F1 TV coverage

[FB]

What sports, worth watching, are available on free to air TV?

 

[The Pits]

rugby.

 

[The Pits]

btcc

 

[The Pits]

the boat race... Maybe not.

cycling.

 

[Titch]

I like the boat race!

 

[The Pits]

mine isn't up to much...

 

[cider_and_toast]

BTCC is a good shout for good free to air TV.

Sport on free TV is a goner though. To some extent the BBC and ITV are guilty of taking forgranted what they had for far too long. The trouble is, subscription services will always have more revenue (unless you are ITV digital of course).

 

[FB]

rugby.

All the touring car series are on Free to Air as it's a minority sport from a TV viewing perspective. Cycling is rarely shown live and only the velodrome stuff lends itself to TV and the vast majority of viewers only care when the Olympics is on. UK viewers only became interested in cycling in the last 10 years, prior to that C4 used to have a 30 minute show on the Tour de France. It is still very much a specialist sport in terms of casual viewers.

I hate to break it to you all, when a sport generates casual viewers then it will move to pay TV. So, you have two choices - suck it up and pay the capitalist ransom or watch the highlights on free to air later in the day.

BTW - I presume if Sky are saying they will show highlights for free then this will be unencrypted so as long as the channel exists on your mode of viewing (and I think Sky Sports is on Freeview these days) you will be able to watch it without having to part with a penny.

Finally, never forget the horror that was F1 on ITV so be careful what you wish for.

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

Sky News is the only Sky channel on Freeview unfortunately. Maybe this'll change by 2019?

 

[The Pits]

I watched the highlight show on 4od. I was very disappointed. Adverts everywhere, and the overall package was poor in my opinion. If this is how the season is going, I think I may entirely lose interest, and stick with snooker, cycling, btcc and rugby.

 

[teabagyokel]

Finally, never forget the horror that was F1 on ITV so be careful what you wish for.

If rather watch a badly presented Grand Prix than not watch a brilliantly broadcast one.

 

[Greenlantern101]

Good article, shows the escalation in revenue from TV money that Bernie and CVC have screwed out the system. I completely agree with JA that F1 is now destined to be a minority interest sport.

I’d have to decide whether or not the fee for Sky Sports is worth it for just 20 or so events a year. At least for football followers they have 100s of games per season they can watch. For F1, I don’t think pay TV works but unfortunately the F1 powers-that-be think otherwise!

Analysis: The numbers show why Formula 1 took the exclusive Sky deal

 

[ATL11]

Good article, shows the escalation in revenue from TV money that Bernie and CVC have screwed out the system. I completely agree with JA that F1 is now destined to be a minority interest sport.

Analysis: The numbers show why Formula 1 took the exclusive Sky deal

Cracking article & shows everything that is wrong with F1 vs the inevitable future that is coming at it from over the horizon.

It is the balance that is interesting, is F1 cutting & therefore running at what it knows is the future in it's diminishing returns?

#cashinginwhyitcan

My son is a teenager (potential future fan) & the chances of him starting to watch F1 in the near future is probably around 0.00000001%.

This due to the fact TV viewing habits are changing, F1 has no appeal to him (he says it's boring & needs Kenny Brock), it competes with YouTube & other social platforms that provides instant entertainment. Tell him him he has to wait 2 weeks for the next race, you can imagine the response.

That's just 1 insight.

But my question is what will F1 be like in 2025?

 

[FB]

When I first got interested in F1 the race coverage was 30 minute of highlights on BBC2 at 10:30 at night. If you are interested enough in a sport you will find a way to follow it even if you can't see the races live.

 

[FB]

If rather watch a badly presented Grand Prix than not watch a brilliantly broadcast one.

I ended up watching the races on RTL with the 5Live commentary on the radio. The only other option was to not watch at all, that's how bad I thought ITV's coverage of F1 was.

 

[teabagyokel]

If you are interested enough in a sport you will find a way to follow it

Which is why Mr. Ecclestone has instituted a two-pronged approach to destroying Formula One.

 

[Greenlantern101]

I'm just thinking here. Do you think the BBC knew a deal for exclusivity was on the cards with Sky and they jumped ship before they could be blamed for the loss of free to air F1? And if they knew did they chose not to mention this to Channel 4 who have already said the Sky deal came out of the blue.

 

[ATL11]

I'm just thinking here. Do you think the BBC knew a deal for exclusivity was on the cards with Sky and they jumped ship before they could be blamed for the loss of free to air F1? And if they knew did they chose not to mention this to Channel 4 who have already said the Sky deal came out of the blue.

Not sure the BBC are that savvy, think F1 like other potential key sports will eventually go to the highest bidder as we've seen with Football, Golf, Rugby, etc.

Think people have this halcyon glow about the crown jewels sporting events, but in the end if the Olympics, World Cup, scream money, Sky or BT will pick them up & the TV companies will use PR friendly words explain something that isn't.....

 

[Incubus]

I think you should take your case to the UN Olivier . This is exploitation at its evilest.

 

[Fenderman]

If I were a business looking to sponsor a team in a sport, methinks I wouldn't bother with F1. Why would I want to pay good money to have my logos on a car that is guaranteed to only reach a rapidly declining audience? Not only that, why would I want to continue an association with a sport that is continually pissing off its audience?