F1 To Be Split Between BBC 1 and Sky Sports from 2012

[Ataxia]

I've got the Sky Sports package at home, so it's not much of a problem for me. Yet.

However, if by some magical feat I get into university then the latter half of the year might have to be BBC and highlights...

[dr-baker]

No papers are printed at that time (does the evening standard still exist?)

Yes, the Evening Standard still exists in London, but as a London freebie on weekday afternoons.

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

But this does entail avoiding the internet in the meantime... One of my favourite pastimes is surfing on here...

I've got the Sky Sports package at home, so it's not much of a problem for me. Yet.

However, if by some magical feat I get into university then the latter half of the year might have to be BBC and highlights...

This is my current problem - Sky at home (but actually, no Sky Sports!) and not even digital yet at uni (need to do something about the digital before April...)

[Barbazza]

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

The problem being that they're totally incompetent at that. Here's how it goes - "...so if you don't want to know the scores, look away now <pause for all of half a second> Manchester United today...."
As if that wasn't bad enough, the graphics appear almost instantly too.

[RealRacingRoots]

The problem I have with this agreement is that for countries (like Canada) who stream the BBC feed, it leaves them in an awkward position IMO. Will they just stream whatever feed is on for that grand prix weekend?

[Captain Hammer]

They don't stream the BBC feed. They stream the world feed, and the world feed is controlled by the primary broadcaster - which will be Sky. In 2012, the BBC will be like any other terrestrial broadcaster; they will show what Sky show. As a terrestrial broadcaster, they cannot control the world feed, and they cannot sell their on to any other broadcaster. So you should be pretty safe; I know Australia will be.

[razta]

BIG NEWS!
the return of JAMES ALLEN on BBC RADIO 5LIVE!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wif3Kr0y5js remember that?
or the shameless amount of Lewisteria???!!!

He's taken over from David Croft

[seleucid23]

I hope he's matured a bit since his time out - I certainly like his blog, and you can't doubt he knows his F1 stuff, something I was never sure of when it came to Legard. A lot of people in the UK will be relying on him during race weekends - he could be the soundtrack to my Sunday dinner

[razta]

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/01/a ... io-5-live/
here's the link on his blog

[Collieafc]

He better be an improvement on before. Or this is just getting worse and worse.

[East Londoner]

Well, at least it isn't Legard. He won't be as good as Crofty though. And what will he do when Ramilton inevitably crashes into someone/Massa?

[Bob]

As if we needed any more proof the BBC are deliberately running F1 into the ground to claim no demand

[eurobrun]

I lost track of the TV deal ages ago

[Paul Hayes]

James Allen is an unexpected choice as radio commentator, I have to say - I thought the BBC would promote from within.

[CoopsII]

Its a weird feeling. The first race is in early March. The first race I can watch live is in, er, early April

My interest in the sport has diminished slightly.

Anybody else feel similar?

[mario]

James Allen is an unexpected choice as radio commentator, I have to say - I thought the BBC would promote from within.

The BBC have been recruiting more presenters and analysts from outside - Gary Anderson will be joining the BBC's team as a technical analyst for 2012 http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula ... 516805.stm

[Stramala]

Its a weird feeling. The first race is in early March. The first race I can watch live is in, er, early April

My interest in the sport has diminished slightly.

Anybody else feel similar?

Yeah. I'm not going to bother getting up early to watch low res live races on Sky at the start of the season. BBC highlights at 2pm, whatever.

[dr-baker]

My F1 deprivation is such that I will probably wake up and lie in bed listening to BBC Radio, just to see if it is a viable alternative. If I fall asleep during it will mean something. As will being annoyed at it.

[AndreaModa]

Its a weird feeling. The first race is in early March. The first race I can watch live is in, er, early April

My interest in the sport has diminished slightly.

Anybody else feel similar?

Absolutely, sadly. Though the team the BBC are assembling doesn't seem too bad, I hope it works out for them, because that's what I'm gonna have to listen to, although I still hate their guts for not having the balls to axe something for less worthwhile than one of their most popular programmes.

[fjackdaw]

Am I correct in thinking they replay the flyaway races in full? How many races to BBC-only viewers actually miss in full? I like seeing them live, but in all honesty I'm just happy to see them at all.

[CoopsII]

I like seeing them live, but in all honesty I'm just happy to see them at all.

Yeah me too. And, reading directly from the BBC script, with the cost of F1 today we're still lucky to get it for free

BUT.

Have you ever watched a race when you know the result? I have and its bobbins. It makes the commentary partly redundant for a start. You dont feel the drama/energy when you already know that, actually, the lead driver wont win despite his speedy pit-stop because the guy in 4th has already won it. And so on.

On occasion due to work commitments or whatever Ive had to tape past races and then deal with the hassle of not learning the result all day and that hassle and aggravation has been handed back to me by the BBC, and not just as a one off as this is for years to come.

I dont need to now be battered because other countries have had similar diffuclties for years, I know this and Ive always thought it really shitty for them. But this is my experience and my F1 that has been devalued.

[Barbazza]

I'm not sure we actually do get the flyaway races in full exactly - that 2 hour timeslot will presumably include some pre-race chat (though maybe not a grid walk I guess) and would have to include some post-race blah plus the press conference for the Top 3.

CoopsII is absolutely right. Watching a race after knowing the result has no interest whatsoever for me. You can watch highlights of a football match after knowing the result as you can still enjoy the goals and/or controversial incidents (sending off etc) but where is the joy in doing that for F1? If there's a big crash maybe, but that's about it.

I've never been less excited about a new season. I don't think the BBC line-up is bad at all, and I honestly think that James Allen might be OK for radio, although I couldn't stand him on TV. I wish they'd got rid of Eddie Jordan though.

Depending on who replaces Ben Edwards on commentary duties for the BTCC, I might not be looking forward to that so much either!

[eurobrun]

No Legard*









*I think

[Stramala]

Depending on who replaces Ben Edwards on commentary duties for the BTCC, I might not be looking forward to that so much either!

My first guess would be John Hindhaugh

@eurobrun Legard may not being doing F1 now but everytime I see English Championship football he appears like the plague...

[fjackdaw]

Not a fan of Gary Anderson.

[dr-baker]

Not a fan of Gary Anderson.

But I do like what Gerry Anderson produced...

[Barbazza]

My first guess would be John Hindhaugh

Who's he - is he one of the other guys that's been commentating on the BTCC support races? If not, would I recognise his voice?

@eurobrun Legard may not being doing F1 now but everytime I see English Championship football he appears like the plague...

Yes, and he also reads out the general sporting headlines on the BBC News Channel using all the charisma of Kimi Raikkonen on a particularly bad day.

[Stramala]

My first guess would be John Hindhaugh

Who's he - is he one of the other guys that's been commentating on the BTCC support races? If not, would I recognise his voice?

Probably. He's the geordie one in this. He also filled in for Edwards in BTCC a couple of times over the years.

[Warren Hughes]

My first guess would be John Hindhaugh

Who's he - is he one of the other guys that's been commentating on the BTCC support races? If not, would I recognise his voice?

Probably. He's the geordie one in this. He also filled in for Edwards in BTCC a couple of times over the years.

That's MACKEM to you

[Stramala]

Who's he - is he one of the other guys that's been commentating on the BTCC support races? If not, would I recognise his voice?

Probably. He's the geordie one in this. He also filled in for Edwards in BTCC a couple of times over the years.

That's MACKEM to you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcHKm0cm-jI

[eagleash]

Geordie is Newcastle, Mackem is Sunderland, Middlesbrough is in Yorkshire & Hartlepool are The Monkey Hangers.

[shinji]

Geordie is Newcastle, Mackem is Sunderland, Middlesbrough is in Yorkshire & Hartlepool are The Monkey Hangers.

And to anyone outside that very specific part of the world they're all only relevant in the context of football.

[eagleash]

Geordie is Newcastle, Mackem is Sunderland, Middlesbrough is in Yorkshire & Hartlepool are The Monkey Hangers.

And to anyone outside that very specific part of the world they're all only relevant in the context of football.

Pretty much.

[WeirdKerr]

woohoo.... i finally have managed to persuade my parents to put one of them dish things on the side of the house...... after nearly 20 years.....

[Phoenix]

I'm very, very sorry for hijacking this thread, but I thought the topic I want to comment is more or less related to the topic of this thread...

I've just read in a Spanish newspaper that Mediapro (the holder of the F1 broadcasting rights in Spain) is selling the rights. So, no F1 in Spain outside of Catalonia and Valencia so far until further news. Apparently, they were expecting BE to lower the rights' price so it'd be more or less economically profitable...

[Wizzie]

I'm very, very sorry for hijacking this thread, but I thought the topic I want to comment is more or less related to the topic of this thread...

It's F1 Rejects. Hijacking threads is second nature for us

Seriously though while I do feel for the Spanish fans, it'd be worth it if it helps us get rid of the snorefest that is Valencia

[Ferrim]

I must say the rumours of F1 dropping from Spanish TV have been greatly exaggerated

What happens here is that La Sexta, which has broadcasted F1 these few last years, is basically a bankrupted operation (they spent lots of money in F1 rights, La Liga rights, World Cup rights...), and has recently reached a deal to merge with Antena 3 to avoid going bust. The terms of the merger are such that Antena 3's current shareholders will have a 85% stake in the new operation, with a 15% for La Sexta's ones. These numbers make pretty clear that this is not really a merger but an absorption of La Sexta by Antena 3.

Now, La Sexta had the rights to bradcast F1 for five years, 2009-13. While expensive, these rights are among the best things they have at the moment -even during the Vettel borefest of the 2011 season, their ratings have been over 30%, which is more impressive if you take into account that La Sexta's overall share is under 6%, and that F1 has also been broadcasted by other stations, mainly TV3 for the Catalan-speaking people, with good numbers as well. Therefore, it makes much sense for Antena 3, their new "master", to take over F1. But they can't do it directly, because it's forbidden by current legislation. They are circumventing this problem by holding a public bid for the rights: La Sexta has announced they can't pay it anymore, and they have reverted to Mediapro, the group that originally bought the rights back in 2008 and until now the main shareholders of La Sexta.

What will happen now is that whoever owns Antena 3 (can't remember it at the moment) will bid for the F1 rights and Antena 3 will get them for 2012 and 2013. The only other group that could conceivably bid for the rights is Mediaset (owner of Tele5 and Cuatro) but given they already have MotoGP and a few other sporting events, that is very unlikely to happen.

[Aerond]

I must say the rumours of F1 dropping from Spanish TV have been greatly exaggerated

What happens here is that La Sexta, which has broadcasted F1 these few last years, is basically a bankrupted operation (they spent lots of money in F1 rights, La Liga rights, World Cup rights...), and has recently reached a deal to merge with Antena 3 to avoid going bust. The terms of the merger are such that Antena 3's current shareholders will have a 85% stake in the new operation, with a 15% for La Sexta's ones. These numbers make pretty clear that this is not really a merger but an absorption of La Sexta by Antena 3.

Now, La Sexta had the rights to bradcast F1 for five years, 2009-13. While expensive, these rights are among the best things they have at the moment -even during the Vettel borefest of the 2011 season, their ratings have been over 30%, which is more impressive if you take into account that La Sexta's overall share is under 6%, and that F1 has also been broadcasted by other stations, mainly TV3 for the Catalan-speaking people, with good numbers as well. Therefore, it makes much sense for Antena 3, their new "master", to take over F1. But they can't do it directly, because it's forbidden by current legislation. They are circumventing this problem by holding a public bid for the rights: La Sexta has announced they can't pay it anymore, and they have reverted to Mediapro, the group that originally bought the rights back in 2008 and until now the main shareholders of La Sexta.

What will happen now is that whoever owns Antena 3 (can't remember it at the moment) will bid for the F1 rights and Antena 3 will get them for 2012 and 2013. The only other group that could conceivably bid for the rights is Mediaset (owner of Tele5 and Cuatro) but given they already have MotoGP and a few other sporting events, that is very unlikely to happen.

Now I wish PRISA came and saved us and offered the races on Canal+ ...

They already produce excellent football, tennis and golf coverage.

[Ferrim]

On pay per view? No thanks. It would be like having every race in Sky for the UK viewers.

[AndreaModa]

Working my way through the Autosport news articles I missed whilst away, I noticed Sky have snapped up my childhood hero Damon Hill as a technical analyst for half of their races.

You're just twisting the knife now Murdoch...I hope you're happy!

[Barbazza]

Damon Hill talks absolute rubbish about 90% of the time these days so I wouldn't worry about it. He probably caught the disease in his final days standing near Eddie Jordan.