BBC drops F1

[robin]

If this means Lewis Hamilton has to cut back on his diamond earring collection or Bernard Eccles has to disappoint his young supermodel wife by not upgrading her lear jet this year then for me that's a small sacrifice worth making.

Regards,

Jeremy

It will have no impact on either of these. The deal with the commercial rights holder is still in place, it's just that the BBC's share has been transferred to C4. Given C4's fairly meagre finances it would suggest to me that the BBC was paying not so much for its rights. At the time of the original deal it was estimated that the cost to the BBC of the rights was around £7m/year. Of course the BBC has to manage its ever dwindling budget and so this decision makes sense on a financial basis.

BTCC has about 5% of the viewing figures of F1 (1m vs 20m). You can argue that it's more exciting than F1. The reality is that F1 has more followers in the UK and BTCC is no substitute for them - perhaps they are more interested in the brands/glamour/personalities, perhaps it's the strategic element of the series, perhaps the technology (maybe there is a big intersection with Snooker fans) - whatever, they outnumber the BTCC viewing fans 20:1.

I suspect that TV coverage is in the long term doomed; the internet presents a better vehicle for both showing and marketing the product that is F1 and eventually somebody (in F1) will wake up to this and make it happen.

Cheers,
Robin

[robin]

Hopefully they will abolish the licence fee soon.

Why would you want this? Is it because you would rather pay in a more subscription based model (e.g. subscribe to iplayer like netflix) or is because you prefer free-to-air content to be paid for by advertising revenue?

Cheers,
Robin

[r10crw]

" perhaps they are more interested in the brands/glamour/personalities"

This is a huge thing. Charlene will actually watch a whole race because she follows the individuals, she sees them on whatever facebook crap she monitors. Its meant that F1 is something we watch together, well at least until a season ago, this year we havent bothered because of the poor on track side, but we are genuinely looking for an alternative. BTCC with Lewis and she would be happy.

[Jeremy]

There is a clear chicken and egg situtation here.

F1 became so big because an entire generation has grown up with it on prime time TV and a lot of that time when we had 4 channels and nothing else to watch. If F1 drops out of the mainstream and BTTC, for example, becomes part of the mainstream, what do you think the viewing figure ratio will be in 20/30/40 years time ? Very different to what it is today that's for sure.

The landscape is distorted slightly by the fact that TV and media delivery has changed so drastically but if, going forward, Diamond Lug gets less TV exposure and grassroots motorsport gets more mainstream exposure (and funding) then I'll be a happy old man.

Regards,

Jeremy

[j2 lot]

ITV 4 has a quite extensive motorsport schedule but still doesn't seem to increase the profile much. I expect the most likely benefactor of the situation might be Formula E as that has being promoted more than any other Motorsport recently

[robin]

There is a clear chicken and egg situtation here.

F1 became so big because an entire generation has grown up with it on prime time TV and a lot of that time when we had 4 channels and nothing else to watch. If F1 drops out of the mainstream and BTTC, for example, becomes part of the mainstream, what do you think the viewing figure ratio will be in 20/30/40 years time ? Very different to what it is today that's for sure.

The landscape is distorted slightly by the fact that TV and media delivery has changed so drastically but if, going forward, Diamond Lug gets less TV exposure and grassroots motorsport gets more mainstream exposure (and funding) then I'll be a happy old man.

Regards,

Jeremy

BTCC will still be what it is no matter how much TV air time you give it (it's limited to the UK, it's performance and technology limited by the choice to make the cars at least look like the road cars they are meant to be and it is budget limited because it has to be economic to stage the races). I like BTCC and do watch it sometimes - in part I like it because it is still blokes standing around talking sh*t and eating from dodgy burger vans - proper motorsport that I can relate to (I could be a BTCC driver if I had any talent).

It is not a chicken and egg question; it's a question of budget and aspiration.

I cannot see why you care whether or not "Diamond Lug" is on telly or not though - you can watch BTCC on the other channel, and you've always been able to change channels should you not want to watch the F1 (for example I believe xfacta is a popular program for F1 refuseniks ).

Cheers,
Robin

[David]

It's really about viewing habits. Most people just turn on BBC1, or ITV, by default, as background viewing. They don't go searching for something until it becomes part of their viewing habit. If you stick motor sport (or any content) that's entertaining on a mainstream channel, it'll will grow an audience. That's how it works. The internet may be changing things, but it's 'on-demand' and can struggle to move beyond one social media demographic.

[Stevoraith]

Recently I've preferred watching the highlights as opposed to full races.

Races can get a bit tedious and I actually prefer the analysis before/after a lot of the time.
It's also much easier to find the time to sit down for 90mins in the evening than 3+hrs in the afternoon.

Hopefully C4 will poach the best people from BBC and retain the high standards of punditry, features and analysis. DC is a must for me.

As for the Beeb showing more grass-roots Motorsport, anything that can make BTCC popular enough for them to do this sort of thing again would be brilliant!

http://youtu.be/bLQT0rq_Msk

[GregR]

DC has been a surprise for me, I've really enjoyed his input in the commentary and punditry. I never liked him when he was a driver. McNish has been so-so.

I think Suzi has failed to emulate Jake, she just seems a few seasons away from really 'getting there' (whatever that may mean, you know it when you see it). Eddie Jordan should have no place on F1 or any other motorsport coverage.

[Stevoraith]

Agreed, Suzi wouldn't be a great loss, I'm sure there are other anchors out there who could do the job.
McNish I'm undecided about- he comes across much better on the radio/podcast than he does on TV.
And as much as Eddie Jordan has comedy value and does seem to have his finger on the pulse of the paddock gossip he's a generally a bit of a knob.

[woody]

DC has been a surprise for me, I've really enjoyed his input in the commentary and punditry. I never liked him when he was a driver. McNish has been so-so.

I think Suzi has failed to emulate Jake, she just seems a few seasons away from really 'getting there' (whatever that may mean, you know it when you see it). Eddie Jordan should have no place on F1 or any other motorsport coverage.

Broadly agree there, but quite enjoy Eddie's awfulness.

Also looking forward to seeing what Ch4 can do with F1; the mock-ups they had done the last time around looked superb & they have a track record of doing interesting things. Anything's better than ITV anyway.

It's struck me over the past few weeks that F1 would be better being a winter series. I often don't watch it or watch on catch up in the summer as there are better things to be doing on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The past few dreich weekends it would have been a welcome distraction.

[Dominic]

DC has been a surprise for me, I've really enjoyed his input in the commentary and punditry. I never liked him when he was a driver. McNish has been so-so.

I think Suzi has failed to emulate Jake, she just seems a few seasons away from really 'getting there' (whatever that may mean, you know it when you see it). Eddie Jordan should have no place on F1 or any other motorsport coverage.

Totally agree.

Still enjoy Brundle on Sky, would like to see him with the ch4 team, although appreciate that's highly unlikely.

[Jeremy]

There is a clear chicken and egg situtation here.

F1 became so big because an entire generation has grown up with it on prime time TV and a lot of that time when we had 4 channels and nothing else to watch. If F1 drops out of the mainstream and BTTC, for example, becomes part of the mainstream, what do you think the viewing figure ratio will be in 20/30/40 years time ? Very different to what it is today that's for sure.

The landscape is distorted slightly by the fact that TV and media delivery has changed so drastically but if, going forward, Diamond Lug gets less TV exposure and grassroots motorsport gets more mainstream exposure (and funding) then I'll be a happy old man.

Regards,

Jeremy

BTCC will still be what it is no matter how much TV air time you give it (it's limited to the UK, it's performance and technology limited by the choice to make the cars at least look like the road cars they are meant to be and it is budget limited because it has to be economic to stage the races). I like BTCC and do watch it sometimes - in part I like it because it is still blokes standing around talking sh*t and eating from dodgy burger vans - proper motorsport that I can relate to (I could be a BTCC driver if I had any talent).

It is not a chicken and egg question; it's a question of budget and aspiration.

I cannot see why you care whether or not "Diamond Lug" is on telly or not though - you can watch BTCC on the other channel, and you've always been able to change channels should you not want to watch the F1 (for example I believe xfacta is a popular program for F1 refuseniks ).

Cheers,
Robin

You've missed what I've said by such a great margin that I'm not even going to attempt to debunk any of this.

David, nail -> hammer -> head.

Regards,

Jeremy

[robin]

Debunk what exactly?

You are (I think) arguing that F1 and BTCC are basically the same thing and given zero air time for 20-40 years F1 would become BTCC and given 20-40 years of prime time viewing BTCC would become F1 (in terms of viewing figures and thus market value)? There is a bit more to it than that, I suspect. Of course impossible to know ... so you could be right ... but I think you're wrong, for the reasons I outlined and many others beyond.

You may find the viewing figures for BTCC grow of course, but I would like to think that there is at least an element of choice here - people watch F1 because they want to (after all, it's very boring, so unlikely that anyone watches it by mistake or simply because nothing else on). I could watch BTCC every week it's on - it would be easier than F1 often - I could watch Formula E every week it's on too - I don't.

I am sophisticated enough to use my TV set to work out what's on when and watch what I want - I suspect the next generation are much more sophisticated and will find what they want to watch wherever it happens to be - somehow I don't think it'll be BTCC (which is great motorsport but nothing more).

Cheers,
Robin

[Jeremy]

I got that wrong.

You've missed what I said by an even greater margin than I thought.

Regards,

Jeremy