BBC to axe F1 from 2013? Confirmed - F1 will be on Sky from 2012

[Galahad]

Sky have been promoting and building up their Premier League football audience for 20 years...the most popular sport in the UK by a mile.

I'll wager whenever football and F1 are head-to-head, the ball chasers will get the bigger audience on Sky. By a significant margin, I'd have thought.

 

[Brogan]

if all else fails, I'll watch it at the pub.

As long as there isn't a football match on at the same time.

 

[Nothing but net]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sporteditors/2011/07/f1_coverage_to_be_shared_betwe.html

Over one thousand comments, looks like BBC stirred up something pretty big

 

[Jen]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sporteditors/2011/07/f1_coverage_to_be_shared_betwe.html

Over one thousand comments, looks like BBC stirred up something pretty big

And their moderation is an hour and a half behind - poor show and bad planning!

 

[lyster]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/14342780.stm

Sound like it's Crofty talking to Bernie

 

[lyster]

Bernie would prefer highlights to full-races!

I guess that's that then!

 

[Porceliamone]

Fucking great...an hour at 6 or 7 at night. Piss off Bernie. Piss off piss off piss off. Absolute fucking shite.

 

[Brogan]

Don't sit on the fence Porceliamone

 

[Porceliamone]

And Barbara Slater can "do-one" too. I bet she's never seen a Formula One race in her fucking life. I'm actually going mental here. If I believed in god then I'd be praying right now. For FUCKS sake!

*breeeaathe...breeathe....*

 

[lyster]

****ing great...an hour at 6 or 7 at night. Piss off Bernie. Piss off piss off piss off. Absolute ****ing shite.

Laughed out load.

And Barbara Slater can "do-one" too. I bet she's never seen a Formula One race in her ****ing life. I'm actually going mental here. If I believed in god then I'd be praying right now. For ****S sake!

*breeeaathe...breeathe....*

Laughed even harder. And i completely agree.

According to her - apparently it's a great privilege that's been bestowed upon us. We should be grateful.

Enough money to make 'two pints of lager' and keep the wonderful BBC3 and BBC4 up and running, but not enough for world-class sports coverage.

 

[F1Yorkshire]

I never trust a word that guy says.

I just thought of a different solution. BBC could drop their HD coverage of the races in exchange for a cheaper package. Sky could still have the rights to all the races in HD and those who wanted to pay the extra for the better definition could!

Bernie gets more exposure, Sky get a top sport to broadcast, we get our free to air F1 and if we want to pay more for better quality we could! Everyone wins!

 

[dave]

Now my first comment on this, I don't want to repeat what everyone else has said already.

I can accept that the BBC need to save money and this could well be the easiest way of doing so but when they sorted out the contract did no-one think to do a forecast and a 'what if'. With all the talk that the BBC may have not finished the contract anyway I do beleive the contract was negotiated by one very good businessman (Bernie as much as I don't like him) and an idiot! (C'mon doing a forecast for anything involving investment is surely basic business)

I'm also annoyed that the BBC don't appear to have even tried a stripped back and cheaper way of covering F1. One easy thing they could do was not have so many people there such as not having the commentary team there, as I believe they did sometime in the 90's without anyone even noticing!

I also accept that I don't need to like everything on the BBC with the diversity in tastes it needs to cater to but to cut down what is one its most viewed things without trying the 'do it as it is (or close) but cheaper I personally think (although I'm sure many agree) is ridiculous. You can save by being more efficient as a whole not just like making cuts like a blind butcher!

 

[RasputinLives]

I have written to the BBC and FOTA and signed every petition going. I think I might even try a letter to my local MP

Bernie has obviously decided to kill the sport he created - why I have no idea because the solution is right thier infront of them - FOM are basically a TV channel anyways - If Bernie really wanted to make F1 more money then setting up their own Digital channel with the F1 races free to view and the rest of the coverage a subscription(re-runs of races, GP2, other formula etc etc) would be the solution. Selling to Sky, especially with the current reputation of the majority of its owners, is a sure sign of someone preparing to take the money and run.

 

[fat jez]

If there is one thing that is annoying me about people's attitude towards this, it's the accusation of the Beeb selling out. They appear to have gone to the negotiating table with a fixed budget of what they could afford to pay (probably along with C4, C5, maybe ITV, etc). They knew their budget and Bernie knew how much he wanted to charge. They weren't prepared to meet Bernie's demands (although obviously Sky were) and this was the best deal they could negotiate. Actually, I'm quite pleased they stood up to him and didn't just give him a blank cheque.

I'm not angry with the Beeb at all, but I am fuming with that money-grabbing little poisoned dwarf who has clearly outstayed his welcome in F1. Piss off Bernie and let somebody else take over who'll run the sport for the good of all instead of only caring about lining your own pockets.

 

[lyster]

If there is one thing that is annoying me about people's attitude towards this, it's the accusation of the Beeb selling out. They appear to have gone to the negotiating table with a fixed budget of what they could afford to pay (probably along with C4, C5, maybe ITV, etc). They knew their budget and Bernie knew how much he wanted to charge. They weren't prepared to meet Bernie's demands (although obviously Sky were) and this was the best deal they could negotiate. Actually, I'm quite pleased they stood up to him and didn't just give him a blank cheque.

I'm not angry with the Beeb at all, but I am fuming with that money-grabbing little poisoned dwarf who has clearly outstayed his welcome in F1. Piss off Bernie and let somebody else take over who'll run the sport for the good of all instead of only caring about lining your own pockets.

"So why are we sharing the coverage with Sky when up to now it had just been us?

Ultimately, of course, decisions about which media organisations get the chance to broadcast F1 are taken by Bernie Ecclestone's Formula 1 Management (FOM)."

Seems like head of BBC F1 (Ben Gallop) would agree with you.

 

[F1Yorkshire]

Just been doing some sums.

To get Sky you need the variety pack as a minimum. I added sports & HD, I also factored in the internet from sky too and with Bt line rental on top it comes to a grand total of £85.90! Per month!

This is for internet that is currently slower than I get with BT using the same lines!

If I choose to go down the BT Vision route. Adding the basic package + sports will cost me an extra £29.90 which on top of my current Broadband + phone package will take me upto £70 a month.

The 3rd option is Top Up TV for freeview but both sports channels will cost you £29.99. Taking my total entertainment cost back up £70.

Looks like I'll go down the BT vision route as it's not worth the extra for the 100's of crap sky channels and bad weather + shared sat disk could mean potential poor coverage.

 

[dave]

If there is one thing that is annoying me about people's attitude towards this, it's the accusation of the Beeb selling out. .

I'm with you on that jez and I'd like to point out if it didn't come across in my earlier post I'm not angry at what the BBC have done (well I am but I think I understand why they've done it) more that they let it get to this situation where this is the best they could offer. (And then told us how lucky we are and it really is great for everyone)

 

[fat jez]

more that they let it get to this situation where this is the best they could offer. (And then told us how lucky we are and it really is great for everyone)

I don't think they let it get to this situation. Knowing Bernie's negotiating style (check out the threads on Silverstone and Donnington's costs to host a F1 GP,but to sum them up, the increase was 7% year on year, starting at £12M), the price would have increased dramatically from the last time. I think it's safe to say that the £50M a year the Beeb paid last time would have been significantly more this time and they simply weren't able to meet Bernie's demands. Clearly neither could any of the other terrestrial broadcasters.

 

[mjo]

according to Martin Whitmarsh (on Autosport) BBC will have full races for all rounds, whether live or delayed. So, according to Whitmarsh, the BBC's "highlights" will be full, delayed races. So, potentially, this agreement may not be as bad as it seems, if the BBC can still show every race. Now, to keep Brundle, DC, EJ, Lee, Ted and Jake! And Classic F1!

 

[landogeorgelewis1]

Feel very sorry for those people who won't be able to watch F1 cause they can't afford Sky, don't blame them blame Bernie for making it too expensive for the Beeb to show it.

I'm in Hamberg's boat, i'm lucky that in our household we get all Sky packages and will be able to watch races next season. But from what i've heard Sky will also be showing the GP live and uninterrupted, plus i believe the Beeb has rights to show highlights of those race that their can't show live, so it isn't all that bad.

But it is a kick in the teeth as i've really liked the coverage the BBC has provided us over the last 2 and a half seasons so far.