F1Rejects.com

by **DanielPT** » 07 Dec 2011, 21:09

dr-baker wrote:I am now concerned about British Broadcasting Corperation Radio Five Live's commentating line-up - I was looking forward to getting my live fix from Crofty and Anthony Davidson...

Could they go for... say... James Allen? :lol:

by **dr-baker** » 07 Dec 2011, 23:29

DanielPT wrote:
dr-baker wrote:I am now concerned about British Broadcasting Corperation Radio Five Live's commentating line-up - I was looking forward to getting my live fix from Crofty and Anthony Davidson...

Could they go for... say... James Allen?

James Allen and Jonathan Legard? I've started so I'll finish... :cry:

by **AndreaModa** » 08 Dec 2011, 00:34

I strongly suspect they'll share the commentary feed. The only people left at the BBC now are Jake Humphrey, DC, EJ and Lee McKenzie. There's no-one there to perform the main commentary role, plus, putting my cynical hat on, it'll probably save the penny-pinching BBC a few extra quid not employing a couple of extra people... :roll:

by **East Londoner** » 08 Dec 2011, 02:18

AndreaModa wrote:I strongly suspect they'll share the commentary feed. The only people left at the BBC now are Jake Humphrey, DC, EJ and Lee McKenzie. There's no-one there to perform the main commentary role, plus, putting my cynical hat on, it'll probably save the penny-pinching BBC a few extra quid not employing a couple of extra people...

Do the BBC not employ the Ledge anymore? I think I'd go ballistic if I was subjected to any more of his commentary, considering how frustratingly bad he was in 2009/2010. :evil:

by **eagleash** » 08 Dec 2011, 02:39

AndreaModa wrote:I strongly suspect they'll share the commentary feed. The only people left at the BBC now are Jake Humphrey, DC, EJ and Lee McKenzie. There's no-one there to perform the main commentary role, plus, putting my cynical hat on, it'll probably save the penny-pinching BBC a few extra quid not employing a couple of extra people...

EJ is rumoured to be going to SPEED & Lee MacKenzie was removed from the BBC F1 twitter feed on the same day as Kravitz & Brundle, but not seen or heard anything of her intentions since.

Edit: The BBC also have to fill the 5live positions, where it seems only Maurice Hamilton remains although Chandhok has become something of a regular & if he can't get a drive.....maybe.......

East Londoner wrote:Do the BBC not employ the Ledge anymore? I think I'd go ballistic if I was subjected to any more of his commentary, considering how frustratingly bad he was in 2009/2010.

Legard is still employed, currently reporting on Championship football. Wouldn't be a total surprise if he were to reappear in F1.

by **eagleash** » 10 Dec 2011, 05:34

Irony......new definition...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula ... um=twitter

by **FullMetalJack** » 10 Dec 2011, 05:50

eagleash wrote:
East Londoner wrote:Do the BBC not employ the Ledge anymore? I think I'd go ballistic if I was subjected to any more of his commentary, considering how frustratingly bad he was in 2009/2010.

Legard is still employed, currently reporting on Championship football. Wouldn't be a total surprise if he were to reappear in F1.

Good job I go to most of my games, means I won't have to listen to him in order to catch the goal(s)

by **TheBigJ** » 10 Dec 2011, 07:43

eagleash wrote:Irony......new definition...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula ... um=twitter

It's well deserved IMO. Legard was the weak link the first year and they got rid of him. Jake and the Gang were doing a great job until the crushing news arrived and they all seemed to lose interest (also due to the boring racing towards the end of the season) or try to secure a move to Sky (in Brundle's case).

Shame everything had to be split up.

by **eagleash** » 10 Dec 2011, 09:20

TheBigJ wrote:
eagleash wrote:Irony......new definition...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula ... um=twitter

It's well deserved IMO. Legard was the weak link the first year and they got rid of him. Jake and the Gang were doing a great job until the crushing news arrived and they all seemed to lose interest (also due to the boring racing towards the end of the season) or try to secure a move to Sky (in Brundle's case).

Shame everything had to be split up.

Yes it is deserved. But just ironic the award should be made at this point.

by **golic_2004** » 11 Dec 2011, 15:07

BlindCaveSalamander wrote:
Jeroen Krautmeir wrote:
jpm wrote:YES! so happy Brundle will finally be gone, along with guestimating Ted Kravitz! Come on Beeb, bring back Charlie Cox and Watty, my favourite commentary pairing of all time from the late 90s BTCC. For extra fever, Jimmy Spencer as pundit, Mark Larkham as pit reporter, with Paul Page/ Bob Jenkins anchoring. OOOOOOOOHHHHH YEAAAAAHHHH...

Just how do you get Paul Page and Bob Jenkins anchoring for the BBC?

For that matter, how do you get Jimmy Spencer of all people commentating on F1?

It will provide the UK some very entertaining commentary. :lol:

by **dr-baker** » 12 Dec 2011, 08:14

Interesting couple of paragraphs in the current Autosport (in the section about the Autosport awards):

Bernie Ecclestone's iron grip on all that is F1 is well-knownj, and film maker Manish Pandey saw this muscle exercised first handin the formative stages of the Senna movie.

"I remember our first meeting," he recalled while accepting the Pioneering and Innovation Award from Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. "We talked about Senna's qualifying lap at Monaco," continued Pandey, referring to his legendary performance in 1989. "We told him we'd all watched it the previous day."

Pandey described watching that classic piece of footage as the moment that made him realise the potential treasures that were in Ecclestone's video archive. But the F1 supremo had become distracted from the main point.

"Bernie said, 'Where did you see it?' and we said, 'We saw it on YouTube.' He immediately turned to his lawyer and said, 'Get it off!"

Bernie's totally lost it hasn't he? Having that particular clip on YouTube encouraged the making of the Senna film, which would have brought Bernie more money. Is Bernie wanting no footage of F1 on the internet at all? Does he not want us to be passionate about the sport and care about its history, for which he has been around for most of? We are more likely to be desparate to pay for Sky if we care about it and want to get more into it, aren't we? Bernie's an idiot...

by **Stramala** » 12 Dec 2011, 08:26

dr-baker wrote:Interesting couple of paragraphs in the current Autosport (in the section about the Autosport awards):

Bernie Ecclestone's iron grip on all that is F1 is well-knownj, and film maker Manish Pandey saw this muscle exercised first handin the formative stages of the Senna movie.

"I remember our first meeting," he recalled while accepting the Pioneering and Innovation Award from Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. "We talked about Senna's qualifying lap at Monaco," continued Pandey, referring to his legendary performance in 1989. "We told him we'd all watched it the previous day."

Pandey described watching that classic piece of footage as the moment that made him realise the potential treasures that were in Ecclestone's video archive. But the F1 supremo had become distracted from the main point.

"Bernie said, 'Where did you see it?' and we said, 'We saw it on YouTube.' He immediately turned to his lawyer and said, 'Get it off!"

Bernie's totally lost it hasn't he? Having that particular clip on YouTube encouraged the making of the Senna film, which would have brought Bernie more money. Is Bernie wanting no footage of F1 on the internet at all? Does he not want us to be passionate about the sport and care about its history, for which he has been around for most of? We are more likely to be desparate to pay for Sky if we care about it and want to get more into it, aren't we? Bernie's an idiot...

Nothing to say except...

by **East Londoner** » 12 Dec 2011, 08:42

How can Bernie not realise the potential goldmine he's sitting on? There must be a huge market for classic and controversial races to be shown in full. Release some of these on DVD or license out these to other TV channels, and increase your goodwill, as well as the size of your bank account. I'm pretty sure that IndyCar/CART or NASCAR have a dedicated YouTube channel, so why not one for F1?

Of course, this is Bernie Ecclestone we're talking about... Greedy, inconsiderate little hermit :evil:

by **eagleash** » 12 Dec 2011, 09:00

Bernie undoubtedly has his reasons, though they are not immediately obvious, must be said

.
Though if there's one thing Bernie is not, it's stupid or an idiot. In the recent Motor Sport podcast with Sir Jackie he was asked his opinion of BCE as one who's dealt with him from many aspects for nearly 50 years. JYS opined that Bernie's "high" was "the deal".... it was his vice or drug of choice.
Make of that what you will.

by **eagleash** » 13 Dec 2011, 00:47

Scarbs F1 have just tweeted that Ben Edwards is to join the BBC F1 commentary team for 2012. Edwards own twitter stream has yet to make mention & it's not clear whether this is TV or 5live.

by **Stramala** » 13 Dec 2011, 11:24

eagleash wrote:Scarbs F1 have just tweeted that Ben Edwards is to join the BBC F1 commentary team for 2012. Edwards own twitter stream has yet to make mention & it's not clear whether this is TV or 5live.

Not a bad choice really. If anything, probably one of the best choices available considering he has relevant experience from his Eurosport days. Only downside is his annoying high-pitched squeaky voice when the action gets exciting on track.

Or maybe my ears are just playing tricks on me yet again :roll:

by **eagleash** » 14 Dec 2011, 03:30

kostas22 wrote:
eagleash wrote:Scarbs F1 have just tweeted that Ben Edwards is to join the BBC F1 commentary team for 2012. Edwards own twitter stream has yet to make mention & it's not clear whether this is TV or 5live.

Not a bad choice really. If anything, probably one of the best choices available considering he has relevant experience from his Eurosport days. Only downside is his annoying high-pitched squeaky voice when the action gets exciting on track.

Or maybe my ears are just playing tricks on me yet again

Maybe it's bagpipes

Edwards has now confirmed commentary position with BBC. TV or radio though not certain.

Edit: TV apparently.

by **Paul Hayes** » 14 Dec 2011, 07:26

I've never really experienced Edwards's commentary before, so it'll be a new one on me, although I believe he was fondly regarded by those who watched F1 on Eurosport back in the 1990s.

by **eagleash** » 14 Dec 2011, 07:54

Paul Hayes wrote:I've never really experienced Edwards's commentary before, so it'll be a new one on me, although I believe he was fondly regarded by those who watched F1 on Eurosport back in the 1990s.

I heard him at the weekend on either C4 or ITV doing Porsche Carrera Cup & Formula Renault from Thruxton. He's not too bad, but as Kostas points out can get a bit frenetic.

Seems he'll have DC alongside & EJ & Lee MacKenzie are said also to be staying.

by **jpm** » 14 Dec 2011, 08:00

Fantastic! Best possible outcome, the only thing that could be better were if John Watson joined him in the booth: not that I don't like DC, but the Ben Edwards/ John Watson partnership is the bees knees. I'll miss him on the BTCC coverage though, hope they don't promote the god-awful John Hindahaugh... BRING BACK CHARLIE COX! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXkWUCBoe4k

Typical Ben Edwards commentary complete with Jason PlLato being ruffed up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPCGnkApnDU

by **dr-baker** » 14 Dec 2011, 20:50

jpm wrote:Typical Ben Edwards commentary complete with Jason Plato being ruffed up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPCGnkApnDU

I was in the Paddock Hill grandstand watching it all happen live in front of me when this happened!

by **Faustus** » 15 Dec 2011, 00:43

Paul Hayes wrote:I've never really experienced Edwards's commentary before, so it'll be a new one on me, although I believe he was fondly regarded by those who watched F1 on Eurosport back in the 1990s.

He was great back then. I always preferred the coverage on Eurosport over the ghastly coverage in Portuguese television.

by **DanielPT** » 15 Dec 2011, 01:35

Faustus wrote:
Paul Hayes wrote:I've never really experienced Edwards's commentary before, so it'll be a new one on me, although I believe he was fondly regarded by those who watched F1 on Eurosport back in the 1990s.

He was great back then. I always preferred the coverage on Eurosport over the ghastly coverage in Portuguese television.

I always thought that Domingos Piedade was fairly good and had contacts in F1 world (I did not had access to Eurosport). But since then I agree that things have been mediocre at best. That Solipa guy should've seen the boot for years now. Unfortunately in most of the places incompetence is not penalized in Portugal.

by **CoopsII** » 16 Dec 2011, 18:00

I wonder how many times over the next few years we UK non-SKY viewers will learn a race result before the BBC re-run thus making watching it partly redundant? I wonder how many people sign up for SKY and feel a sense of disappointment and annoyance that half of what they've paid for is still available for free? I wonder if we'll ever learn the details of the machinations that went on before? The alleged blocking of Channel 4s bid as it was a free to air channel?

I do actually wonder if the appeal of Formula 1 in the UK at least will be diminished through all this but despite what some people fervently hope F1 on SKY is here to stay, they wont let it go until they have to. They're not the bad guys they're just a business and as such they have a responsibility to their shareholders to provide value to them.

No doubt all this has been covered already but thats my ha'pennys worth.

by **Alianora La Canta** » 18 Dec 2011, 11:42

I've decided I'm going to listen to the races through 5 Live (it's not so different from what I do for sportscars) and catch the BBC highlights if they're exciting enough, in the case of the "Sky" races. I do know that the F1 audience in my household is dropping by 2/3, and I still don't see how Sky expects to break even (it didn't when it tried similar tricks in Italy and Germany). If Sky doesn't break even, there's no reason to believe it'll even try holding on beyond the end of the contract (it is a for-profit company, after all).

Of course it is mostly Bernie's fault for putting a small amount of short-term money ahead of a large amount of medium-term money. It doesn't even work on an economic basis let alone any other...

by **eurobrun** » 18 Dec 2011, 11:55

Sorry if this has been asked already but how does this affect the TV coverage in Australia

Website · by **Wizzie** » 18 Dec 2011, 12:50

eurobrun wrote:Sorry if this has been asked already but how does this affect the TV coverage in Australia

It's already crap as it is so I'ld find it hard to imagine that it could get much worse :lol:

by **eurobrun** » 18 Dec 2011, 13:02

Wizzie wrote:
eurobrun wrote:Sorry if this has been asked already but how does this affect the TV coverage in Australia

It's already crap as it is so I'ld find it hard to imagine that it could get much worse

Good point

by **Captain Hammer** » 18 Dec 2011, 14:25

I believe it has been confirmed that Ten/OneHD will broadcast the Sky feed. Rumours that masked men have been staking out Greg Rust's home with a bottle of chloroform remain unconfirmed.

If Ten had any sense, they would just give us the Sky broadcast. There is no need for them to include "expert" opinions from wankers who have no idea what they are talking about (when they lost the commentary at Brazil this year, it showed just how poor they are, only talking about what they could see on-screen at any time). Although to be fair, it appears they got a swift kick up the rear for 2011 - there was considerably less interjection than in 2010. Especially when we came back from commercial breaks; they would return to the BBC within thirty seconds, instead of babbling on for five minutes.

by **Collieafc** » 18 Dec 2011, 19:34

Alianora La Canta wrote:Of course it is mostly Bernie's fault for putting a small amount of short-term money ahead of a large amount of medium-term money. It doesn't even work on an economic basis let alone any other...

Might not be for Bernie.What if Sky pays some money now, then when nobody watches on sky they want out early as they are making a loss? Bernie then hits them with a breach of contract fee and (hopefully) moves back to BBC quicker. End result? more money in a shorter space of time.

Its a cunning ploy only Bernie has the guts to try...

by **IdeFan** » 18 Dec 2011, 20:48

Bernie is in his 80s now, he doesn't need to care about the long term.

Then again, Bernie has billions in the bank so he doesn't need to care about money, so you never know.

by **CoopsII** » 18 Dec 2011, 22:25

Collieafc wrote:What if Sky pays some money now, then when nobody watches on sky they want out early as they are making a loss? Bernie then hits them with a breach of contract fee and (hopefully) moves back to BBC quicker. End result? more money in a shorter space of time.

Its a cunning ploy only Bernie has the guts to try...

The BBC still wouldnt pay the asking price to be sole broadcaster so it would then come down to whether they'd allow another free-to-air channel to have it. And the answer to that would be 'no'.

by **mario** » 19 Dec 2011, 02:15

IdeFan wrote:Bernie is in his 80s now, he doesn't need to care about the long term.

Then again, Bernie has billions in the bank so he doesn't need to care about money, so you never know.

To be fair to Bernie he is not the only one looking to squeeze ever more money out of the sport - CVC Partners have been milking the sport for as much as they can for several years now, and considering that they have a controlling stake in FOM they will have a fair amount of leverage in negotiations.

And given recent events CVC will be even more desperate to keep the money flowing into their coffers - according to this article (yes, by Captain Hammer's favourite author, Joe Saward), CVC's investment in the Australian mass media market - particularly Nine Entertainment - have gone quite badly wrong.
It looks like CVC are facing a bill of around $2bn to keep Nine Entertainment afloat after a proposed debt restructuring plan was rejected by the creditors (ironically, most of the creditors are other venture capitalist firms who had bought the debt at below face value and are now suing Nine Entertainment for the full value of those debts). http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2011/12/ ... of-a-sale/

Given that investment has turned sour, CVC will be depending on money coming in from FOM more than ever - so the more aggressive the deals they can cut, the better for them.

by **DanielPT** » 19 Dec 2011, 21:46

mario wrote:
IdeFan wrote:Bernie is in his 80s now, he doesn't need to care about the long term.

Then again, Bernie has billions in the bank so he doesn't need to care about money, so you never know.

To be fair to Bernie he is not the only one looking to squeeze ever more money out of the sport - CVC Partners have been milking the sport for as much as they can for several years now, and considering that they have a controlling stake in FOM they will have a fair amount of leverage in negotiations.

And given recent events CVC will be even more desperate to keep the money flowing into their coffers - according to this article (yes, by Captain Hammer's favourite author, Joe Saward), CVC's investment in the Australian mass media market - particularly Nine Entertainment - have gone quite badly wrong.
It looks like CVC are facing a bill of around $2bn to keep Nine Entertainment afloat after a proposed debt restructuring plan was rejected by the creditors (ironically, most of the creditors are other venture capitalist firms who had bought the debt at below face value and are now suing Nine Entertainment for the full value of those debts). http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2011/12/ ... of-a-sale/

Given that investment has turned sour, CVC will be depending on money coming in from FOM more than ever - so the more aggressive the deals they can cut, the better for them.

This is yet another reason to convince the teams to try and buy FOM from CVC (I am with Joe on this one). Given the way the sport has making money, to the point that the debt CVC made when first out the commercial rights is already paid, finance should be easily found. The teams could the have Bernie working for them (it would be rather ironic) and enhance their incomes at the same time. If CVC is in such need of money, this doesn't bode well for the concorde agreement that might penalize the teams and their own FOTA shenanigans. Maybe they will learn the lesson after this year...

by **CoopsII** » 19 Dec 2011, 22:00

Its been quite amusing, in a bitter kind of way, to see how the BBC have tried to big-up what they're doing next year with it. How they've tried to polish this particular turd.

by **dr-baker** » 20 Dec 2011, 08:44

Alianora La Canta wrote:I've decided I'm going to listen to the races through 5 Live (it's not so different from what I do for sportscars) and catch the BBC highlights if they're exciting enough, in the case of the "Sky" races.

I'm in uni halls at the moment until the end of May, so there's no chance of me getting Sky in the meantime (although we have it at home), so this is what I will have to do too. Possibly for most of the next two-and-a-half years of uni studies...

by **Stramala** » 22 Dec 2011, 02:23

Pathetic ramblings from BBC Director General Mark Thompson.

So...you're excuse is it's better than the whole thing going to subscription TV? That's absolute f***ing nonsense! Any deal that would have seen ALL F1 coverage disappear from free-to-air would have been vetoed by FOTA and Bernie knows it. This is what drives me up the wall about this deal - the people in charge at the BBC have been bullshitting the public with a straight face the entire time.

by **DanielPT** » 22 Dec 2011, 02:30

kostas22 wrote:Pathetic ramblings from BBC Director General Mark Thompson.

So...you're excuse is it's better than the whole thing going to subscription TV? That's absolute f***ing nonsense! Any deal that would have seen ALL F1 coverage disappear from free-to-air would have been vetoed by FOTA and Bernie knows it. This is what drives me up the wall about this deal - the people in charge at the BBC have been bullshitting the public with a straight face the entire time.

Welcome to the world of politics.

by **P_Friesacher** » 22 Dec 2011, 03:06

kostas22 wrote:Pathetic ramblings from BBC Director General Mark Thompson.

So...you're excuse is it's better than the whole thing going to subscription TV? That's absolute f***ing nonsense! Any deal that would have seen ALL F1 coverage disappear from free-to-air would have been vetoed by FOTA and Bernie knows it. This is what drives me up the wall about this deal - the people in charge at the BBC have been bullshitting the public with a straight face the entire time.

At which point they would have shifted some "marquee" events to the highest bidding free-to-air channel (probably not the BBC) with the same result we are seeing now. Except it would probably be fewer races and they would be intercut with ads.

by **MaxZero** » 31 Dec 2011, 21:15

On the grounds that it will be shown later in the day, I can see minimal effect on results knowledge before BBC broadcast unless you own and watch Sky, in whitch case it wont matter

No papers are printed at that time (does the evening standard still exist?) and BBC news broadcasts in particular will give you a reminder before talking about it to put your fingers in your ears and 'lalala', much like with the football results for those waiting for Match Of The Day

F1Rejects.com

Who is online