BBC possibly to drop F1 coverage...

Skeeter · 28 Nov 2011 at 16:54

IIRC the Porsche cup is on Motors TV, and GP2 is on Eurosport. Don't know where GP3 is.

It would mean buying out contracts from other channels. But it would be epic. Its not like they wont have capacity on the F1 channel to at least show highlights of support races.

[scaremonger mode] It doesn't say free for Sky HD subscribers on that video... [/scaremonger mode]

Kol · 28 Nov 2011 at 17:19

Skeeter said:
[scaremonger mode] It doesn't say free for Sky HD subscribers on that video... [/scaremonger mode]

It says, quite simply, on Skys on page.

http://f1.sky.com

Sky said:
OUR NEW CHANNEL

SKY SPORTS F1™HD IS FREE TO FULL SKY SPORTS CUSTOMERS AND TO SKY HD SUBSCRIBERS

arknor · 28 Nov 2011 at 17:43

so what about non sky customers?

Shimmy · 28 Nov 2011 at 17:48

arknor said:
so what about non sky customers?

unlucky?

Skeeter · 28 Nov 2011 at 17:48

It's not on freeview or freesat, but might be on Virgin.

ps3ud0 · 28 Nov 2011 at 18:15

I suspect it might be only for Sky Sports customers on VM (Sky will ensure you have to have the SS collection) - theres no real equivalent of the Sky HD charge with VM pricing and theres no way Sky would allow VM to give it free outside of SS when they dont...

ps3ud0 :cool:

Glaucus · 28 Nov 2011 at 18:29

Was just thinking, what are other countries presenters like.
BBC team seemed to know every one, get on with most people and just gate crash everything and get away with it.
That German presenter that brundle always gets in a fight with, seem to mix it up as well. But do other commentators, what was it like under itv, i can't remember.

Irish_Tom · 28 Nov 2011 at 20:27

Glaucus said:
Was just thinking, what are other countries presenters like.
BBC team seemed to know every one, get on with most people and just gate crash everything and get away with it.
That German presenter that brundle always gets in a fight with, seem to mix it up as well. But do other commentators, what was it like under itv, i can't remember.

My girlfriend is German and she says the RTL guy who does the grid walk is 'just' a sports journalist and has no history with F1 so it's no surprise Brundle get's in before him for most interviews.

Skeeter · 28 Nov 2011 at 21:03

I think the UK's coverage of F1 is considered one of the best. Wether this will transfer to Sky I don't know.

I assume the Sky F1 channel is effectively an 'official' F1 channel, so everyone will be very much aware of it and I imagine it will be treated as 'the' F1 show, so hopefully should be at the front of the queue for access to teams and drivers.

KnightStalker · 28 Nov 2011 at 22:21

Hang on, i think ive lost something somewhere, is next year All on SkyF1? or is it half and half...It wont bother me if it is, as ive got all Sky sports etc so im covered on that front if its all Sky..
Also it says uninterupted, so im guessing no commercial breaks every bloody 10-15mins as is the case with some sky channels at times.

I_M_Weasel · 28 Nov 2011 at 22:24

will f1 be on espn

Skeeter · 28 Nov 2011 at 22:29

KnightStalker said:
Hang on, i think ive lost something somewhere, is next year All on SkyF1? or is it half and half...It wont bother me if it is, as ive got all Sky sports etc so im covered on that front if its all Sky..
Also it says uninterupted, so im guessing no commercial breaks every bloody 10-15mins as is the case with some sky channels at times.

Sky Sports F1 will have every race live and uninterrupted.

BBC have 10 races live and uninterrupted, and the rest are delayed extended highlights.

joem1983 · 29 Nov 2011 at 00:20

I think I'm just going to have to avoid the news, internet etc as if I wasnt at home for previous GPs not wanting to know on highlight weekends.
Some of the covered GPs on BBC I do wonder about. Abu Dhabi? Singapore?
Real shame tbh.

Skeeter · 29 Nov 2011 at 00:35

I'm surprised they aren't covering all the European races. Surely if you want to save money you cover all the races nearer to you.

arknor · 29 Nov 2011 at 05:30

Shimmy said:
unlucky?

wouldnt suprise me seeing as the figure floating around is that sky need to get an extra 150,000 customers to actually offset the cost of buying f1

Irish_Tom · 29 Nov 2011 at 08:36

Skeeter said:
I'm surprised they aren't covering all the European races. Surely if you want to save money you cover all the races nearer to you.

It's an absolute joke though, because they are sending the whole team out to all of the races anyway.

Coupled that with the fact that the actual race feed is independent of the BBC and the whole deal looks more and more dodgy.

Technically it would be possible to show every single race live without leaving the UK — OK the coverage would be pants but I'm just using it as an example.

It seems to me that it has nothing to do with saving money and the BBC just wanted to create some extra airtime for Cash in the Attic or some other rubbish.

Demon · 29 Nov 2011 at 08:57

Panzerbjorn said:
It's an absolute joke though, because they are sending the whole team out to all of the races anyway.

Coupled that with the fact that the actual race feed is independent of the BBC and the whole deal looks more and more dodgy.

Technically it would be possible to show every single race live without leaving the UK — OK the coverage would be pants but I'm just using it as an example.

It seems to me that it has nothing to do with saving money and the BBC just wanted to create some extra airtime for Cash in the Attic or some other rubbish.

What's the split of licence fee to Bernie vs production costs per race?

And do we know what Sky have paid? logic says a minimum of 10 races licencing fees to the FOM, but it may be even more..

Skeeter · 29 Nov 2011 at 09:16

Panzerbjorn said:
It seems to me that it has nothing to do with saving money and the BBC just wanted to create some extra airtime for Cash in the Attic or some other rubbish.

Thats exactly it, and the BBC haven't tried to hide this either :confused:

They are freeing up airtime for programs that are cheaper to make, as the money available to them is different now to what they were forecasting when they first took on F1.

Theres nothing dodgy about the BBC deal at all. They had to reduce costs, and reducing F1 coverage was one of many options. They are doing the best they can to reduce the cost of the coverage, while also ensuring they don't break the contract they had with Bernie (which would come with massive penalty charges).

GravyMonster · 29 Nov 2011 at 09:32

The BBC have also made some money from Sky paying for half of the cost of the rights for next year haven't they? I swear I read that somewhere.

Skeeter · 29 Nov 2011 at 09:42

I think the BBC are now on a different, cheaper contract than they had before, so while not a direct payment from Sky, the effect is the same.