With the news yesterday that the BBC might not be able to afford the Football League and possibly the FA Cup (although they'd prefer that) I hope they can still afford to show F1 from 2014!
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With the news yesterday that the BBC might not be able to afford the Football League and possibly the FA Cup (although they'd prefer that) I hope they can still afford to show F1 from 2014!
They may not afford to pay what they did for this contract
With belt-tightening all around, it's more of a buyer's market now, so it's the broadcasters' chance to turn the screws on the promoters for a change.
This is the updated article:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...#ixzz1HNanwWsJ
but the end of this paragraph worries me (which I will highlight in bold):
'BBC Sport, who must cut 20 per cent from their budget, are understood to have decided not to bid to renew either Carling Cup or live Football League packages. F1 will be next'
Hopefully, if this does happen Sky won't get it.
According to the papers on Saturday, there is strong speculation that the BBC may be trying to find a way out of their F1 contract early.
I believe that Bernie has always pushed for F1 to be terrestial, he's far too aware of how you limit yourself by going to subscription services. If I were the Beeb then I'd cut costs in the first instance by scaling back the coverage, i.e so that you don't send such a large number of people to each event and don't bother with the F1 Forum and all that.Quote:
Originally Posted by tommy2k8
I think the actual production costs form a very small part of the overall cost of F1. The main being what they pay for the rights in the first place.
Of course, this depends on Bernie. If BBC came along and said "We can't pay you what we were, we'll give you half, otherwise we'll walk away". It would then depend on if the likes of Sky or ESPN could match it, or if Bernie doesn't want to go to a subscription channel then what ITV, Channel 4 or Channel 5 would be willing to pay - which likely wouldn't be much either!
The actual coverage will be dirt cheap compared to the cost of the rights. Even sending Jake and the team out to the races won't be that big a deal compared to the cost of hiring a studio and crew in London for two days. The forum is pretty much free apart from a bit of satellite or fibre time, given that everybody is already in place.Quote:
Originally Posted by barryfullalove
Indeed, but I'm willing to bet that the difference in cost per MotoGP race v cost per F1 race is still a fair old chunk. Rather than wholesale chopping whole sports the Beeb would be better off just making slightly cheaper coverage in all areas. A bit less spent on swimming and athletics would be my first choice.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave B
What sort of costs to the BBC have apart from transporting the likes of DC and MB to the track, then you need them to stand in the paddock with a camera crew, they'll probably use existing TV facilities to broadcast their feed out. The whole thing is actually done quite cheaply already by TV standards.