F1 TV coverage

[Rutherford]

Free to air dead? If the price exceeds my expectations, I'll have a lot more free time on Saturdays and Sundays.
F1 is the only sport I watch regularly, apart from that I follow a few feeder series and MotoGP, which here in Germany is also not always free to air.

 

[Titch]

An ominous turn of events.

 

[vintly]

Unless you only want F1, and currently pay for Sky Sports. If that was the case this might represent a better deal. As always I'm hopeful, that a more professional media company will produce a better product than we have now.

Of course, if you still want to keep your Sky Sports and it loses F1 coverage, or if you were hoping for a free to air deal (seriously that was never on the cards guys) then this isn't great news.

 

[Titch]

I don't mind losing an extra payment to Sky, if they don't show what I'm paying to see, as long as a new deal is better for me (the punter).

 

[FB]

Here's the rub though Titch, when Sky lost part of the Premier League coverage they didn't reduce their prices and you then had to pay for BT if you were desperate enough to see all the games. If BT bid, and win, for coverage of F1 (and let's be honest no one else is going to try and take it) we will all have to pay more.

 

[Greenlantern101]

F1 will end up on a streaming service like Amazon or Netflix. If that happens I will cancel sky.

 

[The Artist.....]

Greenlantern101 with direct streaming services, Sky's stranglehold could be destroyed. Sports can market themselves directly to consumers; there is no reason that the Premier League need be on television broadcasts, as most people can now stream directly to their home for a relativly low cost.

As the sports can now market directly to the viewer, they get rid of the double margin problem, leading to more profit for the sport and lower prices for the fans. The only people who lose out are Sky- and that can only be a good thing!

 

[Titch]

It's only as good as your ability to stream. My Broadband speed varies between 2 and 6 .

Not great for streaming.

 

[FB]

Because I'm old, if sports ever move to streaming I'll shall simply stop watching it or end up searching around for a dodgy, free feed. I don't notice paying for things when they come out on a monthly basis but would question pushing the "Pay" button every time I wanted to watch an event.

Strange innit, I'd probably end up paying less than I currently do

 

[vintly]

There would probably be the option of buying races or programmes individually, as well as signing up to month's or a year's subscription. It would really suit the casual fan who on occasion might decide to watch a GP, but not sign up for the season.

 

[RasputinLives]

Would kill F2 and GP3 though. I'm sure most of us that watch these only do so because they are on the Sky package and prob record them and catch up when they can. No is going to pay to stream them and therefore the series will lose a lot of fans and TV money.

 

[The Artist.....]

RasputinLives

It need not kill off these series; if there is no demand on on demand, there would also be no demand on Sky- so Sky would stop showing it; lower demand series could actually find their way back to free-to-air...

 

[Galahad]

The funding model for junior series has been based on family wealth and F1 teams' young driver programmes, rather than sponsorship, for at least 15 years. So I suspect the size of the TV audience is less of a concern than it once would have been.

 

[Rutherford]

What is Ted's notebook about?
It used to be fairly enjoyable, as it gave the viewer an insight into the paddock and to some behind the scenes 'shenanigans'. However, nowadays it's Mr. Kravitz stammering on about nonsensical topics and presenting false facts, e.g. today he said: Sainz could do it like Vettel a few years ago and simply say I don't want to race for you, referring to Sainz Jr.'s wish to move either to Red Bull or another team at the end of the season. At the last meeting Horner had explicitly said that Vettel, after his second WDC, had a clause written into his contract stating that he could leave whenever he wished.
In Baku Ted tried to start a fire when interviewing Mr. Wolff who immediately stopped him in his tracks and rightly put him in his place.
The notebook in this style has become unbearable (Ted was before anyway) and I'm glad that if I wish, I can watch for free on YouTube, because it certainly isn't worth a penny in its current state.

 

[RasputinLives]

Just caught up on the GP3 (cracking racing this year if you've not been watching) and Johnny Herbert was the guest Co-commentator and he was really quite good! Gave great race drive insight, was excited about what he was watching and was fun to listen too. I was quite surprised.

Which begs the question - if Herbert can do that then why didn't he sit in for Brundle rather than Di Resta? I think he would have been way better.

 

[Rutherford]

I can’t watch Ted’s Notebook anymore. He was w**king to Hamilton’s pole record for 8 minutes.

I bet his wife sleeps on the couch, while he sleeps in bed next to a doll of Hamilton...

 

[teabagyokel]

I absolutely refuse to be impressed with a pole record. Level with Schumacher? There's still a gap of 34 race wins though. No points on Saturdays.

 

[Rutherford]

I absolutely refuse to be impressed with a pole record. Level with Schumacher? There's still a gap of 34 race wins though. No points on Saturdays.

Well, the other thing is that Schumacher used to qualifying with the amount of fuel he would have to start the race with which distorts the stat too.

 

[vintly]

Forget the 'record', look at the numbers themselves. He gets pole every third race, he's clearly the best ever Saturday driver. That is amazing, regardless of comparisons.

 

[RasputinLives]

In the words of Martin Brundle - they hand the prizes out on Sunday.

If they handed them out on Saturday then Jarno Trulli would be considered an F1 great.