to disagree with the move.

The core of this issue is that people have grown to think that Live F1 is something that should be free. The simple fact is, it isn't. Its an expensive premium product, why should the makers not charge you to watch it?

james.miller said:
It was never free, the tv licence paid for it. Well, unless you count the add-invested itv coverage.

deuse · 13 Feb 2012 at 14:33

I can't wait to see the ratings for sky F1 for the first race. If they don't get 4-5 million it's a fail.

Skeeter · 13 Feb 2012 at 14:56

deuse said:
I can't wait to see the ratings for sky F1 for the first race. If they don't get 4-5 million it's a fail.

They won't get 4-5m. Didn't Sky themselves post estimated figures of around 2m?

Any why is 4-5m a fail?

ps3ud0 · 13 Feb 2012 at 15:04

Only thing I agree with you Skeeter that youve posted so far today

. Just 1million paying some cost (lets call it a £5 for sake of argument since its probably the most valued channel in the Sky HD pack) each month (say 2 races on average) isnt to be sniffed it...

Unfortunately on the flip side - thats a fair reduction in the live viewing public watching F1 in the UK. The kind of figure changes that get shows cancelled...

ps3ud0 :cool: