BBC possibly to drop F1 coverage...

JRS · 21 Jul 2011 at 13:04

Rybo89 said:
Bernie = complete utter money grabbing dick

Oh, for God's sake....

Bernard Charles Ecclestone is a businessman. He is in the business of making money. This does not make him Satan, like some of you seem to believe. What it does mean is that he does not generally act like a charitable foundation and let any old company broadcast F1 for peanuts.

By the same token, Bernie is not an idiot. He knows full well that for F1 teams to survive they need sponsors, and these sponsors need a wide audience for them to bother. And where do you get the widest potential audience?

Free-to-air TV channels.

Which broadcasters don't necessarily have the most money?

Free-to-air TV channels.

What does Bernie therefore do?

Forgoes the quick buck he could make now by selling F1 broadcast rights to a subscription or PPV channel in order to keep F1 free to watch on television.

Yes, there's self-interest there - he wants F1 to survive so he can keep making money. Yes, he's still probably charging the BBC and others quite a lot for the trouble. But F1 could have gone onto subscription or PPV channels many years back (you know, back when the show was good enough and the sponsors numerous enough to survive such a move), and didn't because of Bernie wanting to keep F1 on free-to-air TV.

Or, you know, whatever you want to believe. **** it. Bernie's the devil, F1's going on Channel Five any time they can find a break between Australian soaps and CSI, it's all doomed.

:rolleyes:

Glaucus · 21 Jul 2011 at 13:10

Free. To air rule, is exactly about making money. He earns less tv rights money but makes that up and more in sponsorship. Both him and the teams needed to support the sport.

JRS · 21 Jul 2011 at 13:20

AcidHell2 said:
Free. To air rule, is exactly about making money. He earns less tv rights money but makes that up and more in sponsorship. Both him and the teams needed to support the sport.

Indeed. That would be what I was getting at when I said:

me said:
Yes, there's self-interest there - he wants F1 to survive so he can keep making money.

englishpremier · 21 Jul 2011 at 14:14

AcidHell2 said:
Free. To air rule, is exactly about making money. He earns less tv rights money but makes that up and more in sponsorship. Both him and the teams needed to support the sport.

He doesn't own F1, he sold it a long time ago now. He's just employed to run it. His family's trust owns a tiny amount of shares.

Skeeter · 21 Jul 2011 at 15:37

englishpremier said:
He doesn't own F1, he sold it a long time ago now. He's just employed to run it. His family's trust owns a tiny amount of shares.

Whist not the owner, he is the CEO of FOM, so the business' interests are his own interests.

mikeh501 · 21 Jul 2011 at 16:49

I cant see BBC not showing F1 at all. They would be in for lots of contractual penalties. However that doesnt mean they have to fly loads of people out to the races and do live on site coverage; they could just do an audio dub over the F1 feed back in London.

If this does come to pass however it will be sad as the preamble is one of the big reasons i watch F1 at all. If it didnt have that i'd definately not watch every race or even the entire race. Sky+ FFWD tbh.

Mr_Orange · 22 Jul 2011 at 10:55

mikeh501 said:
I cant see BBC not showing F1 at all. They would be in for lots of contractual penalties. However that doesnt mean they have to fly loads of people out to the races and do live on site coverage; they could just do an audio dub over the F1 feed back in London.

If this does come to pass however it will be sad as the preamble is one of the big reasons i watch F1 at all. If it didnt have that i'd definately not watch every race or even the entire race. Sky+ FFWD tbh.

I would prefer that to ITV, Channel 5 or god forbid Sky.

englishpremier · 22 Jul 2011 at 11:05

I'd be happy with the bbc showing the regular feed and only sending the commentators to the events.

I can't stand most the the nonsense pre show they do anyway. Really what's the point of it?

Dr. Pain · 23 Jul 2011 at 09:46

JRS said:
Oh, for God's sake....

Bernard Charles Ecclestone is a businessman. He is in the business of making money. This does not make him Satan, like some of you seem to believe. What it does mean is that he does not generally act like a charitable foundation and let any old company broadcast F1 for peanuts.

By the same token, Bernie is not an idiot. He knows full well that for F1 teams to survive they need sponsors, and these sponsors need a wide audience for them to bother. And where do you get the widest potential audience?

Free-to-air TV channels.

Which broadcasters don't necessarily have the most money?

Free-to-air TV channels.

What does Bernie therefore do?

Forgoes the quick buck he could make now by selling F1 broadcast rights to a subscription or PPV channel in order to keep F1 free to watch on television.

Yes, there's self-interest there - he wants F1 to survive so he can keep making money. Yes, he's still probably charging the BBC and others quite a lot for the trouble. But F1 could have gone onto subscription or PPV channels many years back (you know, back when the show was good enough and the sponsors numerous enough to survive such a move), and didn't because of Bernie wanting to keep F1 on free-to-air TV.

Or, you know, whatever you want to believe. **** it. Bernie's the devil, F1's going on Channel Five any time they can find a break between Australian soaps and CSI, it's all doomed.

Yeah, because £60Million per season is a bargain right?

:rolleyes:

JRS · 23 Jul 2011 at 10:02

Dr. Pain said:
Yeah, because £60Million per season is a bargain right?

Thanks for completely missing the point. I wouldn't mind, but you even quoted the whole post - did you just not read what I typed? I've never claimed that the BBC get a bargain from Bernie. In fact, I believe I said:

me said:
he does not generally act like a charitable foundation and let any old company broadcast F1 for peanuts.

and:

me said:
Yes, he's still probably charging the BBC and others quite a lot for the trouble.

But of course, you know I said that as you actually read the post of mine that you quoted didn't you?

*sigh*

Wicksta · 23 Jul 2011 at 11:45

JLS has it spot on.

I imagine half of the people moaning about Bernie on the internet wouldn't even be watching F1 without him (I don't mean people here specifically).

mjt · 23 Jul 2011 at 23:01

Eddie Jordan got on a plane to Dusseldorf from Nice at the gate next to mine the other day.
I probably should have hassled him and asked him about this, but I thought better of it and left him alone.

dannyjo22 · 23 Jul 2011 at 23:04

Wicksta said:
JLS has it spot on..

JRS

LMAO I will forever see JRS as a twenty something black kid singing churned out pap

JRS · 24 Jul 2011 at 08:08

dannyjo22 said:
JRS

LMAO I will forever see JRS as a twenty something black kid singing churned out pap

Merlin5 · 24 Jul 2011 at 15:46

F1 will not be as good on any other channel if we lose Jake, Eddy, David and Martin, which is like a family we've come to love.

Weebull · 24 Jul 2011 at 19:22

Alpherah said:
Well its talksport so take with a pinch of salt but knowing the BBC ..

Oh for god sake, Talksport? You had me genuinely worried before you actually admitted that.

Skeeter · 24 Jul 2011 at 19:46

?

The BBC themselves have said that dropping F1 as early as the end of the year is one of the options on the table to save money.

CaptainRAVE · 24 Jul 2011 at 19:51

Hopefully Bernie will make a deal with them to keep it. Surely he is better off reducing the fee and gaining the fans that the BBC have attracted?

DELETED_83755 · 24 Jul 2011 at 22:21

The only thing that has got me interested in F1 more is the way the BBC covers the F1 weekend. While the racing is important, it is the walking around the paddocks, the pit lanes, the way that the commentators gel together as a family that makes it what it is.

koolpc · 24 Jul 2011 at 22:26

I love the coverage on BBC of F1. I would hate it to go to ITV as that was just fulol of adverts etc etc.