BBC vs Sky - The Story so Far

Watching is easy compared to listening to too many feeds, plus the missus in the background :p

That pitlane guy on Sky is so out of it. Today he revealed that Räikkönen was one a one stopper about four laps from the finish, and that's just one of many stupid comments.

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Originally Posted by DexDexter

That pitlane guy on Sky is so out of it. Today he revealed that Räikkönen was one a one stopper about four laps from the finish, and that's just one of many stupid comments.

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I normally like Ted, but yes the last couple of races he seems to have forgotten anything about F1. Very strange

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Originally Posted by DexDexter

That pitlane guy on Sky is so out of it. Today he revealed that Räikkönen was one a one stopper about four laps from the finish, and that's just one of many stupid comments.

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He also, seemingly, failed to recognise former Ferrari F1 driver Arturo Merzario.

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Originally Posted by DexDexter

That pitlane guy on Sky is so out of it. Today he revealed that Räikkönen was one a one stopper about four laps from the finish, and that's just one of many stupid comments.

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IIRC he was questioning the one stopper because Schumi was about a second a lap quicker.

The BBC will have a new, or different anchor from next year.

Jake Humphrey to leave BBC coverage at end of 2012 season | Formula 1 | Formula 1 news, live F1 | ESPN F1

I think Brundle is the best commentator F1 has had, so I've been quite pleased that our local TV station broadcasts the Sky feed. Croft has been not as good as I was hoping, but still, I think it makes the best commentary team since I've been watching.

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Originally Posted by acescribe

The BBC will have a new, or different anchor from next year.

Jake Humphrey to leave BBC coverage at end of 2012 season | Formula 1 | Formula 1 news, live F1 | ESPN F1

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That's a great shame. Jake has been the best thing about the BBC coverage since it started. Yet another lured away by football - where he'll get much less exposure - but I suppose much more money!

He had his own style, made F1 that was engaging with the casual and hardcore fans alike.

He has left a legacy.

Everytime I watch Sky's coverage I can't help but think: Lazenby STFU and stop trying to be like Jake.

Jake, DC, and Eddie Jordan, similar to, Clarkson, Hammond & May.

Norfolk


Not surprised that Jake has moved to do more football, think it was probably always his wish and that would be difficult to get at BBC - also with the news he is to become a father it seemed more likely

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Originally Posted by Mark

Jake, DC, and Eddie Jordan, similar to, Clarkson, Hammond & May.

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Is it a bad thing? Did they dumb down F1?

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Originally Posted by wedge

Is it a bad thing? Did they dumb down F1?

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No; it's a good thing. It works on Top Gear the same as it works on F1.

It's a shame Jake is departing the BBC's F1 coverage. I was dubious when I heard he was going to be the anchor but he has done a superb job.

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Originally Posted by Mark

Jake, DC, and Eddie Jordan, similar to, Clarkson, Hammond & May.

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No, the former three are nowhere near as appalling as the latter three.

Its a shame as others have said, but he needs to do it for his familys sake.

Good Luck Jake

Just watching the Sky post-race for the Japanese GP... they came back from the McLaren cartoon to some footage of Vettel, with Simon Lazenby's voice over the top saying "What am I doing here?"
Yes Simon, good question :D

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Originally Posted by AndyL

Just watching the Sky post-race for the Japanese GP... they came back from the McLaren cartoon to some footage of Vettel, with Simon Lazenby's voice over the top saying "What am I doing here?"
Yes Simon, good question :D

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Exactly. I thought the same!

What is amazing is that you watch any race from Sky and its like Crofty and Brundle are a veteran partnership unlike a couple of Brundle's partnerships.

Wow. Sky must be struggling.

After all they have dug up Mark Blundell from somewhere "at this point"

Didn't find them that special this time, but then I don't have sky to compare :)

Sky commentary is very sluggish. Ben Edwards on the BBC has got much more steam, Sky's team have run out of steam.

^yep
The missus wondered why she had to tape the Spanish coverage when I then go and watch the BBC first :p

James Allen quoted on twitter saying that the BBC's Indian GP highlights drew in 3.1 million at peak, compared to 5.5 million when the race was live in 2011. That is a significant drop.

You can't always compare because different season different outlook.

Agreed, the coverage hasn't been improved, it's been diluted.

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Originally Posted by henners88

Its even more alarming when the Sky figures are analysed. Viewing figures with both channels combined is down on last year with Sky really struggling to pull in the viewers. Its laughable when you consider the selling point of this deal was to make the sport more widely available for fans. If you live in the UK and own a TV you can get BBC 1. Slashing the coverage and placing some of it on a satellite channel was always going to have an effect like this and this deal is only good for the fans who have full access. Those that don't are just told how great it is and expected to shut up. It doesn't work like that thankfully.

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The selling point was to make the sport more widely available to fans. Really? I thought the whole point of the deal was to allow the BBC to save money while increasing overall revenue for F1? Another Bernie masterstroke.... not that it's his fault that the BBC decided they didn't want to continue with their existing deal.

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Originally Posted by IceWizard

The selling point was to make the sport more widely available to fans. Really? I thought the whole point of the deal was to allow the BBC to save money while increasing overall revenue for F1? Another Bernie masterstroke.... not that it's his fault that the BBC decided they didn't want to continue with their existing deal.

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I don't know the terms of the contract but I think they should have been made stick to what they agreed. Doesn't appear like that has happened however.

I don't mind the Sky coverage but the BBC coverage last year was vastly superior, in my opinion. The best thing about Sky coverage is the red button.

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Originally Posted by henners88

but it was supported by claiming it would reach more fans as a result.

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That was Bernie's spin on the whole deal - which he doesn't get much out of considering that both Sky and Channel 4 had bid near enough the same money and the Beeb colluding with Sky to keep their free-to-air rights.

Sky can't be to blame. They offer a premuim subscription service and have done their bit by tempting viewers.

We wouldn't be in this situation if the Beeb were willing to compromise their portfolio.

It's confusing for the viewer as you don't know one race to the next. Is this one going to be live on BBC or is this a Sky only one.

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Originally Posted by Mark

It's confusing for the viewer as you don't know one race to the next. Is this one going to be live on BBC or is this a Sky only one.

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I luckily already had Sky Sports and so got F1 without thinking and watch every race here for sheer ease, rather than working out the different arrangements for each weekend like you say.

Agree all round though it would be better if F1 stayed set like last year on BBC 1 every week.

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Originally Posted by henners88

Do sky F1 viewers like yourself miss watching it on the BBC at all? I prefer the format and even if I could be bothered to tune in on Sky, it (bbc) would always be my first choice if it was available. Then again all the races are on the BBC now, just some of them have a few laps missing and are televised a few hours late.


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The in race commentary from Sky is quite good. I mostly miss the off track stuff like Eddie Jordan and Jake Humphrey. I was always pretty indifferent towards Coulthard. I always switch to the Beebs for pre and post race coverage. Sky takes the race mainly because of that superb Red button.

Dont get me wrong, I would be delighted if BBC kept all live coverage the way it was last year, but I am a fan of Brundle and like the commentary of Sky as a constant. Overall I dont watch much coverage of anything off track so that doesn't affect me much.

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Originally Posted by henners88

Do sky F1 viewers like yourself miss watching it on the BBC at all? I prefer the format and even if I could be bothered to tune in on Sky, it (bbc) would always be my first choice if it was available. Then again all the races are on the BBC now, just some of them have a few laps missing and are televised a few hours late.


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Yes, even though I can watch it on Sky I still always prefer the BBC if possible, even if that means waiting for the highlights.

There is also the issue that BBC is at the top of the EPG, whereas Sky is pretty much hidden away so it's hard to know if a race is on.

I do think the BBC coverage will be quite a lot worse next year as Jake is gone.

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Originally Posted by henners88

The ideal situation in all this would have been for Bernie and the Beeb to reach an agreement to maybe reduce the fee as the sport would still be available to the wider audience base. We would still have the dream team we saw last year and the coverage would be great for everybody. Money is involved however and the Sport would rather have the instant cash than the potential viewers it seems. I agree Sky can't be blamed for this and its totally the powers that be and the BBC. Time will tell how damaging this has been to the popularity of the sport in the UK with viewing figures already giving us an early insight into this.

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It's a free market, Bernie needs to make a return on behalf of CVC so he isn't one for charity unless it's the only option.

In this case the best opportunities for Bernie and the fans was to have Channel 4 share the rights.

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Originally Posted by Mark

There is also the issue that BBC is at the top of the EPG, whereas Sky is pretty much hidden away so it's hard to know if a race is on.

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That for me is the biggest factor in choosing between the two! Then I remember BBC one isn't HD so I have to carry on digging.

I only watch the race and may or may not watch the pre/post-race shows depending on how busy I am and how good the race was. I have to say I don't really see a big difference in the race coverage, DC is close to Brundle standards.

Eddie Jordan does annoy me though for the sheer volume of trash he talks, and occasionally the BBC crew seem to get it very wrong, as in Abu Dhabi where they seemed to be spending an awfully long time discussing Grosjean's driving and how it caused the accident late on in the race. None of them seemed to notice the accident was initiated by Perez which was poor.

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Originally Posted by wedge

In this case the best opportunities for Bernie and the fans was to have Channel 4 share the rights.

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C4 would have needed 15 minutes of in-race as to balance the books. That's quite a lot more than ITV had when they had the rights.

What's really to blame for this mess are the Tories. If they hadn't "frozen" [real-terms cut] the licence fee and made the BBC pay for S4C and the World Service out of the licence fee on top of that, the BBC would have had the money to keep going as they were.

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Originally Posted by Somebody

What's really to blame for this mess are the Tories. If they hadn't "frozen" [real-terms cut] the licence fee and made the BBC pay for S4C and the World Service out of the licence fee on top of that, the BBC would have had the money to keep going as they were.

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Probably a bigger factor was blowing the thick end of a billion quid on relocating to Manchester, which was instigated by the previous regime.

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Originally Posted by henners88

Do sky F1 viewers like yourself miss watching it on the BBC at all? I prefer the format and even if I could be bothered to tune in on Sky, it (bbc) would always be my first choice if it was available. Then again all the races are on the BBC now, just some of them have a few laps missing and are televised a few hours late.

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I tend to flip between the channels for the build-up as both have their fair share of waffle and filler, but for the races I default to Sky as I slightly prefer the commentary team. More often than not I watch the BBC highlights later.

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Originally Posted by AndyL

Probably a bigger factor was blowing the thick end of a billion quid on relocating to Manchester, which was instigated by the previous regime.

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Most of which will pay for itself: if they'd stayed in London they'd have practically had to rebuild TV Centre. The place is falling apart and riddled with asbestos and 70's wiring. Indeed they've already said that their Olympic coverage would have been technically impossible from the old facilities.