My little experiment

[anthonyvop]

In some cases I beleive you are right but F1 is a private entity that relies on the public to watch and remain interested for it to be successfull. F1 has relied on its "free to air" television audience for the past 30 plus years in the UK to keep its profile as high as it is. They have decided to sell half the season off to a private entity with a significantly smaller audience. Time will tell whether that has been the right decision.

Free TV? Where in the world is there Free TV. Surely you are not suggesting that the BBC is free?

The reason this deal was done was because the BBC no longer wanted to pay the full amount to FOM for the TV rights. Sure the sport will get money from Sky (how much more I don't know), and a share from the BBC, but they have to balance that with a drop in viewing figures and the amount of casual fans who will no longer tune in. You may think it is more finantially benificial to the sport but I see that as the immediate result. I also see it as reducing the amount of viewers, therefore its only logical that interest will dwindle and less money will be spent either at the home GP or on products the sport is only willing to promote. Britain is the home of Formula One and once a very important market which I feel has been forced out of the game over a mere £20m.

As I stated earlier the typical F1 Sponsor probably isn't interested in the viewer who won't watch F1 because they can't afford the extra cost of Sky. They are after those with substantial discretionary income.

[Dave B]

Free TV? Where in the world is there Free TV. Surely you are not suggesting that the BBC is free?

He didn't say "free", he said "free to air" which is the generally accepted term for TV which doesn't require any subscription beyond the mandatory licence fee which every household pays if they receive live broadcasts from any broadcaster.

As I stated earlier the typical F1 Sponsor probably isn't interested in the viewer who won't watch F1 because they can't afford the extra cost of Sky. They are after those with substantial discretionary income.

That's not a wholly unreasonable point but a huge amount of Sky Sports' audience is from the unfashionable C2DE end of the spectrum, a group who although they don't have a massive amount of disposable income are also a goldmine to advertisers becuase their spending patterns are often more easily influenced by marketing - it's probably patronising and insulting simply to say "poor people like shiny things", but there is a grain of truth in that.

[SGWilko]

"poor people like shiny things", but there is a grain of truth in that.

Any social/council/affordable housing, usually - but not exclusively - inhabited by benefit beneficiaries, will adorn the Sky dish on an external wall somewhere.......

[anthonyvop]

He didn't say "free", he said "free to air" which is the generally accepted term for TV which doesn't require any subscription beyond the mandatory licence fee which every household pays if they receive live broadcasts from any broadcaster.

BINGO! So by paying a licensing fee you are paying.

In the US there is no Licensing fee whatsoever for viewing broadcast TV. Off course the Broadcast Networks are also private companies and not Financed by the Tax payers. So in the UK there is no such thing as free TV but in the USA there is.

[anthonyvop]

No I wasn't suggesting that and you have clearly misunderstood. Please see Dave's explanation above.

I don't agree with that at all. I may not be able to afford £30 p/m month for a Sky subscription but I can afford a can of Red Bull every now and then. I can also afford a cheap Vodafone contract on my mobile, and fill my car up with sponsored fuels. Who knows I may have been someone who would consider a Santander account or loan in the future? Not every sponsor in F1 is aimed at the wealthy I think you'll find.

Didn't say ALL I said Most.

Just look at Mercedes-AMG GP's sponsors
Aabar Investments, Autonomy, MIG Bank, Graham London.
Also many others aren't even available in the UK. Such as Petronas

Then you have the actual manufacturers
Ferrari (6 Cars), Mercedes (6 Cars), Lotus (2 Cars)

[DexDexter]

Fortunately for you guys in the UK, it's really quite easy to watch the races BBC doesn't show live online. I know a guy who's been watching BBC F1 coverage in Finland all year

[Mark]

BINGO! So by paying a licensing fee you are paying.

In the US there is no Licensing fee whatsoever for viewing broadcast TV. Off course the Broadcast Networks are also private companies and not Financed by the Tax payers. So in the UK there is no such thing as free TV but in the USA there is.

That's all true - but the term "Free to air" still stands, it might be misnomer, but the term is very commonly used and you aren't going to change it I'm afraid

[DexDexter]

I'm not sure the BBC are going to give us the option to watch the non live races online next year though? If they are not receiving the full coverage to put it on their channel, I doubt they'll put the whole thing online. It certainly hasn't been mentioned to my knowledge.

There are lots of options, you may have to learn Chinese, though

[Dave B]

BINGO! So by paying a licensing fee you are paying.

In the US there is no Licensing fee whatsoever for viewing broadcast TV. Off course the Broadcast Networks are also private companies and not Financed by the Tax payers. So in the UK there is no such thing as free TV but in the USA there is.

Yes you're paying, but the term "free to air" still stands as there are no additional costs other than the compulsory licence fee.

Anyway, to take your argument to its logical conclusion there's still no "free" TV in the States, unless you count PSB channels which are nevertheless still funded by donations. Commercial TV is free at the point of delivery but you still pay for it: in the UK it's estimated that TV advertising costs each person around £300 per year on their expenditure, compared with £145 per household for the licence fee. That's even before you add on subscription costs - and even then most subscription channels still bombard you with adverts even though you've already paid!

I think we're straying off the point somewhat though...

[Dave B]

Fortunately for you guys in the UK, it's really quite easy to watch the races BBC doesn't show live online. I know a guy who's been watching BBC F1 coverage in Finland all year

With a £50 receiver from Maplin and a slight shift of dish direction it should be possible to watch German unencrypted broadcasts. There's a conspiracy theory (isn't there always?) that part of the reason Sky have wholesale poached the 5Live radio team is to discourage people from watching a foreign broadcast with the English language radio commentary. Indeed Bernie has hinted that there might not even be a radio commentary...