F1 coverage in Australia

[Kiwi3]

Apologies if this has been covered before, but what is TV coverage in Australia like? I read in another forum that Ch. 10 have it, but that it's not live - which is shocking!

Do they show qualifying?

Does a subscription channel like Fox also have it?

[Rennen]

Ant's uncle (who taught him to drive aged 6) is in Oz for the month, he says Aussie TV dedicate 10 hours to Formula One each GP ! So much better than it is in the UK (at the moment)

[MRJUCY]

We get it delayed I think this week it's at 11pm Sunday night which is about 5 to 6 hours after it started & we don't get qualifying usually or much in the way or pre or post race programing. Ten had promised it would be live this year on their HD channel but have changed their mind for whatever reason the same as last year they promised they'd show qualifying which they did once or twice.
Foxtel aren't allowed to show F1 as it's listed by the federal government as having to be shown on free to air unless none of them are willing to show it.

[Kiwi3]

Gee that sucks! Puts me off moving there...

Rennen - going by what MrJucy says could the 10 hours just be for the Australian GP?

[Chatters]

Originally Posted by Rennen

Ant's uncle (who taught him to drive aged 6) is in Oz for the month, he says Aussie TV dedicate 10 hours to Formula One each GP ! So much better than it is in the UK (at the moment)

We can only wish!

Channel 10 promised to show each GP LIVE on their High Definition channel. Then when it comes the time to show the race, they try to unsuspectingly change the timeslot back to its 5-6 hour delayed coverage. Qualifying is shown at 2AM (if you're lucky) in the morning. Even when the coverage is late or delayed (the reality TV shows before the GP usually go overtime), Channel 10 still insist on showing Greg Rust and Cameron McConville prattling on about stuff we already know (the casual viewer who knows nothing wouldn't stay up that late for Formula 1 so why does it matter?) before throwing to the James & Martin Lewis-a-thon brought to you by ITV.

Most of the time we'd get shown the race, and be lucky to even get to see the podium or the post race conference.

I think Uncle Ant may have been referring to the Oz GP, the only one 10 gives a stuff about (and despite that still throw to James and Martin for qualifying and the race). They probably showed about 10 hours of it during the weekend. But don't for a second think it's the same for all the GPs.

[cmifsud]

I'll give you a run down on Australia's F1 coverage for this weekend:

*Qualifying is 7 hours delayed
*Race is 5 hours delayed

Normally, quali is about 3 hours delayed and race 1 hour delayed. The only thing TEN do right is that when they go to an ad break, they come back on the same lap so we don't miss anything.

We have to put up with two presenters who are on the same level of annoyingness as James Allen. Thank god we cross to ITV on the warm up lap to listen to Martin's insightful comments, and unfortunately James' Lewis loving antics.

All F1 fans in Aus hate channel 10, because they originally promised all races and qualifying live on their High Definition channel, but then they renigged, so they show all their reality crap (like So you think you can dance, big brother, australian idol etc etc.) In Australia, 10 is the home of all low budget reality crap television. I'm actually in their young target demographic, but I reckon their channel is full of crap.

[dsg]

Channel 10 promised to show the Australian GP live in HD, which they did. About 20 hrs of coverage. Can anyone show me where they promised to show all GPs live?

The coverage is they do show is average but better than nothing. Unfortunately, almost all local sports (This weekend is the opening round of the footy season) out-rate the GPs as well as big brother/idol shows so our coverage is delayed until about 11:00 Sunday night.

[Another Bob]

I lived in the UK for 9 years throughout the 90's.

Priour to when I left Australia in 1990 it was our channel 9 televising F1 sometime between 11pm and 2am Sunday evening/Monday morning. All you would get is the race, where the coverage would start with them queued on the grid! No local input just straight to Murray, and one of the fisrt things you heard was its GO, GO, GO!

Remember the commentry on some of those BBC telecasts where it sounded like some dodgy telephone link up and you would swear Murray was standing in some old red public telephone box with a TV propped in the corner calling the race?

I experienced F1 when living in the UK first with the BBC then with ITV, and I must admit ITV really raised the standard.

After I came back to Oz it was channel 10, and the only thing that changed was you would get a bit of the preamble, with a local intro, and they would televise qualifying in the early hours of Sunday morning. Also the coverage itself was a bit smarter by that time being ITV.

The only GP that we get live in Oz, is the Oz GP, even thought the likes of China, Japan, Malaysia, are all in similar time zones, they still delay telecast until after at least 10:30pm on Sunday night. This weekend with the Malaysian GP is no different, qualifying televised 2am Sunday morning, meaning its been delayed about 10 hours, then the race at 11pm Sunday night, telecast being delayed about 9 hours.

What makes me laugh is the likes of Burnie saying that the UK and European audience is to delicate to have to get out of bed early to watch the Oz GP, poor soles, I remember with with longing my time in the UK where most races were watched from the comfort of 2pm on a Sunday afternoon.

[Lazza635]

The TV coverage of the Australian GP was OK, my complaint is too much prattle and I would have preferrd to see some of the support races apart from the Falcadore Taxi racing V8 Supercars. It's a bit of a soapbox for me but at Phillip Island historics the Formula 5000's most of which are 20 to 30 years old, lap the island around the same time as the current series of V8 Supercars. So much for technological advancement. The F5000's look agricultural compared to modern open wheelers, but are still awesome to watch and hear.

[Pro Racer]

it sucks, so much for live.

[Nicholosophy]

I've come to expect nothing less.

I don't watch F1 anymore as I simply can't afford to stay up that late with work requirements the next day. If races could be shown so that midnight was the latest I had to stay up for then no worries, but sometimes the races don't start until 11 or 11:30pm.

[Kiwi3]

Cripes how backward! I am thinking of moving to Australia at the end of the year but will have to include a calculation of the cost of installing a large satellite dish so I can get South Africa's Supersport or something (they show practice sessions live even...).

Makes Bernie's idea that the Oz GP start later for the benefit of European viewers even more absurd.

[chavez]

Originally Posted by Lazza635

The TV coverage of the Australian GP was OK, my complaint is too much prattle and I would have preferrd to see some of the support races apart from the Falcadore Taxi racing V8 Supercars. It's a bit of a soapbox for me but at Phillip Island historics the Formula 5000's most of which are 20 to 30 years old, lap the island around the same time as the current series of V8 Supercars. So much for technological advancement. The F5000's look agricultural compared to modern open wheelers, but are still awesome to watch and hear.

Aren't you comparing apples with oranges?

[rustyinsthoz]

The simple fact is that Formula 1 is a low rating program so it will not be shown in prime time. Most of the Asian and European races fall in to this time slot. The Americas races that are run early morning Aust time are shown live by ten and the euro races are shown on a 1 or 2 hour delay.
I am quite happy with the coverage of F1 in Aust. I get to see almost all GPs either live or within 2 hrs of the race being run.

[Peter Ford]

We will be getting qualifing at 1am on sunday morning,but everyone will know by then who will be starting from pole.Doesnt matter if a other network fet the rights to f1,all australian f1 fans will be getting the same treatment we are getting now.it would be good if foxtel show f1 they would do a much BETTER JOB than the commiceral networks like channel 10.

[Another Bob]

The UK GP starting at 2pm local time is 11pm Australia Eastern Standard Time, so a live broadcast would be 11pm sunday night Sydney time. The European races live would be 10pm.

If Channel 10 televised the European Races around 10.30pm, and the Asian races late Sunday arfternoon it would be fine. Same for Qualifying.

[Kiwi3]

I am so used to following live timing on my laptop as well as having the TV on, I guess that is why not having live coverage would be painful.

[v8fan]

I really fail to see why Ten can't show the F1's live on their HD channel considering they show the same thing on both SD and HD on a Sunday night. Whilst the F1 fan base in Oz may be small, probably because of the time they show races at, and yes 1 - 2 hours is a big difference on a Sunday night, it is a fan base that should be rewarded with either use of the HD channel or a Foxtel option. The current approach is **** poor.

[MCWB]

Originally Posted by Kiwi3

I am so used to following live timing on my laptop as well as having the TV on, I guess that is why not having live coverage would be painful.

I usually stream the races via SopCast or TVU player, or now the ITV stream, plus have live timing going. The live timing is usually about a minute ahead but it still works well. Buggered if I'm going to wait up until 1 am on a workday for a race to finish when it actually finished around 11:30!

[Nicholosophy]

Originally Posted by v8fan

I really fail to see why Ten can't show the F1's live on their HD channel considering they show the same thing on both SD and HD on a Sunday night. Whilst the F1 fan base in Oz may be small, probably because of the time they show races at, and yes 1 - 2 hours is a big difference on a Sunday night, it is a fan base that should be rewarded with either use of the HD channel or a Foxtel option. The current approach is **** poor.

They can show F1 on HD to a limited number of viewers or So you think you can dance or whatever the reality TV show of the moment is in HD. Those with a HD box are going to want to watch their show in HD - that's why they got the thing in the first place.

[bosch!]

Originally Posted by Kiwi3

Cripes how backward! I am thinking of moving to Australia at the end of the year but will have to include a calculation of the cost of installing a large satellite dish so I can get South Africa's Supersport or something (they show practice sessions live even...).

Makes Bernie's idea that the Oz GP start later for the benefit of European viewers even more absurd.

You shouldnt need a large satellite dish as the Optus D1 which brings sky to Australia and New Zealand carries F1 live to NZ. Jumping the ditch very soon so will have to work out how to jack the signal, it should be possible

[PVDA]

Originally Posted by Chatters

Channel 10 promised to show each GP LIVE on their High Definition channel.

Where was that actually written down in print Chatters?? I reckon everyone just assumed they would go live on 10HD but we all know what Assume means (makes an ASS of U & ME).

How many motorsport fans have been sucked into buying HD Set top Boxes as a result of a non existant promise??

Isn't it time for the government to force the Free to Air networks to play 100% LIVE what they own or be forced to give it to Foxtel.

[mjolnir]

the link to the HD sports times somewhere in this thread specified a live time (something like 17:30) for the Malaysian GP, until they changed it to TBA, then the simulcast times with 10SD

Now can we please all stop asking "where was it written down"?! We didn't just ASSume it was live!!!

[bestfit]

An entry in a TV guide (which are always subject to change) is vastly different to "Channel 10 promised to show each GP LIVE on their High Definition channel."