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Today is the last day new subscribers can purchase Sky and take advantage of the HD pack for viewing F1. Indeed new customers after today will have to purchase the whole Sports pack to view F1 in future. They have their plateaued audience so it makes no difference to Sky.
A carefully edited video by the BBC but my respect for Lee has gone up after seeing this and what she wrote after the Oz GP concerning Kimi.
BBC Sport - Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen gives BBC the cold shoulder
I'm a big fan of Kimi's driving but he can come across as arrogant and rude a lot of the time. He's never made any secret of his hatred for talking to the press, but its part of the job unfortunately for him. If I was Lee or the producer in charge I would refuse to interview him from now on. I get most of my answers from his on track performance and enjoy his wins without hearing what he has to say to be honest.
Interesting quote from Bernie a couple of days ago. He's had the opinion for a long time that viewing figures are not in the least bit important to Formula One, yet suggested a scheme to Sky to offer this:
Free F1 Sky boxes would drive subscriptions says Bernie Ecclestone | City & Business | Finance | Daily ExpressQuote:
“I said [to Sky] you can guarantee that when you put a Sky box in the house, although it is only for F1, people are going to say ‘why can’t I watch the rest’ and they will sign up,” he said.
“Children will say ‘my friends at school watch this so why can’t we?’ Sky are very good with that kind of idea. It would use F1 to drive their subscriptions.”
Offering the sport for free to boost viewing figures with a little temptation along the way. I'm not surprised Sky declined to comment as its against their business principles. Perhaps offering the channel at a considerably reduced rate stand alone on freeview would get a few more people watching Mr Ecclestone?
Its comments like this that prove how important it is for F1 to remain on FTA.
A chap I work with told me this morning he believes Sky are in the process of starting to remove the F1 Channel (SSF1) from customers who do not have the full sports package. If true it means anybody who simply has the HD pack and was allowed to continue receiving the channel after the move to sports in April will lose the channel unless they pay the extra £20 a month. Been looking around and there is no official confirmation from Sky but its rumoured amongst users on Twitter so this chap wasn't imagining things. The story has started from somewhere much like when they stopped offering it to new HD customers. It'll be interesting to see if there is any truth in it after all.
Lets face it its harsh and I would be mighty pee'd off if I had bought Sky for this one channel, only for it to be removed some months later but we have discussed this happening many times before. A friend of mine has done this and said although he's only 5 months into his contract, he'll remove Sky completely if they change the terms and conditions by taking this channel away. They do cover themselves by stating they can change these terms at any point and can raise the cost with little warning, but as a consumer you also have rights and can withdraw a service you have purchased at any point. Much like phone contracts, nothing is set in stone.
Expect audiences to fall further guys and gals lol. Questions have already been asked after the first few races of the season as figures have dropped yet again and I wouldn't mind betting many F1 fans will not feel pressured into upgrading further. This begs the question, what power does Bernie have to terminate a contract with the likes of Sky if audience figures fall again to unreasonable levels? Sky don't care how many are watching and neither did Bernie until less people actually tuned in to watch. It would be interesting to see how the sport responds as this latest 'rumour' could inflict quite a bit of damage to the sports popularity in the UK IMO. :)
I think that's just speculation, after all it's a natural conclusion to reach after they moved it onto the sports pack. Whatever happens I can't see any changes for this year. But for next it's quite possible.
I still wouldn't be subscribing to it.
Oh its speculation at this stage. The rumours turned out to be right about the change in April and perhaps there is no smoke without fire concerning this latest rumour? I can't see Sky making any changes during an F1 season as that would be very stupid for marketing reasons. Plus there was a lot of advertising including an official Sky promotion twitter account to try and raise subscriptions amongst F1 fans in the run up to the SS switch. They couldn't exactly take it off those people after a couple of months I wouldn't have thought. Like yourself Mark I'm guessing the changes will come at the end of this year with perhaps a little bit of notice in the meantime. People like my friend who took out a subscription a few months ago will be able to cancel their subscription after 12 months anyway. Something he was considering.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
I'm having FreeSat installed soon as I can't get more than 12 freeview channels where I now live unfortunately. We phoned a few companies to quote for TV, Phone and TV and Sky could do no better than £36 a month all in. With FreeSat its a one off payment and installation (£230), and we can get a faster Broadband deal with our old Supplier TalkTalk for £20 a month. Sky aren't attracting people because they simply aren't competitive and taking services like the F1 channel off existing customers doesn't do them any favours whatsoever. With the amount of complaints and negative publicity they've had, you'd think they'd at least try and reach out to F1 fans to get them on board, but its just an impressive edition to their portfolio and I really hope it gets taken off them. We've tried having F1 on pay TV, it hasn't worked and is a failed experiment. Audience figures are dropping off, Bernie is applying pressure and unrealistic suggestions to give people Sky for free which isn't in their model, and he's locked in a long term contract with them. I have to chuckle to myself as we all knew this was going to happen, although it has happened a lot sooner than I'd hoped. :)
tbh I'm finding that especially now the weather is a bit nicer, my weekends are absolutely packed and just don't have time to sit down and watch a Grand Prix live. So highlights are ideal. If I thought I could save some money by downgrading now I'd consider it.
Stupid decision to take F1 off freeview. I would love to see how Bernie really feels about all this.
I would say if Bernie gets his money he probably wouldnt care, but if its affecting other sectors of his F1 pie, he is gonna be getting mad.
I'm with you there Mark. The Monaco race had poor viewing figures on Sky with a peak tuning in for the highlights on the BBC and I'd put that largely down to the weather. It was one of the hottest days do far this year and I doubt many people were going to waste it just to watch a live race. I've just moved in to a brand new house with plenty to do including getting ready for a little one in October. I think it's highly likely my commitment to the sport and places like this are going to diminish somewhat, but that's life. I'll no doubt pick my interest up again a few years down the line and hopefully F1 will still be covered by a FTA channel.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
Sky making it more expensive to existing viewers and no longer offering it as part of the HD pack is just putting people off. I'd rather save the money and use it for more important activities with the family.
It's not official they are taking the F1 channel off non sports subscribers, but its been expected and rumours are gathering some weight. I feel sorry for those more committed than me and who also have a limited disposable income. As long as Bernie gets paid eh? :)
The whole situation at the moment is a "be careful what you wish for" scenario.
People want it back free-to-air. So, do you want standard of ITV coverage back again - you know, where we witnessed exciting races totally ruined by adverts (San Marino 2005!!!!) - or should I say exciting adverts ruined by F1...(in ITV's eyes).
What we have now works for me. Realistically the cost per month is a very, very cheap utility bill if you already have a Sky subscription. I think a lot of people don't watch it on Sky out of pure pride.
I currently watch both! BBC if it is on live on both, and Sky if not, then watch highlights. Although for Monaco, I was away so watched the BBC highlights straight away.