F1 TV coverage threadFormula 1

[Grand Prix]

If that's true, then I am reasonably happy, providing thee BBC can maintain good commentary. I will just have to try and stay away from the news.

And stay away from GTP, because North American members will be discussing the race live thanks to Speed TV.

Payback time!

 

[F1 fan]

I guess you don't watch much on Five then? Five uses the US model of advertising breaks - almost none between shows, but one after the cold open/open credits, one after ten minutes, one after half an hour, one after fifty minutes, one before the end credits. In a half hour show there will be two advert breaks (at five minutes and twenty minutes). And they're terrible adverts - almost all for Pikey shops and rental stores like Bright House. Most of the adverts on Sky are, oddly, for Sky.

That style of advertising infuriates me. Fair enough, each individual advert is shorter but there are more interruptions.

The football action is never interrupted (step forwards, ITV HD...) - and I imagine other sports are treated similarly

How is the football coverage? Not that I watch football, but if a fan can tell me how the quality compares to the bbc's f1 coverage, that would be nice.

Some website brought up a comparison. They pointed out that if you take out a Sky subscription just for F1, it'll cost you £487 a year.

HD I can live without...

Also they are getting Big Brother for 2011 :lol

Sigh... I hoped that garbage was gone from tv.

If they didn't pay convicted drug dealers £2.5m presenting contracts, they'd save a bit of money.

Who is this presenter you keep mentioning? Having been away from the uk for a while, I'm not aware of this story.

The mind boggles on the amount of celebrity/soapstar/wannabe/neverwillbe/come/do/singing/dancing/skiing/skating/knitting/atomsplitting/a/b/c/x/factor/gottalent/gotnotalent/jungle/outhouse* delete as applicable that is on tv, and even more incredible the amount of people that watch it, all its spin offs, and then phone in to vote, where the decision has already been made and that money is going straight in the coffers.

Those shows irritate the hell out of me. I remember seeing an advert for some tv show called "so you think you can dance?". I remember think "so you think I give a 🤬?"

It's bad news, but some of you may be relieved knowing that Vettel will dominate from 2012-18.

Hope so.

Man v food, now that is worth the subscription, go adam go, eat that food, one more bite!!!

I hate the fake little interviews at the end. They try and trick you into thinking they are asking Adam the questions directly... What is really happening is the questions are filmed separately and Adam answers separately... It is so fake. Maybe it's understandable though, because If I was Adam, I'd be off in some bathroom having an "epic struggle". The ice cream one would especially affect my lactose intolerant self.

also there's the worry for British driver fans, button and Hamilton will be de-motivated due to less British viewers

Complete and utter nonsense.

F1 has a 500million global audience, some people keep posting how this will kill F1 and lose revenues, BBC and England are a small part of the F1 machine and subscribers will cover any loss.

It amazes me the amount of people who only think english people will be affected. I can let it slide when someone from halfway around the world says it, but your location states you live in the "united kingdom", which you should be well aware consists of more than just "england".

As for me, I'll probably end up going for a basic sky setup that lets me watch F1 seeing as how I'll probably be coming back to the uk .

 

[chromatic9]

It amazes me the amount of people who only think english people will be affected. I can let it slide when someone from halfway around the world says it, but your location states you live in the "united kingdom", which you should be well aware consists of more than just "england".

As for me, I'll probably end up going for a basic sky setup that lets me watch F1 seeing as how I'll probably be coming back to the uk .

I said England in passing as in the factories are actually based in England. I also stated Britain on a wider note, oh noes I excluded ireland. I'm not ignoring the UK and you're trying to pull me up on something that never happened.

 

[F1 fan]

I said England in passing as in the factories are actually based in England. I also stated Britain on a wider note, oh noes I excluded ireland. I'm not ignoring the UK and you're trying to pull me up on something that never happened.

Well unless you've changed your location recently, then I made a mistake on the location part.

Still, it's besides the point. If you're referring to something that is strictly about england, then of course you can say england, but if you're referring to something which will affect the whole of the uk (which you are) then you should say uk. It is not acceptable to say "england" but mean "uk".

 

[mattythedog]

All I want to see is sky humiliated by getting less viewers than the BBC. Maybe that would make Bernie stop thinking about profits and start thinking about what the viewers want.

 

[rockdude101]

I read that the government can declare F1 to be a free to air sport. So if their is a petition or if an MP raises it in parliament there could be a review of it.

Not quite true unfortunately. The Ofcom list is, basically a two-tier list for certain sporting events that must be shown on free-to-air television and those that can be negoatated with pay-per-view broadcasters. Typically, Catagory A events include Olympics, FIFA World Cup, The National & Wimbledon; while Catagory B events are Ryder Cup, Six Nations, Commonwealth Games & Rugby World Cup.

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/broadcast/other-codes/ofcom_code_on_sport.pdf

F1 is not on either tier and thus, is not legally protected to free-to-air broadcasters.

How is the football coverage? Not that I watch football, but if a fan can tell me how the quality compares to the bbc's f1 coverage, that would be nice.

Sky & SkySports success has simply revolved the accquisition of buying the newly founded FA Premier League television rights back in 1992. Since then, SkySports coverage of football matches has grown in quality and innovation, into easily the most polished and popular broadcasters of football. If Sky can properly pump in the funds correctly, F1 coverage will improve year on year.

In terms of general layout, every 'Super Sunday' match features at least an hour prematch talk with interviews and the usual, the match is shown uninterupted with little clutter on screen and the neccessary technological gismos when needed; finishing with an half an hour postmatch analysis, which do include interviews on pitch/dressing room with players and managers.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Interesting observation from Keith Huewen:

Because we expect our sport to be covered comprehensively, absolutely live, and with the best possible quality production, only subscription channels will be able to sustain such high demands.

He does raise an interesting point - fans expect first-class broadcasting. A two-hour Grand Prix, plus one-hour pre-show and post-race analysis all broadcast live in prime time is a very tall order. It's little wonder the BBC felt this is unsustainable. And I'm beginning to suspect that if the BBC came out tomorrow and said "Okay, we'll broadcast all twenty races live, but there will be regular ad breaks and no pre- or post-race show", it would be as unpopular as the decision to move to pay-per-view.

Not quite true unfortunately. The Ofcom list is, basically a two-tier list for certain sporting events that must be shown on free-to-air television and those that can be negoatated with pay-per-view broadcasters. Typically, Catagory A events include Olympics, FIFA World Cup, The National & Wimbledon; while Catagory B events are Ryder Cup, Six Nations, Commonwealth Games & Rugby World Cup.

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/broadcast/other-codes/ofcom_code_on_sport.pdf

F1 is not on either tier and thus, is not legally protected to free-to-air broadcasters.

Yeah, if the Premier League and UEFA cup are not protected, I don't see why the government would suddenly protect Formula 1.

 

[Famine]

You can watch them in full on iplayer, just not live. (without a TV license)

I know:

Just to clarify, it's broadcast TV - you have to pay the licence to watch anything as it is being broadcast. "Live" TV has connotations of an event occurring in real time.

I know F1 is technically covered by both terms, but it needs a distinction - you cannot watch what BBC1 (or ITV, or Five) is showing right now on iPlayer (or ITV Player, or Five On Demand) right now without a Licence, but you can watch what BBC1 is showing right now on iPlayer tomorrow without a Licence.

How is the football coverage? Not that I watch football, but if a fan can tell me how the quality compares to the bbc's f1 coverage, that would be nice.

If you're into football, Sky is the only place to watch it. It's that good. Same with rugby, cricket and even darts.

Personally I'm willing to give Sky the benefit of the doubt. I know that their production values are probably the highest in the industry and it's facile to think that they'd spend what appears to be hundreds of millions of pounds on a halo sport and give it second-class treatment.

I still won't be taking a Sky Sports subscription though.

Who is this presenter you keep mentioning? Having been away from the uk for a while, I'm not aware of this story.

That particular one is Johnny Vaughan. He's not currently employed by the BBC, as far as I know, but had a £2.5m presenting contract in 2004 - and was sentenced to 4 years in prison in 1988 for intent to supply Class A drugs. There are other examples of the BBC giving large sums of money to people with dodgy histories (Stephen Fry, in his youth, spent three months in prison having stolen a family friend's credit card - given the nature of the crime, seeing as he was not an adult at the time and has bipolar disorder, I'm not especially bothered by this), but that's one of the most extreme.

Personally, I never give any money to anything to do with Tim Allen for similar reasons (aged 25, sentenced to three-to-seven for possession with intent to supply cocaine, served two and a half; also DUI aged 45), but then I have a choice (except when the BBC show Toy Story, The Santa Clause or Galaxy Quest)...

 

[prisonermonkeys]

it's facile to think that they'd spend what appears to be hundreds of millions of pounds on a halo sport and give it second-class treatment.

Yes, but people are opposed to the Sky Sports deal. It's easier to attack them when you assume that the coverage will be inferior.

 

[Famine]

What it will be is slightly different - though the race feed will be the same.

One thing Sky Sports pioneered with football was PlayerCam - one camera concentrating on one player alone for 15 minutes, selectable with the "red button" (interactive function). With F1 they'll have all 24 cars' onboard cameras and, potentially, you could override the race director and watch the entire race from the rollbar camera, front wing camera or even that cool under-the-nose-behind-the-front-wing camera of whichever driver you pick. Which will rather make F1 like GT5's replays.


Edit: Silly me. I completely forgot to mention the fact that the BBC's F1 coverage isn't actually the BBC's. It's outsourced to a private production company called "USP Content" who also deliver sporting content to Setanta and Sky... David Croft, Murray Walker and Holly Samos all are contracted to USP, not BBC.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

What it will be is slightly different - though the race feed will be the same.

Oh, of course ... but considering that people are trying to insinuate that this deal will lead to the death of the British Grand Prix (as I have seen on at least two other forums) or trying to organise campaigns to get the government to intervene and force Formula 1 to be free-to-air - which is a privelige that is only granted to major sporting events like the Olympics - and generally deny reality, do you think they're really going to recognise Sky's ability to further improve the coverage?

 

[mafia_boy]

I've always been of the opinion that Sky Sports do bloody good coverage. We get a lot of the live sports that you mentioned (Soccer, Darts, etc.) and I've always been happy with the things they do. Even their State Of Origin coverage (I streamed a UK broadcast) was top shelf and was a refreshing change since there was no state bias between the commentators whereas here you would have Fatty Vautin, Wally Lewis and co. screaming QLD and Peter Sterling, Phil "Gus" Gould and the rest screaming NSW all the way.

I reckon it will be good, and what's more, I feel that F1 will be on Austar/Foxtel aswell as on OneHD here in Australia. 👍

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I reckon it will be good, and what's more, I feel that F1 will be on Austar/Foxtel aswell as on OneHD here in Australia. 👍

I don't think so. The rules state that there can only be one syndicated network in each country (in the UK, BBC will become syndicated), and I don't think buying the rights will get many more viewers to Foxtel and Austar because they won't have exclusive content.

 

[Akmuq]

I can't see how the lenght of the broadcast in unsustainable for BBC. They have BBC 3 and BBC 4 as well to use, or are they not allowed broadcast on those channels before 7?

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I can't see how the lenght of the broadcast in unsustainable for BBC.

Because of the cost in relation to viewing figures. It currently costs the BBC over forty million pounds to broadcast Formula 1, which translates to roughly two million pounds per race.

 

[SmittMan]

If it's as good as the football coverage, I'll probably watch it every weekend but if not I'll stick to the BBC.

 

[Ardius]

The deal is apparently worth £1 million per season to the teams.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/93507

 

[Famine]

As predicted:

I wonder has FOTA had a say in this as surely they will get less viewers and therefore less sponsors.

FOTA's say will largely consist of "How much? Really? Neat."

 

[dhandeh]

If Sid Waddel done the commentary, the entertainment value would go through the roof!

 

[Moot]

Not quite true unfortunately. The Ofcom list is, basically a two-tier list for certain sporting events that must be shown on free-to-air television and those that can be negoatated with pay-per-view broadcasters. Typically, Catagory A events include Olympics, FIFA World Cup, The National & Wimbledon; while Catagory B events are Ryder Cup, Six Nations, Commonwealth Games & Rugby World Cup.

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/broadcast/other-codes/ofcom_code_on_sport.pdf

F1 is not on either tier and thus, is not legally protected to free-to-air broadcasters.

I know, which is why I said the government could act to protect it, this is what some are calling for. To make is to F1 is legally protected, because currently it is not.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Why would they? It's an international sport which is independently governed. It is nothing whatsoever to do with a government.

 

[F1 fan]

I know:If you're into football, Sky is the only place to watch it.

Well in that case, then I can rest easy. I can spend a bit of money to see F1. Sure, it might seem alot, but maybe I'll be able to watch some other motorsports I wouldn't normally see.

That particular one is Johnny Vaughan.

Oh that guy... I've always thought he was an idiot.

 

[dhandeh]

Why would they? It's an international sport which is independently governed. It is nothing whatsoever to do with a government.

But the government ensure that certain events are only shown on the original terrestial stations. The gold riband events, The Grand National, London Marathon etc...

 

[Tired Tyres]

But the government ensure that certain events are only shown on the original terrestial stations. The gold riband events, The Grand National, London Marathon etc...

Which are all British events.

 

[ItsHim]

Those blisters. Though I'm not surprised at all. After all the Conservatives have a very dear relationship with Murdoch.

What happend in Germany was they deliberately made the free-TV feed so boaring they basicaly forced you to the Sky (then Premiere) coverage where you of course could chose your own Cam.

What really upsets me is that it's not private TV trying to beat public TV but taking political influence to make public TV worse. This is not how it should be.

 

[dhandeh]

Which are all British events.

I know they are all British events.

People need to remember that everything can't be on terrestial television. Other countries have to put up with worse coverage that what we currently get, or are likely to get with the Sky/BBC partnership.

Half of the races, will still be on BBC, with extended highlights or deferred full races, its not like F1 is totally disappearing from our screens.

You cant have your cake and eat, as the saying goes. Something had to go, either the grossly overpaid olympics which i'm sick to death of (and its over a year away still) or a niche sport.

 

[Tired Tyres]

I know they are all British events.

People need to remember that everything can't be on terrestial television. Other countries have to put up with worse coverage that what we currently get, or are likely to get with the Sky/BBC partnership.

Half of the races, will still be on BBC, with extended highlights or deferred full races, its not like F1 is totally disappearing from our screens.

You cant have your cake and eat, as the saying goes. Something had to go, either the grossly overpaid olympics which i'm sick to death of (and its over a year away still) or a niche sport.

My post was in reference your question of why F1 can't be protected by the government.

F1 is not a niche sport. It is the third biggest sporting event in the world after the World Cup and the Olympic Games. It still does not mean it can be protected though.

 

[Famine]

In fact the key differences between protected sports and F1 are that protected sports all feature either individual nations or British teams (FIFA/Rugby World Cups, Six Nations, Olympics, Ryder Cup sort of, Commonwealth Games) or individual British participants (Wimbledon, Ryder Cup sort of again) or they take place annually and only within the British Isles (London Marathon, Grand National, Boat Race).

F1, like club level football, is a series of privately owned "teams" competing in more regularly scheduled events, or events not exclusively within the British Isles.

 

[dhandeh]

My post was in reference your question of why F1 can't be protected by the government.

F1 is not a niche sport. It is the third biggest sporting event in the world after the World Cup and the Olympic Games. It still does not mean it can be protected though.

It's a niche sport when up against celebrity come dancing for BBC funding. It might as well be cheese rolling!

 

[Alex.]

So I take it it's been posted that the commentary will be shared?