Sport The Formula 1 Thread

[roskelld]

In fairness, I can see a few people doing that. People who do that will be seeing the action around the same time the BBC will be showing the highlights.

Having spent the second half of last years season and the start of this years season in the States and Canada I can tell you that's no where near as fun. You don't get the benefit of the driver tracker, the lap tracker, the forum and twitter during the live event. And also the wait for the HD torrent to arrive can sometimes take days (Though this action might speed that up somewhat).

Having it all legit and on the BBC is an incredible experience, having lived through SpeedTV and the Canadian BBC cutdown version with ad breaks, I can tell you that it makes a world of different to the sport. I'm sure Sky will do a sterling job, but then I'd fucking expect it after paying an extra £600 a year for the privilege.

[thesnwmn]

Fair enough. Hardly prestige coverage. Is it even in HD?

It might not be HD but the 5 Live pairing are perfect for practice. Chatty and amusing. There's so little to actually report on or large swathes of it that I love the practice coverage just for them.

Anyway. Unhappy at the deal but the reality is I will pay £600 to keep following F1. Also sure half he BBC team will be there as well.

[SF-02]

What more can sky do for the coverage? Most of the races are filmed by FOM and distributed to national broadcasters. Big countries have their own media do it and then it's distributed such as BBC in UK and RTL in Germany. So sky could only 'improve' 1 GP, and I'm not sure what more they could do. Then there is the pre and post race coverage, which is pretty much perfect.

[Froettmaning]

Well, you can certainly expect Sky to push for 3D coverage.

[gospvg]

I never thought the nationwide cost cutting exercise would really affect me in anyway, yes I pay an extra £30 year for my green waste collection which was previously free but the F1 news todays has shocked me. The government have restricted the BBC, so they have to implement cost cutting measures & thus had no choice really.

Soon my weekend ritual of motor racing will be gone, sitting down on my favourite spot on the sofa with my iPad on Twitter & RLLMUK, my iPod touch on the f1 timing app. The news could not be any worse because it is SKY who have the full season, I really dislike the Murdoch’s & thus anything they are involved in I avoid & certainly will not pay to view or read.

The races have to be watched live to truly enjoy them with the banter on Twitter & RLLMUK.

Currently for next year I’m thinking watch the races the BBC show & everything else will be on Sopcast streaming, hopefully this will work, if not then I will turn off and walk away from F1 like I have from Football

Anyhow enough moping around we have a race on this weekend & Hamilton is fastest in FP2

[Pete]

Awful news, something which will I think will become more common in other sports and events now too.

I'll probably stop watching next season too unless I can get some decent streams.

[Arc'Tan'Gent]

Awful news, something which will I think will become more common in other sports and events now too.

I'll probably stop watching next season too unless I can get some decent streams.

There are plenty of good sports streams out there, especially football. Anyway, it doesn't matter if they're bad streams, considering a good proportion of Premiership players now have their faces routinely pixellated to avoid any further rape charges.

[Pete]

yeah some are OK, I'm watching the cricket right now on a stream with radio on. The delay is an issue but it works with cricket, not sure about F1.

Sky need to sort out a more tailored pay per view system, I would happily pay £20 for 5 days of cricket for example, but there isn't the option. Hopefully they might sort this for the F1?

[Daley]

yeah some are OK, I'm watching the cricket right now on a stream with radio on. The delay is an issue but it works with cricket, not sure about F1.

Sky need to sort out a more tailored pay per view system, I would happily pay £20 for 5 days of cricket for example, but there isn't the option. Hopefully they might sort this for the F1?

Doubt it. It goes against what they are trying to do. They are building a wall of stuff and hopefully one bit is for you and it forces you to buy the whole lot. Football, movies, HBO shows, boxing, and now F1. You want one? You have to take all this other shit too.

If they break it down and sell it to you seperately the price will be much less, good for us but bad for them. But if they charge £50 a month for everything (including F1) and make you sign a year contract, well that's why they announced today their first annual profit of over £1bn.

[Pete]

It makes sense, but it's doing damage to the sports involved. Football will be fine but sports like F1 and cricket will lose millions of future fans just because they won't be exposed to it from a young age.

I would probably be less annoyed if I liked snooker, horses, golf and tennis. But I don't.

[sjeh]

I have honestly never seen such rage on RLLMUK - F1 BBC passion!

Very pissed off & gutted. Fuck Sky, fuck FOTA, & fuck Bernie. I'm totally furious actually! The more I think about it the more pissed off I am. fuck paying sky a penny. I hope the viewing figures are fucking dire!

FUCK YOU MURDOCH. FUCK YOU.

This is a massive disaster. I am FUMING. Disaster for the UK public and a fucking MASSIVE disaster for F1.

I am seriously pissed off.

I can't believe this shit. I'm going to go and jump Bernie and give the midget cunt another black eye.

There is no way on earth I'll pay Sky for this. Well done for losing a F1 viewer.

I am devastated by this news though. Really gutted. Fuck them in the mouthes. Twats.

I'm not paying. Not ever.

Fuck em, fuck bernie, fuck fota and fuck sky the greedy cunts.

I think that'll be it for me and F1 then. Bad times.

I am spitting mad over all this. Really mad. What a load of spinny steaming bollocks written by an absolute thundercunt.

Well, I'm done with F1. Sky can fuck off. It's been a good run.

Enjoyed the last 25 years, thanks for the memories.

I hope it's not as bad as you all think

[gospvg]

It shows our passion for the sport we love

[mexos]

It shows our passion for the sport we love

Oh yes.

Bernie & co might just be a little shocked by the backlash. I hope so. I would assume that our little village here isn't the only place where fans are spitting feathers.

This issue is going to hang around like a bad smell for a long time to come.

[gospvg]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jul/29/formula-one-sky-deal

Pirelli concerned

[curium]

I'm a recent convert to F1, after the cracking season that was last year. I won't be getting Sky to watch F1 as it's too expensive. I feel I'd have to watch a lot more TV to make it worthwhile.

Hopefully the BBC will give more extensive coverage to MotoGP. In the meantime I'll be sticking with the bicycles & motorcycles on Eurosports.

Do you think Sky will interrupt the racing for ad breaks? Do they have adverts on Sky Sports?

Edited July 29, 2011 by curium

[McCoy]

As a slightly unrelated topic, had F1 gone to ITV, 4 or Five then we all assume that there would be adverts breaks. My question is why is it not possible for a commercial broadcaster to show F1 with adverts but to basically freeze the action when they cut to the break and then resume on returning. I understand that this would not be helpful to those who use the forum or social media but surely for Joe public such a system allows for advert breaks without missing out of the action?

[esar]

Oh yes.

Bernie & co might just be a little shocked by the backlash. I hope so. I would assume that our little village here isn't the only place where fans are spitting feathers.

This issue is going to hang around like a bad smell for a long time to come.

Looking at the comments sections on a lot of the news sites reporting this, its pretty much all negative feedback.

Plus, doesn't the BBC commentary get broadcast in other countries as well as the UK? Could more global fans be pissed off or is it just a UK thing?

[Wools]

I believe the BBC feed is broadcast to other countries, as Martin frequently says hello to people around the world.

I know it's not going to happen, but it's not the first time CCV & the FIA have backtracked. Have FOTA made a complaint or are they okay with the move?

[Hawkeye]

Looking at the comments sections on a lot of the news sites reporting this, its pretty much all negative feedback.

To be honest I can't think of any positive feedback on a 'you used to get this sh*t for free, but no more' move!

[thesnwmn]

As a slightly unrelated topic, had F1 gone to ITV, 4 or Five then we all assume that there would be adverts breaks. My question is why is it not possible for a commercial broadcaster to show F1 with adverts but to basically freeze the action when they cut to the break and then resume on returning. I understand that this would not be helpful to those who use the forum or social media but surely for Joe public such a system allows for advert breaks without missing out of the action?

Of course its possible but it's not really "live" at that point. Half the fun of live sport is knowing millions of others are watching it. Plus it would utterly break live timing so we'd all be in uproar about that as well!

[ilpostino]

I live in Canada now and have to live with TSN/Speed TV showing the odd race and media blackouts for the ones they don't. We get the BBC feed on TSN and the coverage really is excellent. I do think Jake Humphrey is a tit though.

I'm unhappy with this as well, the chances of us getting F1 on any basic cable TV channel here has just dropped to zero I think. Streams it is then!

[McCoy]

I believe the BBC feed is broadcast to other countries, as Martin frequently says hello to people around the world.

I know it's not going to happen, but it's not the first time CCV & the FIA have backtracked. Have FOTA made a complaint or are they okay with the move?

The problem is that the BBC don't want F1 and for whatever reason the other free to air channels are not serious about taking it. Either it goes to Sky or the FIA and, by extension, the teams receive a much lower asking price than they would expect.

[JohnC]

To be honest I can't think of any positive feedback on a 'you used to get this sh*t for free, but no more' move!

I checked out the Sky Sports site earlier to see if they have comments. People posting comments there tend to be Sky Sports subscribers already, so the money isn't a problem to them, yet there were still many existing subscribers saying it should stay on BBC and those comments were the ones getting upvoted.

[esar]

To be honest I can't think of any positive feedback on a 'you used to get this sh*t for free, but no more' move!

Well, yeah it is obvious I suppose, but surely the sponsors and teams can't be happy with all of this negative publicity?

The more I think about it though i'm just clutching at straws. Charles is right that the BBC cant afford it anymore so are happy to let it go so it was always going to go to Sky, its just pretty crappy for us fans all in all.

[McCoy]

Of course its possible but it's not really "live" at that point. Half the fun of live sport is knowing millions of others are watching it. Plus it would utterly break live timing so we'd all be in uproar about that as well!

I love Live timing too so it would disappoint me. But I'd prefer to see the entire race, even in a slightly time delayed form than miss out on chunks due to adverts. Its all entirely academic but I just pondered why it couldn't be done.

[curium]

“Very recently they wanted to do something in Germany, in the UK and in Italy but we couldn’t do it. Sky is doing an incredible job but if you look at their audience figures they are nowhere. With these figures it would be almost impossible for teams to find sponsors. That would be suicidal.”

Anyone know the percentage of homes in the UK that have Sky?

More importantly, what percentage of UK homes have Sky Sports today?

[McCoy]

Anyone know the percentage of homes in the UK that have Sky?

More importantly, what percentage of UK homes have Sky Sports today?

Sky was in 10 million homes as of last November. Don't know that as a % as I don't know how many homes are in the UK. Let's say 60 million people, average of three people per house then a rough estimate of a 50% Sky penetration (based on 20 million homes). Of course, that doesn't mean they would all have the Sky Sports package, I am sure a lot wouldn't.

[roskelld]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jul/29/formula-one-sky-deal

Pirelli concerned

The Williams chairman, Adam Parr, added his concerns, though suggested that what the teams lost in terms of television viewing figures could be matched by increased investment from Sky.

"In principle I have no issue with optimising the balance between the revenues that we need, and getting a good reach in the audience," he said. "The devil is in the detail.

"I think it is a balance and, without knowing the details, you cannot comment on whether it is good or bad. What I do know is that Bernie is a very passionate believer in getting the broadest audience possible and I think he has almost certainly done this in order to do that."

Parr added that, while he felt for fans who would no longer have as much access to the sport on free-to-air television, Formula One was a money-hungry enterprise and, as such, needed to secure itself the best deal.

"I am sympathetic to them. I understand it is difficult – but English Premier League fans have had that for a while haven't they?" he said. "The one thing I would say, which I have said before, I know that whether you are coming to a race or are watching the sport at home and have to do that on pay TV which seems expensive, people have to bear in mind what it costs to put on this show. It is part of the character of F1.

Parr, Parr, Parr... Premiership matches already drive people into pubs and other venues to watch games, which is fine for a sport that's on at the same time every week. But F1, which is on at times when viewing places aren't open for a lot of the season is a very different sport. Plus a football match lasts for 2 hours including breaks, where as F1 lasts for a total of about 6 hours (3 core hours of racing) over a three-day period. It just isn't a good comparison in anyway.

[gospvg]

Anyone know the percentage of homes in the UK that have Sky?

More importantly, what percentage of UK homes have Sky Sports today?

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

Wiki has some information

Also Barb

http://www.barb.co.uk/report/weeklyTopProgrammes/?

[Eighthours]

As a slightly unrelated topic, had F1 gone to ITV, 4 or Five then we all assume that there would be adverts breaks. My question is why is it not possible for a commercial broadcaster to show F1 with adverts but to basically freeze the action when they cut to the break and then resume on returning. I understand that this would not be helpful to those who use the forum or social media but surely for Joe public such a system allows for advert breaks without missing out of the action?

Can't remember which channel this was, but one of them went split-screen when ads were on. Audio was from the ads, but you could still see the live race action on the other side of the screen so weren't in danger of missing anything.