BBC Coverage

[Robinho]

I appreciate it won't make a lot of difference, but the government e petition system has a "keep F1 free to air" that hasattracted 22k signatures so far. If it gets to 100k it has to be debated in parliament so worth having a go at least - find it here:

Keep Formula 1 Free To Air in the UK - e-petitions

[BDunnell]

If it gets to 100k it has to be debated in parliament

Not actually true, as far as I know. Doesn't it just open up the possibility of a debate? Fat lot of use it will do in any case.

[Mark]

Even if it were there's nothing government can do about it.

[BDunnell]

Quite. It's a commercial transaction and nothing scandalous or illegal — just unpopular.

[ArrowsFA1]

Not actually true, as far as I know. Doesn't it just open up the possibility of a debate?

Correct.

...if it gets at least 100,000 signatures, it will be eligible for debate in the House of Commons.

HM Government e-petitions

In other words, it will be for the government to decide whether a petition with 100,000+ signatures gets debated or not.

[Somebody]

2012 calendar's been updated: Bahrain in; Turkey gets the flick

Hmm... Wonder if the BBC will take Australia live. On the one hand, it's in a pig of a timeslot, and so not necessarily "worth" taking live, and on the other, it's the start of the season and there's no races in a decent timezone until Bahrain (Spain, if they don't do Bahrain for obvious reasons).

Australia, Spain, Monaco, Canada, GB, Belgium, Italy, Abu Dhabi, USA, Brazil; perhaps?

[Mark]

I guess it depends how the races are divided up. Does Sky get to pick which races it wants exclusive coverage of and the BBC gets the rest?

[inimitablestoo]

According to Autosport a few weeks ago, one company gets to pick three races (I forget who goes first but it may be the BBC, hence the confirmation of Monaco, Britain and the finale), then the other picks three, they might well repeat that process, and then they negotiate over the rest. Although it could well come down to rock-paper-scissors

[steveaki13]

I guess it depends how the races are divided up. Does Sky get to pick which races it wants exclusive coverage of and the BBC gets the rest?

Wouldn't mind betting that is what happens. Sky will want the big ones as more people will subscribe to watch the jewels they miss on BBC, rather than watching the important races on BBC and subscribing for Bahrain. Hardly.

[IceWizard]

I thought I had read somewhere that BBC chooses the first three races followed by Sky picking three for exclsuive coverage. They then alternate picking one race at a time to divide up the remainder.