Sky Sports

[tommy2k8]

Interesting to see how F1 will be shown on Sky1 as well this year (well, the Aussie GP is). Does anyone know if this will happen all season? Why show it on F1 and Sky1? Seems odd!

[AndyL]

When is it on Sky 1? If it's live, the current schedule doesn't show it.

[tommy2k8]

Well, the Qualifying is.

[AndyL]

Sounds like an extended trailer for Sky Sports then!

[henners88]

Its no secret Sky have been getting a lot of criticism for there viewing figures both in the media and even Bernie has mentioned it on a number of occasions. My guess is they are putting it on Sky 1 as a test to see if this boasts it somewhat with the intention of moving it should this be the case. There are more Sky subscribers with the basic subscription that can receive Sky 1 with less than 50% having the sports package. Having said that this is the only place I have read about this so it could be simply a rumour.

[tommy2k8]

Hmm, could the decision backfire on both Bernie, and to a much lesser extent, the BBC?!

[JasonPotato]

Not sure where your getting this but the guide only shows Qualifying on SKY1, nothing about the race on Sunday. If it was they would have advertised it.

[steveaki13]

I wonder what will happen long term.

I mean if sky's/F1 audience continue to fall in the UK and the Beeb drop out, then very few people in the UK will watch F1. Bernie won't like that, despite the money.

Mind you Bernie might be gone by that time. who knows.

[acescribe]

Seems a good idea, wet people's appetite by showing qualifying on Sky 1. They have started to show some Football on there too.

If this years season turns into unpredictable chaos and some sort of must see (live) TV with a British driver running at the front and yet Sky's viewing figures still don't rise then perhaps there might be some worrying all round..

[henners88]

It might seem like a good idea and I admit it is a better idea than keeping the channel on the Sports package, but there is no getting away from the fact that only a third of UK households have access to Sky. When the channel could be received with just the HD pack, the amount of subscriptions were in Sky's words, 'slightly below expectations'. I think any fan who wanted Sky F1 had their chance to buy it when it was 15 quid cheaper a month than it is now and the uptake was disappointing. Since then I know they've lost around 108k on average and it wasn't great to begin with.

Showing the qualifying might be a way of Sky advertising the channel and tempting people to upgrade like they have done with football in the past. Or it might be a request from the sport itself, who knows? I know Bernie mentioned in an interview that the drop in viewers was a concern so I would imagine the idea of making the qualifying coverage this weekend more available is more a move by Bernie than Sky. Sky were happy to move the channel amongst their Sports so that gives you the impression they were happy for it to attract a limited number of viewers as they knew it wasn't bringing in a record number of subscribers.

Back in 2011 Sky saw F1 pulling in up to 8 million viewers for some races and thought it would be a sure fire way to increase subscriptions by tempting F1 viewers who didn't want to lose the coverage across to them. It hasn't worked out, and the amusing thing is Bernie was very arrogant about it back then. He said viewers were not so important and the split coverage brings it to more fans. Its done the opposite and its brilliant to see my predictions came true.