Sport The Formula 1 Thread

[davius]

Does that take into account people who switched from Sky to BBC coverage during the race?

I went from BBC to Sky during the race. I'm sure it does, sky can even define the people who recorded it and watched the race later.

[marsh]

Is this really going to be seen as a worthwhile investment from sky?

[Wallpaper]

Kimi didn't have the experience of the 'falling off the cliff' with the tyres that most of the other front runners do and I think it just caught him by surprise how suddenly and drastically you lose grip.

Was glad to see Rosberg get a win, it was starting to be a bit of a monkey on his back (from the outside not presuming his personal opinion).

[mexos]

Is this really going to be seen as a worthwhile investment from sky?

If they see an upsurge in subscribers + less 'churn' then yes.

[Halkyon]

I don't know how you can say that without knowing what they're paying for the F1 licence.

Itt may be a strategic loss leader to establish themselves an audience before squeezing the Beeb out entirely.

[mexos]

It's a halo product for them. They can almost afford to loose money on the deal.

Will probably be quite some time before they see a profit that can be linked back the deal.

[Halkyon]

I wouldn't say almost, they can absolutely afford to lose money on the deal in the short term.

[marsh]

Itt may be a strategic loss leader to establish themselves an audience before squeezing the Beeb out entirely.

This, but the company is in fairly dire form at the moment, and I've read in a number of places that Murdoch was brushed aside for decisions like paying a stupid amount of money for Madmen. I would imagine the rights they have didn't come cheap.

I don't see any major change until Bernie is in a box tbh.

[MrPogo]

If they see an upsurge in subscribers + less 'churn' then yes.

And the upsurge is likely to be in a particularly valuable form of subscriber too; F1 traditionally appeals to the highly lucrative "relatively affluent, middle class male" demographic, which Sky certainly used to struggle to attract in the past (over ten years since I looked at it, but they used to have most of their subscription base in the more "working class family with little disposable income" end of the scale), and an influx of such viewers should help boost advertising rates across the board.

[curium]

Ratings time:

http://www.guardian....e-grand-prix-4m

Sky taking a fairly big hit when going head to head with the BBC although not disastrous by any means, but most interesting is the net gain of viewers from last season when looking at both channels. It seems more and more that the new arrangement is harming the sports viewings levels in the UK in the way that might have been expected.

I'd be interested to know what will happen to the Sky numbers if they get F1 exclusively, squeezing the BBC out. Bernie will want this information too before deciding on future contracts.

I know that I would pretty much stop following F1 if I had to subscribe to Sky but what percentage of current BBC viewers would do likewise?

As a public service broadcaster there is definitely a case for the BBC to spend less on sports as it's an area that will attract commercial broadcasters. I value their BBC4 and Radio4 output over their sports coverage and if the licence fee is to be squeezed I would prefer these to be the priorities over maintaining sports coverage.

[zxcvbnm]

If Sky was the only way to watch F1 then I'd do what I'm currently doing - go online and stream it. There's more than enough decent quality streams for each race, and unless you have a bad internet connection I can't understand why anyone would happily line Murdoch's pockets. He was always the worst one in the A-Team.

[MrPogo]

But I'd far rather see them spending money covering sports than trying to compete with ITV on the popularist entertainment front; where's the "public service" value in spending £22 million on the rights to The Voice (plus undoubtedly several million more in wages to the judges) so they can put it up against an essentially identical show on another channel? To me the money would be far better spent on F1, or even other sports you otherwise can't watch for just the cost of a TV licence.

[merman]

So we're still going to Bahrain, but Bernie continues to cast doubt on Austin this year and New Jersey next year. Face, meet palm.

[Sidewaysbob]

the difference is, Bahrain has paid up while austin hasn't

[marsh]

^{I have a feeling this weekend could be a huge mistake.}

[kiroquai]

The whole thing I don't get is that they're all saying 'well, there's no trouble around the circuit and surrounding areas!', which might be true... but given the presence of a multi-million pound show with coverage across pretty much all the globe, it's not hard to imagine that protesters and the like will try to take it closer in if they think it's going to get them an audience.

It's like throwing a lit match on the floor and proclaiming there's no fire before you've even had time to put the dry wood and lighter fluid down.

[rafaqat]

I won't be surprised if someone attempts to gets onto the track.

[marsh]

Is that crazy Irish preist still doing the rounds these days?

[Dudley]

The whole thing I don't get is that they're all saying 'well, there's no trouble around the circuit and surrounding areas!', which might be true... but given the presence of a multi-million pound show with coverage across pretty much all the globe, it's not hard to imagine that protesters and the like will try to take it closer in if they think it's going to get them an audience.

It's like throwing a lit match on the floor and proclaiming there's no fire before you've even had time to put the dry wood and lighter fluid down.

Also people don't realise that while Sakhir is in the middle of nowhere, that's a very relative term in a country that is 30 miles long.

I won't be surprised if someone attempts to gets onto the track.

I'm sure they'll step up security but the circuit only has grandstands around the main straight and.... side straights? The "top" of the circuit bleeds out into the desert. Certainly when I went you could have done it reasonably easily.

[SeanR]

had a look at the map, you mean up by the university, or over by the air base?

[Sidewaysbob]

Its a shitty circuit and F1 shouldn't be there in the first place.

Where was the media storm 6 months ago when bahrain was put on the calander ? I hate it when Sport and politics gets mixed up, there is no right and wrong, just opinion and argument whilst nothing actually changes.

anyway .. more later. after the media mob have whipped up some more self rightious indignation

[Arc'Tan'Gent]

Is that crazy Irish preist still doing the rounds these days?

My one and only race - Silverstone 2003 was it? If he'd have been hit by any of those cars, he would have been mincemeat.

[Arc'Tan'Gent]

Blimey, he keeps himself busy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Horan

[Dudley]

had a look at the map, you mean up by the university, or over by the air base?

Airbase side, I think you could get up the outside from the last corner and keep going fairly easily, or could in 2008, and thus get onto the circuit somewhere around the 2nd last turn.

[McCoy]

If they see an upsurge in subscribers + less 'churn' then yes.

Exactly. The profit or otherwise from this will come from increased subscribers and reduced churn. Only Sky themselves will really know exactly how much of each will make the deal worthwhile and even then it can be difficult to quantify precisely. A lot of the value of the deal may well come from reduced churn as they can turn around to the subscribers who receive HD or the Sports package and offer them F1 for free at no extra cost. For someone mulling over whether to cancel Sky it might persuade them to continue with Sky (added value and all that). You've also got to look at existing subscribers on the basic package who upgraded to HD or Sports due to the acquisition of F1 rights as that will contribute to the profitability of the deal too. And, as someone else mentioned, F1 attracts a highly valuable audience which Sky has traditionally had difficulty attracting. Not only is it good to gain such an audience as subscribers but the more valuable the audience watching programs on Sky's channels the more advertising revenue it can charge as well. Get the high value audience through the F1 rights and then make additional money off them for also watching House on Sky 1 (for example).

Also, I imagine that the sharing half the races with the BBC will likely result in a decent saving on the licence than if they had been the sole provider of F1 in the UK. After all, I doubt they would have paid the going rate for F1 rights in the UK and let the BBC show half the races and highlights for the other half without receiving a considerable contribution from the BBC towards the cost of the license. It could well mean they got the F1 rights not only on the cheap but they then also get to shout it from the rooftops that they have exclusive coverage as well.

Have any figures been released for how much F1 has cost Sky? James Allen suggests that the BBC were paying $45M a year for the exclusive rights, therefore I can't realistically see Sky willing to pay more than $25m a year for rights which allow the BBC to show half the races and highlights of the other half. Given that the current Premier League football deal costs Sky around £500m per year then F1 looks like loose change in comparison (http://www.telegraph...-TV-rights.html). Also, the purchase of HBO shows to show on Sky Atlantic set Sky back by around £30m a year - http://www.guardian....bo-tv-catalogue. I'd wager that F1 gets more viewers than most HBO shows and the amount of hours of television you get out of the F1 license to the amount of hours they got out of the HBO agreement is likely to be broadly similar as well.

This, but the company is in fairly dire form at the moment, and I've read in a number of places that Murdoch was brushed aside for decisions like paying a stupid amount of money for Madmen. I would imagine the rights they have didn't come cheap.

Really? Last financial results show a net profit for Sky of around £441m (up 8% year on year). BSKYB is a money generating machine which is why Murdoch was so keen to buy the entire company. http://www.guardian....-profits-ad-dip

[marsh]

Oh well, Wishful thinking on my part I guess. Scummy outfit at best.

[JohnC]

Former Met assistant commissioner and advisor to Bahrain on police reform, John Yates, talks a bit about security for the race.

[Sidewaysbob]

Right then ... Bahrain ...

If the race takes place, well I'll report on it. If not, it's a null result and we roll on.

If we get laps, however many laps, we have a result.

My moneys on a McLaren for the win, A Lotus on the podium perhaps. Too hot for the Merc tires, Redbulls still not fastest enough in a straight line

Update you predictions before Friday chaps.

[curium]

Right then ... Bahrain ...

If the race takes place, well I'll report on it. If not, it's a null result and we roll on.

If we get laps, however many laps, we have a result.

My moneys on a McLaren for the win, A Lotus on the podium perhaps. Too hot for the Merc tires, Redbulls still not fastest enough in a straight line

Update you predictions before Friday chaps.

Did you not see Nico win on a 2-stop strategy last weekend... in a Mercedes?

[Sidewaysbob]

On a cold track. they were no where in Australia ... their tires have an operating window the size of 50p piece.