F1 going to Sky

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AndyRAC

Only if NorthOne are clever - and realise there's a gap to be filled........

As for the news, I'm not as mad as I thought I'd be - which shows how much F1 has lost it's hold on me in the last 5-10 years. In fact, F1 can now join the rest of Motorsport as a niche/minority sport....
Regarding the BBC - simply, not fit for purpose: think back to the 80's- mid 90's and the BBC Sport output: every weekend there was sport on the Beeb; Grandstand, Sunday Grandstand, Sport on Friday, Sportsnight, etc In fact, lots of minority/niche sports were covered, which is what the BBC should be covering. Where has it all gone? I thought the BBC was public service provider - which means a wide variety of programmes - and importantly, no chasing ratings. They really are a law unto themselves - £900M on a pointless move to Salford, 200 people the other day covering the 'Olympic 1 year to go' party.
What we can expect now on a Sunday lunchtime is another pointless repeat of Kids cooking pets, or Cash in my underpants.........

---

There is so much asinine **** on the BBC it's not funny. The thing with good content is that it can be sold on, take Grand Designs, I'm pretty sure it's shown in Australia and the Australian version is sold here. Now who in Australia or wherever is going to pay to see the crap the BBC is peddling to morons on Three?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Daniel

There is so much asinine **** on the BBC it's not funny. The thing with good content is that it can be sold on, take Grand Designs, I'm pretty sure it's shown in Australia and the Australian version is sold here. Now who in Australia or wherever is going to pay to see the crap the BBC is peddling to morons on Three?

---

There is so much asinine **** on all channels now it's not funny. I'm afraid I certainly wouldn't class 'Grand Designs' as something to especially cherish either, but each to their own.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BDunnell

There is so much asinine **** on all channels now it's not funny. I'm afraid I certainly wouldn't class 'Grand Designs' as something to especially cherish either, but each to their own.

---

Oh it's not exactly the greatest programme in the world, but I can see the value in it and the fact that it's shown overseas shows that there is some universal appeal to it.

I just can't stand most of the stuff on Three and also I can stand such weak programming as The One Show.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BDunnell

There will, in effect, have to be formed a whole new commentary team given the division between two broadcasters.

---

Not necessarily. It simply wouldn't make commercial sense for the two companies to have duplicated production teams and the attached logistics for half the number of races they'd usually cover. The deal could involve Sky simply buying the entire race coverage off the BBC and broadcasting it, which would also make sense if the BBC is going to have a commentating team doing the highlights of every race anyway.

This is of course simply my guess.

As for the decision to move half the races to Sky on a personal basis I'm pretty hacked off. If it turns out the BBC will show all races in full with half live and half delayed I'll stick with terrestial. Otherwise I'll have to look into getting a Sky subscription.

As others have pointed out I can't see Sky winning out of this. They will have to pay money for race footage which will push football out of their timetable which is a far more popular sport and I don't think they will get that many conquest sales out of F1 fans buying Sky subscriptions. They will have had to pay a serious fee to the BBC or Bernie for the licence and will have to pay further for the footage and programme production.

I think F1 and Bernie are about to find out the hard way that F1 is nowhere near as popular as they claim it is, and while there may be many very casual fans who will tune in and out on a Sunday afternoon if its for free, few will pay money to watch it.

I've always wondered how if Bernie is to be believed F1 is nearly as popular as football in the UK. Whether amongst my friends or my work colleagues its difficult to find people who are genuinely interested and knowledgeable about F1 whereas most guys seem to support one football team or other and have strong opinions about them. I had that in mind as I heard the BBC announcement that they are strongly committed to covering major sports events that bring the country together. F1 simply doesn't fit that bill.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BDunnell

There is so much asinine **** on all channels now it's not funny. I'm afraid I certainly wouldn't class 'Grand Designs' as something to especially cherish either, but each to their own.

---

Thats because whereas TV companies like the BBC merely had to fill up one or two channels with programmes they now have to make or pay for several times as many channels with the same budget. Something has to give and usually its quality and expense....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Daniel

I just can't stand most of the stuff on Three and also I can stand such weak programming as The One Show.

---

I think there might be a typo there, Daniel...

I very rarely watch any of the commercial channels when I'm back in the UK, sticking mainly to the BBC, and was really dismayed at what I saw when I put my hotel TV on in the morning the other day (my mistake, I know). The cretinous nature of daytime programming really has to be seen to be believed, all of it about making money out of something. But at least part of the licence fee goes towards Radio 4, surely the best broadcaster in the world of any sort, so my anger was soon soothed by that thought.

the potential for the non-live races on BBC to be "full" rather than highlights is the only chink of light so far for me. I could live with watching it in the evening as long as it was the whole race

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dylan H

Not necessarily. It simply wouldn't make commercial sense for the two companies to have duplicated production teams and the attached logistics for half the number of races they'd usually cover. The deal could involve Sky simply buying the entire race coverage off the BBC and broadcasting it, which would also make sense if the BBC is going to have a commentating team doing the highlights of every race anyway.

This is of course simply my guess.

---

I wondered exactly the same myself.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dylan H

I think F1 and Bernie are about to find out the hard way that F1 is nowhere near as popular as they claim it is, and while there may be many very casual fans who will tune in and out on a Sunday afternoon if its for free, few will pay money to watch it.

---

I wonder how the actual viewing figures for the Sky coverage in the UK will compare to expectations, or indeed what the BBC gets for its highlights?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Robinho

the potential for the non-live races on BBC to be "full" rather than highlights is the only chink of light so far for me. I could live with watching it in the evening as long as it was the whole race

---

At what time do we think the races will be broadcast? I would be willing to bet that it's quite late.

Well Bernie, you've just sold a huge chunk of the UK fanbase in search of a quick buck, absolutely disgraceful

Bernie's reaction i think also smacks of a big middle finger to the fans, the vast majority of F1 fans in the UK (including me) cant afford the extortionate prices charged for the Sky Sports package. The quality of the Beeb's coverage to me is worth the licence fee alone whereas I can only see Sky's coverage going the same way as their pitiful attempt to cover A1GP during its 3 year stint

Bernie can pretty much say goodbye to most of the UK viewers (the largest F1 fanbase in the world) but he probably wont give a damn as long as he keeps raking the money in