uk f1 tv coverage - sky, bbc and ch4

[Tourer]

For those minor sports that you mention, streaming onto YouTube with low cost production makes sense, because they make money from YouTube and it probably helps them balance the books.

For F1, it certainly used to be the case and I imagine that it still is, that F1 was only surpassed in worldwide viewership by the Soccer World Cup and the Olympic Games - both of which don't occur every year. So F1 has the biggest worldwide viewership year-in, year-out. In that case, broadcast right is a BIG revenue stream and it's business 101 to improve income, so those that offer more for rights (or who offer the same but provide more coverage) are naturally going to get the rights.

I think we're all much more used to streaming these days and paying for the channels that we want, so it does fit with today's world I think. The other thing of course is that despite complaints and misgivings about some of the pundits (such as Croft) we do get WAY more of the on-track action than back in the day - way more. Plus add-ons like the F1 show and Ted's notebook.

On balance, I think we're pretty well looked after.

[bathurst77]

I want everything and i want it for free?

[bathurst77]

I pay less than the price of a pizza every month for all I can eat F1 (plus f2 and f3 And a wad of other sports) All the sessions, the notebook and specials etc. I can watch whenever I like, and rewatch if i want. No ads during the actual race etc. And a very comfy seat with perfect coverage of the whole track and out of the weather
And anyone can come over (WITH BEER THANK YOU!) and watch with me, no extra cost.

Compare that to the cost of two tickets to the track even for one day, parking or transport, food and drink etc. to sit on a hard seat in whatever the weather seeing only one corner hopefully.

cheap as chips.... literally.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by flatlandsman

Some sports have moved away from paid streaming. GTWC, IMSA, a few others.

Unlike F1, GTWC business model does not rely on people watching the sport. GTWC is largely funded by the wealthy amateurs which want to go driving. The cars are sold as profit centers rather than cost centers, which is why manufacturers want to sell them. There are of course the pro teams funded by manufacturers but those are surprisingly rare in GT3.

This is why we have many Pro-Am classes and sub classes now days. It creates a sustainable series which does not rely on millions of viewers to make it work.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by bathurst77

I pay less than the price of a pizza every month for all I can eat F1 (plus f2 and f3 And a wad of other sports) All the sessions, the notebook and specials etc. I can watch whenever I like, and rewatch if i want. No ads during the actual race etc. And a very comfy seat with perfect coverage of the whole track and out of the weather
And anyone can come over (WITH BEER THANK YOU!) and watch with me, no extra cost.

Compare that to the cost of two tickets to the track even for one day, parking or transport, food and drink etc. to sit on a hard seat in whatever the weather seeing only one corner hopefully.

cheap as chips.... literally.

Also I agree with this, but it isn't available in the UK at that price. I believe the cheapest way to do it in the UK is now £35 a month for NowTV, and that doesn't include an HD stream. To get that you need to pay £41 per month. To get 4K it's £44 per month

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by flatlandsman

The idea SHOULD be to try and get people to attend races for real, this generates venue and potential rights holder revenue, F1 and bike racing do not really need this and they sell out a lot of venues anyway, which ought to be enough but isnt, why, greed.

an interesting question...does giving away free media translate into more people attending live events?

i would imagine it creates more demand for live events no doubt resulting in live events being far more profitable for the rights holders but is that function of live event pricing going up or actually more people overall buying tickets?

there's probably a lesson to be learned from the music industry with a decade or so of letting people listen to music for free and on demand (all be it on ad supported platforms) while at the same time seeing the cost of live shows going up astronomically.

just my own experience with this dynamic leads me to think its the dedicated fans who bear the brunt of these freemium business models, often forcing us to accept lower quality feeds with ads, while at the same time driving up demand and hype and thus being able to justify pricing the dedicated fans out of those live event marketplaces?

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by bathurst77

I pay less than the price of a pizza every month for all I can eat F1 (plus f2 and f3 And a wad of other sports) All the sessions, the notebook and specials etc. I can watch whenever I like, and rewatch if i want. No ads during the actual race etc. And a very comfy seat with perfect coverage of the whole track and out of the weather
And anyone can come over (WITH BEER THANK YOU!) and watch with me, no extra cost.

Compare that to the cost of two tickets to the track even for one day, parking or transport, food and drink etc. to sit on a hard seat in whatever the weather seeing only one corner hopefully.

cheap as chips.... literally.

Who is that with?