Bernie sold out - F1 moving to sky

[r055]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsp ... 550930.stm


Awful news for the fans.

[Alistair]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsp ... 550930.stm


Awful news for the fans.

Agreed - disaster.

[BiggestNizzy]

Thats a bit sh*t, as I don't have sky and as they won't install it for free I won't be getting it. No F1 for me. I will just have to go out on Sundays from now on.

[r055]

Apparently BBC will show 10 races, incl. British GP

[Corranga]

Oh boll*cks, and we just signed to cable for a year where Sky Sports imo is horrendously expensive, certainly when the only things that even remotely interest me is the F1 and NFL, and just when it was starting to get good too.

Seems to me like a huge kick in the nuts for motorsport in Britain too. It's always going to play 2nd fiddle at best, but viewing figures were up and surely motorsport in general was more popular than ever. It's a real shame that there isn't much of a UK (government) interest in what is a fantastic part of our history.

Will be interesting to see (if you fork out) what the "commitment to each race never seen before on UK television" is like. The BBC coverage imo is very, very good.

Chris

[mikeyb13]

Good news that the move will save some money so they can show more quality programs like the scheme

[Shug]

Not as bad as it could have been, but still shyte of the highest order.

Although how many people moaning about this also moan about the cost of a TV license, or the budgets at the BBC? If there's one tax I actually don't mind, it's the TV license - the Beeb is a national treasure which we won't really appreciate until the idiots calling for license fees to be dropped get their way - which I think is sadly inevitable one day. Not just as a TV station, but as a resource which develops world class talent and skills.

But f*ckit, if it gives some sleazeball politician a ticket into government off the back of saving a few quid, what does that matter, eh? The reason the Beeb lost F1 is due to the massive government pressure to cut budgets, that's the sole reason. And it stinks.

[Lazydonkey]

i read somewhere that Beeb's coverage costs £1million a race

Even as a Sky employee i'm disappointed by the news TBH as ive loved the set up the BBC have got, and i can't see them all coming across to Sky if they are still doing some races. Can't help thinking that we'll get two meh coverages instead of one great one.

[kenny]

This is the beginning of the end for F1.

[Mikie711]

"Barney Francis, managing director of Sky Sports, said: "This is fantastic news for F1 fans and Sky Sports will be the only place to follow every race live and in HD."

I fail to see why he thinks that now having to pay to watch races which will be littered with ad breaks is fantastic for F1 fans .

Sad day indeed but not that big a surprise kind of inevitable really.

[Lazydonkey]

I dont see why there will be ad breaks - there aren't on movies or during football or rugby matches. Might be wrong.

[Lazydonkey]

Just checked our intranet and many employees are asking about ad breaks. The feedback was

A message from our friends at Sky Sports: 'No ad breaks during races. Every second of every race live.'

[Ferg]

And after Bernie said F1 was a franchise for the people and should be available on non-subscription TV. For shame, you u-turning arse.

The BBC have done amazing things with the coverage, the pre-race program is as entertaining, sometimes more so than the race itself. I think this is an absolute disaster for the sport. I certainly can't justify the outlay for Sky and the Sports package just for F1, and I'm pretty sure they are going to struggle to produce anything near as good as the Beeb did.

[Mikie711]

Football coverage has a sh!t load of add breaks during the build up, 2 breaks at half time which is 15mins and again at the end. I doubt they will miss the opportunity given the amount of revenue that could be generated from a prime event slot. They will have to make the money back somehow. Also there are considerably more football matches in a season screened than there will be races yet the cost bring F1 to sky will be comparable.
Even if they don't put ads on during the actual race pre and ost race will be full of them and at the moment I quite enjoy the build up programs as well as the races.

my 2p

[Shug]

And after Bernie said F1 was a franchise for the people and should be available on non-subscription TV. For shame, you u-turning arse.

The BBC have done amazing things with the coverage, the pre-race program is as entertaining, sometimes more so than the race itself. I think this is an absolute disaster for the sport. I certainly can't justify the outlay for Sky and the Sports package just for F1, and I'm pretty sure they are going to struggle to produce anything near as good as the Beeb did.

I already have Sky and there's no way I'd shell out the extra for Sports.

Looks like a similar situation for me as we currently have in Moto GP (ironically, almost in reverse) The Beeb commentary is so cringeworthy on that, that I actually don't watch it live and wait for the delayed Eurosport broadcast (which is at least the full race) with commentators that actually know something about the subject. I'll just be waiting for the Beeb highlights - hopefully it'll be for the money races anyway - like the middle east stuff that I don't really care about. As long as we get most of the classic races on the beeb...