F1 TV coverage threadFormula 1

[Seismica]

Ah not cool how it wanted me to sign up for Gold membership before even clarifying that, but not entirely surprising either.

I was hoping for an alternative to the premium Sky Sports package Virgin Media offer, which was something like £28.00 per month last time I checked. Surely they realise that some folks just want F1 only? Is it any wonder why many people turn to B** T****nt and suchlike?

Indeed. Sky are pricing so many people out of the market, but there are enough people willing to pay their price to make it more profitable than if they reduced their prices. If the highlights weren't available on the BBC (And thus keep viewing figures up for the sponsors), I doubt the teams and FOM would let this price gouging continue, as it would have a long term impact on fans in the UK (Many would simply lose interest if they couldn't watch the races - Some already have).

I'd happily pay say, £75-80 per season to have full access to just the F1 channel. I don't need nor want the other sports channels.

I'm probably sounding a bit like a broken record with all the anti-sky talk, but until they change their pricing structure, they are denying thousands of fans the ability to watch the races. I used to watch all of the practice sessions, qualifying and race live on the BBC (I used to pull all-nighters to watch it, it used to be my weekend ritual). I bought a TV license whilst living in student halls just to watch the F1. Now Sky comes in, wanting to charge £25 per month (12 month contract) ontop of a TV license and a basic satellite or cable package, just to watch exactly what I was watching before (except now it has adverts, interrupting practice and qualifying, and breaking up the pre and post race coverage). I have every right to be unhappy with Sky.

 

[Samus]

I was hoping for an alternative to the premium Sky Sports package Virgin Media offer, which was something like £28.00 per month last time I checked. Surely they realise that some folks just want F1 only?

They do but it's Sky's fault, not VM. They won't let them sell the F1 channel on it's own.

 

[TheCracker]

Just settled down to watch the Monaco qualifying session, flicked through the channels to get the Sky F1 HD channel, which i should get as part of my Sky HD subscription, but when i clicked on it i just got the blue info screen instead. WTF?

Turns out Mrs Cracker had spoken to Sky through the week to negotiate a better deal, as you should do every 3 months or so, and they put us on a new package that they'll be rolling out on all Sky HD customers over the next 3 to 6 months, but means that Sky F1 channel will now be exclusively part of the Sport Package and no longer a freebie with the standard HD package....

Bye bye Sky.

 

[Samus]

Just settled down to watch the Monaco qualifying session, flicked through the channels to get the Sky F1 HD channel, which i should get as part of my Sky HD subscription, but when i clicked on it i just got the blue info screen instead. WTF?

Turns out Mrs Cracker had spoken to Sky through the week to negotiate a better deal, as you should do every 3 months or so, and they put us on a new package that they'll be rolling out on all Sky HD customers over the next 3 to 6 months, but means that Sky F1 channel will now be exclusively part of the Sport Package and no longer a freebie with the standard HD package....

Bye bye Sky.

Chateauneuf du Pape!

 

[chromatic9]

... now it has adverts, interrupting practice and qualifying, and breaking up the pre and post race coverage). I have every right to be unhappy with Sky.

I watched some practice sessions on Sky and couldn't beleive how many adverts were shown. It's like they don't get what practice sessions are. There's supposed to be lots of boring bits, these are not excuses for adverts this is what the geek F1 fan is tuning in for.

Only a small amount of people would consider watching them. I used to even watch them on iplayer, that's how sad I am. Constantly chucking in adverts defeats the whole point.

 

[Seismica]

I watched some practice sessions on Sky and couldn't beleive how many adverts were shown. It's like they don't get what practice sessions are. There's supposed to be lots of boring bits, these are not excuses for adverts this is what the geek F1 fan is tuning in for.

Only a small amount of people would consider watching them. I used to even watch them on iplayer, that's how sad I am. Constantly chucking in adverts defeats the whole point.

Exactly. The most interesting part about the practice coverage on the BBC was how they managed to fill the time when there was no cars on track. They would answer questions from viewers, they would get interviews with some of the team personnel/engineers (Who tend to give a very informative replies as they don't know how to twist every word the way media savvy team principles do), or they would simply discuss current technical issues in F1, and they wouldn't blow the tyre thing out of proportion either.

Sky just fill these parts with adverts instead, whilst the commentators are just there to announce who is out on track and who is setting the fastest sector times.

 

[Centura]

I watched the Monaco Grand Prix on Sky (I got a free day pass over Twitter.) and I was not impressed. I'm sure they have the best coverage available worldwide, but the ads completely ruin it.

 

[Chqr]

I watched the Monaco Grand Prix on Sky (I got a free day pass over Twitter.) and I was not impressed. I'm sure they have the best coverage available worldwide, but the ads completely ruin it.

If you're a subscriber in the UK to Sky's F1 Channel through one of the various TV Packages available, there are no ads during the race though.

 

[Samus]

If you're a subscriber in the UK to Sky's F1 Channel through one of the various TV Packages available, there are no ads during the race though.

Plenty everywhere else though. Qualifying and the race are the only two points they don't have them.

 

[MagpieRacer]

I watched the Monaco Grand Prix on Sky (I got a free day pass over Twitter.) and I was not impressed. I'm sure they have the best coverage available worldwide, but the ads completely ruin it.

What ads? Theres some in the buildup but none through the race at all.

You wanna see ads ruin a race, watch NASCAR on Fox

 

[Sureboss]

Also, the cars and the whole sport are covered in ads...

 

[Northstar]

Also, the cars and the whole sport are covered in ads...

Not the track surface... yet.

Also, there are cut scenes of some guy telling people that don't care how brakes work all while not showing the race. At least NBC does side-by-side during commercial breaks on F1 so we can still see the race.

 

[SilverArrow]

Plenty everywhere else though. Qualifying and the race are the only two points they don't have them.

Can you define what you mean by plenty? I don't notice any difference between how many ads there are on sky sports and any other channel I get (except BBC obviously). If you don't want ads during the practice sessions then press the red button and go onboard with who they offer, not that anyone does any running anyway.

 

[Centura]

If you're a subscriber in the UK to Sky's F1 Channel through one of the various TV Packages available, there are no ads during the race though.

Sky never have ads during Qualifying/Race, so no, I didn't have ads. I meant ads during pre-race coverage and post-race coverage. They were extremely long and very frequent, and honestly, if I ever watch their coverage again, I'll just watch the race and check YouTube after for the interesting pieces they had in their coverage (Ted's Notebook, etc.).

 

[Seismica]

Plenty everywhere else though. Qualifying and the race are the only two points they don't have them.

Are you sure? I thought they had ads in between qualifying sessions.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Australia has become the latest country to split coverage, with FOX and Ten sharing the races. The deal was expected to be in place for 2016, but was pushed forward to 2015 just a month out from the start of the season, because hey, if you're going to make bad decisions, you might as well make them in the worst possible way.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Well, looks like I'm going to try and fit Foxtel into my budget. I could've dealt with missing a few V8 Supercar rounds but I couldn't handle missing out on half of the F1 races. It's sad, after how hard 10 was fighting to keep sporting events on free-to-air just a few years ago.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

All of our commercial networks are struggling to compete with the likes of Foxtel. It was inevitable, really. What annoys me is that they did the deal so close to the start of the season, so people who want it but need to budget for it have to move quickly.

 

[ukfan758]

How much does it cost for you Australians and brits to get all of the F1 coverage? It is $60 (including a box) a month for 12 months here and then around $80, and that's just for FP2, qualifying, and the race with commercials 16 races last year were on pay TV (nbcsn/CNBC) while only 4 were on free-to-air (NBC).

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Well, I was checking out prices and the cheapest package (with the sports channels) included is $50 per month, or $60 if you want HD. It's a bit pricey just for F1 and V8 Supercars, but at least probably doable for myself and my currently unemployed girlfriend.

 

[axletramp]

How much does it cost for you Australians and brits to get all of the F1 coverage? It is $60 (including a box) a month for 12 months here and then around $80, and that's just for FP2, qualifying, and the race with commercials 16 races last year were on pay TV (nbcsn/CNBC) while only 4 were on free-to-air (NBC).

Where I live (we count as the UK for broadcasters), 10 races are live on BBC HD for free (not including the licence fee which I pay anyway) and £6.99 per race for the other 10 races on day passes via NOW TV online. Last year I was watching it all on Sky TV which I've now dumped as it was costing me £960 a year for all the packages, many of which I never watched.

So the short answer for me is £69.90 a year.

 

[Imari]

F1 is getting enough of my money from me attending the Melbourne GP.

I'll be watching the races either at friends houses who have Foxtel already, or at a pub with sports. If I were to happen to miss one, I hear that these things can be found on the internet if one knows where to sail.

 

[TheCracker]

How much does it cost for you Australians and brits to get all of the F1 coverage? It is $60 (including a box) a month for 12 months here and then around $80, and that's just for FP2, qualifying, and the race with commercials 16 races last year were on pay TV (nbcsn/CNBC) while only 4 were on free-to-air (NBC).

Like axletramp, i get to watch half the races for free on the BBC. I'm also a Sky customer and i used to get the Sky F1 channel for free as part of the HD package that i already pay for. But they changed all that and now i'd have to pay another £24.50 a month to get their Sport Package. I'd get Premiership football and golf etc too - but i have zero interest in them, so it makes little sense.

The 'missing' races i watch from the BBC's highlights programme which is broadcast later that day.

 

[Lewis_Hamilton_]

How much does it cost for you Australians and brits to get all of the F1 coverage? It is $60 (including a box) a month for 12 months here and then around $80, and that's just for FP2, qualifying, and the race with commercials 16 races last year were on pay TV (nbcsn/CNBC) while only 4 were on free-to-air (NBC).

For me it's free because it's inclusive in my rent bill; and for my Landlord it came for free as part of a HD channel package. We have Virgin Media, if we had to buy it now the F1 channel comes as part of a Sky Sports package (6 channels of various sports) which is £27 a month. Great coverage, all testing, practice, qualifying and races with no adverts, interactive services so that you can change to various onboard cameras during a race, pit radio channel, live telementry data, deep technically analysis discussions and more. Also covers the GP2 and GP3 championships, classic F1 races of the past etc. If I had to pay I'd stlll feel like I'd be getting my money's worth.

 

[Liquid]

£6.99 per race for the other 10 races on day passes via NOW TV online.

Explain please.

 

[TheCracker]

Seen the adverts for it on TV, i assume it's a streaming service?

 

[axletramp]

Seen the adverts for it on TV, i assume it's a streaming service?

This.

Explain please.

Now TV is an online streaming service from Sky TV. You can buy day or month passes for the Sky sports, movies and TV packages rather than having to subscribe to their overpriced regular satellite service. I was only using Sky for the F1 as I'd already found it cheaper and easier to stream and download all my movies and box sets, etc. so couldn't justify their stupidly high costs.

I watch it in HD via the internet through my Samsung amp (SMART hub app) or via an app on my PS3 upstairs in the bedroom, just as I'd watch it on Sky. It helps that I can stream HD media through my network at home to any TV in the house, but you could equally watch it on a mobile device or computer. Check it out here.

If you had a VPN service you could watch it from anywhere in the world. I have one to watch the US versions of Netflix and Amazon movies.

It seems to me Sky have been a bit caught out by the download and streaming services available now. Their system is too archaic and restrictive... and expensive. I have more choice and flexibility now for far less money.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Honestly, I'm not surprised that Formula 1 is gradually moving aware from free-to-air television. I know people like to blame Bernie hoarding money, but look at the wider trend - the free-to-air business model is becoming less and less competitive. We're really in the Golden Age of Television, and it's being driven by the way there is a demand for high-quality serialised programming, and as a result, we're getting the likes of "Game of Thrones", "Breaking Bad" and "True Detective", to name a few. The catch is that these shows are much more expensive to produce than the usual free-to-air fare, so they can only really be produced by the pay TV networks. The best that the commercial networks can do is either a) try and predict what will be popular and bid for it with no guarantee that they will get it, b) try to produce content for local audiences with no guarantee that it will succeed, c) stick to tried-and-true filler like "Friends" in the knowledge that it cannot be sustained on its own or d) some combination thereof. And they can only generate revenue through advertising or through private investment. It's no surprise that they are dropping expensive programming like Formula 1, because it's a huge drain on resources with very little return.

So I don't think that this is a case of Bernie being greedy. I just think that the commercial broadcast model is gradually becoming unsustainable in general.

 

[sems4arsenal]

Thank god for Bein sports.

 

[05XR8]

When I grew up in the states, having a big satellite dish was the big thing in the 70's and 80's. If you had the space in your backyard or you owned a bar/pub, it made sense.

Cable came out and WHT, HBO( if you had a good antenna you could pick it up if you could bare the squiggly lines) and ESPN was what we paid for back then. It was a luxury for sure, but it gave us events we couldn't see on CBS/NBC/ABC. Having to pay for sport now, wouldn't be so bad if we had a better library of the events on DVD. it just about means you have to buy the packages if you cant attend a race because there will only be highlights and really no full event DVD at seasons end.

As mentioned above, the timing is not optimum for those without the service.