Formula One TV Coverage

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mikhailv
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Re: Formula One TV Coverage

Post by mikhailv » 23 Jul 2013, 18:36

Problem really is, what can they do a show about? Bugger all has really happened. Ontop of that they just arent utilising the channel. They need to show more of the F1 legends, they need to show more old races. Hell do a season a week of highlights from a set year.

Channel is under used and over fatuated with the same repeats. What they shouldve done is buy the bleeding rights to Moto GP or Rally. Make it a motorsport channel or something. Hell get GP2 repeats from hamilton, Rosberg and Piquet Jr's seasons. Anything ffs.

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Re: Formula One TV Coverage

Post by Alex_f1_baby » 23 Jul 2013, 19:15

They need to do something as they are losing viewers hand over fist. Having exclusive rights to every race was Sky's unique selling point, however the BBC are doing a fine job on a limited budget/coverage whilst attracting the lions share of the audience. Sky need something unique, but it isn't something they have or at least are making the most of. I'm not a Sky viewer and why would I be if I can get the same thing included in my license fee? There lies the issue. Sky are not offering anything better, at the most it's fairly even with the BBC, however one costs considerably more than the other.


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phil1993
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Re: Formula One TV Coverage

Post by phil1993 » 23 Jul 2013, 19:29

Sky may not have that problem next year :O

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Re: Formula One TV Coverage

Post by Alex_f1_baby » 23 Jul 2013, 19:30

You mean the talk the BBC may drop out altogether Phil?


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Re: Formula One TV Coverage

Post by phil1993 » 23 Jul 2013, 19:33

Perhaps; I would not be shocked if it happened.

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Re: Formula One TV Coverage

Post by Alex_f1_baby » 23 Jul 2013, 19:46

I would be very shocked personally. I don't believe the sport could disappear completely off standard TV as it accounts for over 80% of the audience. If the BBC dropped it and no other station took it up, I think it would be disastrous and even for Sky. They may have complete exclusive rights in that scenario, but the assumption everybody would suddenly purchase Sky is naive. At present Sky offer a channel for the minority of fans who are either better off financially, or are drawn by the dedicated channel, they are the luxury option in one respect. The primary channel making up the numbers is the FTA BBC. Sky are already under pressure from the press and Ecclestone due to poor ratings.

The great thing these days is so much information is on the Internet and fans can follow the sport without subscribing to an expensive satellite package. Of course when you limit access you also reduce the fan base and that's a danger. If formula one doesn't want my interest any longer, I can dedicate my focus onto other forms of Motorsport I enjoy. It's a dangerous path and I think they've got far too greedy.


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Re: Formula One TV Coverage

Post by KevC » 23 Jul 2013, 20:53

It wouldn't surprise me if the BBC went to highlights only with no live races. That might pull a few more people over to Sky.
mikhailv wrote:Problem really is, what can they do a show about? Bugger all has really happened. Ontop of that they just arent utilising the channel. They need to show more of the F1 legends, they need to show more old races. Hell do a season a week of highlights from a set year.

Channel is under used and over fatuated with the same repeats. What they shouldve done is buy the bleeding rights to Moto GP or Rally. Make it a motorsport channel or something. Hell get GP2 repeats from hamilton, Rosberg and Piquet Jr's seasons. Anything ffs.
This is right.
I'm very surprised they haven't turned it in to a motorsport channel. The other sky channels survive by having a variety of sports on them. I'm not sure how they thought the F1 channel would without more content. It only broadcasts for 5 or so hours a day as it is (and about 12 at the weekends for those who don't know) and it's just repeats of the previous weeks race and any from the season so far. The only unique content is on race weekends. I've said several times they should have more specific F1 programming, technical insights, behind the scenes, classic races etc but they seem to want the cheap option of just pushing play on the highlights reel from the week before.

The F1 show is a good idea and there SHOULD be enough news each week, hell you only have to look at the number of stories on this site and the likes of autosport to see enough happens in the background on a daily basis, but they don't seem to report much of it and instead tend to fill the show with useless flannel like silly location interviews (swimming, cooking, playing tennis), getting F1 drivers to play jenga (does anyone actually care who wins?) or challenges (can Natalie rebuild an engine..... no she can't. The end).

It just seems like such a missed opportunity. Brundle's little techy videos are pretty good but way too short. They could easily make them 20-30 minutes and I half get the feeling he'd like to do them like that but instead they're edited down to 3 minutes. Get Damon in some classic F1 cars, one a week. Expand Ted's development corner items. Use the skills you have available to you!

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Re: Formula One TV Coverage

Post by Alex_f1_baby » 24 Jul 2013, 07:43

If the BBC went to highlights only, for every race I don't think it would make a great deal of difference. Their highlights now work pretty well and you often don't notice the difference, or at least I don't. The only annoying thing is waiting for them and avoiding the result. I'm sure if this happened it would force a few over to Sky, but do you really think a huge chunk would do that? I don't. I know even if I wanted Sky I couldn't afford it or justify it. I would have to pay at least £50 a month and for someone who watches hardly any television, that is a stupid waste of money. My partners parents have Sky F1 and in the past we have watched it over Sunday dinner. Given the choice we watch the BBC and I feel for many fans its the quality of the broadcast is what entices them to pick their preferred channel. I know many here and elsewhere are very pro Sky even if the channel isn't quite living up to expectations of late.

It is clear Sky have the money to keep the rights and have a disposable budget for the project far greater than the BBC could ever hope to commit to. Why then is the channel often off air and constantly showing repeats? The F1 show is OK, but goes on far too long whenever I have seen it. You could halve it and focus on the finer details like news and development gossip for it to be far more informative. This is what the fans are talking about after all. Does anybody here think Sky may not be as committed to the channel as they pledged back in 2011? With viewing figures barely scraping into 6, 7, 800k scale on race weekends you have to wonder whether they feel its not worth spending too much money on packing the channel with features if ratings are so low. They also recently stopped new HD subscribers having the channel too didn't they? Perhaps they feel they have their audience and its just a case of keeping the channel at a steady pace. I think the sooner a terrestrial broadcaster gets the full rights back the better to be honest. They have spent years suggesting they want to try F1 on satellite and lets face it, its great for those who have it, but the long term effects are showing already. We could be in danger of diminishing ratings much further across the board affecting both channels as things stand. I say this experiment has not worked and rather than seeking the quick dollar from broadcasters, they need to focus on the consumers who need t be exposed to what the sport has to offer. Sky could always offer this channel free to freeview and Freesat viewers if they wanted a better following too. That will not happen of course. :)

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Re: Formula One TV Coverage

Post by phil1993 » 24 Jul 2013, 15:41

It wouldn't be highlights only, it'd be nothing...

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Re: Formula One TV Coverage

Post by Alex_f1_baby » 24 Jul 2013, 15:54

Where do you get your info Phil? I'm sure that admission is not in the public domain as it would cause outrage, so is that insider knowledge?


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Re: Formula One TV Coverage

Post by KevC » 24 Jul 2013, 16:02

I could see the BBC buying the race feed and just commentating on it, save a ton of money not sending people to the races. Just like the 80s!

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Re: Formula One TV Coverage

Post by mikhailv » 24 Jul 2013, 18:33

The BBC want rid of F1. We all know it. They had the highest F1 ratings ever and produced what was the greatest coverage ever of the sport. Then for some reason they spent more money on Wimbeldon and Olympics and cut F1, which was the stupidest thing to do.

Now they lost their 'star' presenter and have an average Suzi Perry who was alright on Moto GP; because that was her speciality. F1 isn't. Eddie doesnt even bother unless its live and DC is dull as a door knob and he may aswell wear the redbull team gear and a badge saying 'I <3 RBR'.

its just a waste of money for the BBC, the viewing figures are such a large percentage down on what they used to be, and to be honest the coverage just isn't as good which is a crying shame because Ben Edwards is my favourite motorsport commentator; he did Formula 3 back in the 90's/early 2000's, BTCC, Le Mans you name it. BBC are itching to get rid of the sport and the contract. Why do you think it went to sky in the first place? Because the BBC sold it, not Bernie. If they didnt do that there would be zero coverage in the UK from the start of the 2012 season.

I love the sky presentation and the programme, im very satisified with what they do show, but the channel is largely wasted as my post above with Kevin agreed with.

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Re: Formula One TV Coverage

Post by phil1993 » 24 Jul 2013, 18:37

I heard it at Silverstone...

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Re: Formula One TV Coverage

Post by Alex_f1_baby » 24 Jul 2013, 18:49

The BBC sold half the rights as their restructuring budget could not stretch for full rights. They and Bernie approached Sky not solely the BBC. Bernie holds far too much of a grip regardless of what he claims. The viewing figures are largely down for F1 in the UK as a whole, not just the BBC. We've lost 3m viewers since the end of 2011, and that has nothing to do with the BBC transmitting poor quality broadcasts, it's to do with the whole situation of shared coverage.

I don't believe for a second Bernie and the teams would allow the coverage to completely disappear off FTA television and don't believe Sky saved the situation. Channel 4 matched the bid made by Sky but the BBC chose to deal with a less competitive opponent. Sky were never likely to get big viewing figures due to the nature of its package. If Sky got full exclusive rights, it would kill F1 in this country and nobody wants that, even those unaffected by the deal with full viewing access. Bernie suggested not long ago that he felt sky should offer the channel free and this to me suggests he is concerned for its long term popularity. Viewers are important after all.


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Re: Formula One TV Coverage

Post by phil1993 » 24 Jul 2013, 18:54

If Sky bother to improve their motorsport package, they could make it as big as football.

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