uk f1 tv coverage - sky, bbc and ch4

[S griffin]

I have to agree, Steve has done a solid job, not trying too hard, asking DC sensible questions and genrally seeming chilled at his job

[GT6]

They are trying hard but i did sense this time that are not as high up the queue when it comes to the interviews

[wolfhound]

Interesting article by Ben Anderson in Autosport.com comparing sky and C4 GP coverage. He was away from some of the more recent GP's and saw them on TV. It seems like he prefers C4 by a small margin but there is not much in it.

http://classicplus.autosport.com/pre...494.1448115426

I have only seen sky's offering a few times but I do like C4's live coverage.

[S griffin]

I have to agree, C4 have really made it enjoyable for everyone

[ExplodeTheApex]

I have to say, after being sceptical of Steve Jones, I believe C4's coverage has been miles better than the BBC's last few years as broadcaster. I like the concept of rolling 3rd pundits, and their personnel selection has been top notch, taking the best of the BBC team and then adding fresh new faces.

[skells22]

i think this is a good time to bump this as c4 as said its picks for this year
and that headline is the monaco gp is back on fta tv for the 1st time in 5 years
here are the 10 races the uk can see

bahrain, russia, monaco, baku, silverstone, spa, singapore, sepang, texas & as per normal yas marnia the other 10 is sky only with highkights later on c4

[S griffin]

Quite right too we have Monaco back live, one of the few GPs you cannot miss

[JABWOA]

Just be glad you can see the highlight "shortly" afterwards, it's close to 24hrs later here in downunderland, usually the entire workday trying to avoid the results.

[chunder]

I gave up doing that years ago, kinda when I started falling out of love with F1. The beginning of the Vettel RB dominance really set it off

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Quite right too we have Monaco back live, one of the few GPs you cannot miss

Monaco has to be on live list. As a race and a part of F1, it's right at the heart, so it needs to be out there.

[wolfhound]

I see where Pat Symonds is to become part of the sky team covering F1. At least they will now have somebody who has proper technical knowledge of the sport.

http://classic.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/128349

[Sodemo]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

I see where Pat Symonds is to become part of the sky team covering F1. At least they will now have somebody who has proper technical knowledge of the sport.

http://classic.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/128349

Like Patrick Head, Pat was always a guy I enjoyed listening to during interviews. Shame he's on Sky and not CH4.

[Adam43]

He's always good value on the Motorsport podcasts. Although the Motorsport podcast is free so that is unfair.

[Adam43]

I am always disappointed when anything leaves the Beeb. They make brilliant television. As, to paraphrase an apt quote, they are the only company that primarily makes television the rest primarily sell advertising (or take subscription). It's good quality and a great service. I shudder when there are dramatic suggestions to change it. Best thing about Britain IMHO.

Sky? They are good. The F1 coverage is very good. More quantity than I need, but good coverage. I agree with the free to air argument, but that's not sky's issue. At least they do a good job.

I also like sky because they provide a platform to see many sports that wouldn't be covered in such detail or as much without them. For me it is a shame that the Premiership and the European Cup has gone or been diluted from sky as they first gave the opportunity to see this (at all anywhere). If the timing had been different and originally the only way to see F1 had been through sky...

Oh, and Simon is good.

[F1Guy]

I won't get into the FTA vs pay TV argument too much. But let me ask all the members on this forum a question.

Q: How many of you got into F1, and built your interest in F1 because of FTA TV, and how many of you got into F1 because of pay TV?


To answer my own question, it was FTA TV that got me hooked on F1 at the age of 6. Started karting at 8, and got as far as racing karts internationally when a teen. Even have one world karting title to my name. The goal from the start was always F1. A dream that didn't eventuate because of the usual $$ story.

I still race karts at national level, and when I speak to the young kids today, less than half of them say F1 would be great, but it's not their ultimate goal. Most are aiming to be a driver in the local domestic series because it is the one that is on FTA and the one everyone's talking about. F1 is on pay TV and many don't have pay TV and no access F1. The kids today don't talk about F1 as much as I did with my fellow racing buddies did when we were their age. That has a lot to do with F1 not being on FTA TV in my opinion. And it doesn't look good for the future F1 fan base. When I go to the F1 races, the fair majority of fans are in their 30's to 50's age range. Some with kids in tow who aren't that interested.

The F1 fan base is dwindling. And the more we restrict access to F1 content, the worse it will get. F1 needs to get onto the social channels and share more F1 content. For FREE! And we too can play a part. Example, I posted a link in the future rules thread for an interview with Ross Brawn on YouTube. That is regarded as not within forum rules. Shame, as I think most people without access to SkyF1 enjoyed the interview.

[JeremySmith]

I have always had to pay to watch F1 on cable TV... I except that it's the price of having fun.. Of course I do own my own circuit in Austin so life is good .
At least it feels that way ..😊😊

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by F1Guy

I won't get into the FTA vs pay TV argument too much. But let me ask all the members on this forum a question.

Q: How many of you got into F1, and built your interest in F1 because of FTA TV, and how many of you got into F1 because of pay TV?


To answer my own question, it was FTA TV that got me hooked on F1 at the age of 6. Started karting at 8, and got as far as racing karts internationally when a teen. Even have one world karting title to my name. The goal from the start was always F1. A dream that didn't eventuate because of the usual $$ story.

I still race karts at national level, and when I speak to the young kids today, less than half of them say F1 would be great, but it's not their ultimate goal. Most are aiming to be a driver in the local domestic series because it is the one that is on FTA and the one everyone's talking about. F1 is on pay TV and many don't have pay TV and no access F1. The kids today don't talk about F1 as much as I did with my fellow racing buddies did when we were their age. That has a lot to do with F1 not being on FTA TV in my opinion. And it doesn't look good for the future F1 fan base. When I go to the F1 races, the fair majority of fans are in their 30's to 50's age range. Some with kids in tow who aren't that interested.

The F1 fan base is dwindling. And the more we restrict access to F1 content, the worse it will get. F1 needs to get onto the social channels and share more F1 content. For FREE! And we too can play a part. Example, I posted a link in the future rules thread for an interview with Ross Brawn on YouTube. That is regarded as not within forum rules. Shame, as I think most people without access to SkyF1 enjoyed the interview.

Like you, I got into F1 via FTA but back in 1972 that was all there was and very few races were shown but I wanted to see more. My first actual race was the GKN Daily Express Silver Jubilee, International Trophy, at Silverstone in April 1973.

PTV does restrict access for the obvious reason and that isn't going to encourage the casual viewer, who could potentially become a fan. This is the problem with PTV.

In the mid '80s the NFL became very popular over here, thanks to Channel 4. However as soon as Sky got hold of it, the popularity went down. Now it's more popular than ever partly due to the inception of International Series in 2007, with teams coming over here and playing regular season games and because games were once more being shown on FTA with a return to Channel 4 in 2010 and some live games being shown by the BBC, including the Super Bowl.

[chillibowl]

the cable model over here has pretty much always been subscription based so thats been my experience. 20-25plus years ago it was also available via radio based/over the air (not sure how that differs from FTA - or is it the same) but the quality of the antenna signal was always terrible so a subscription based signal via coaxial cable was my norm.

i imagine though today the OTA or FTA signal and equipment has improved to the point where HD signals can be received in stable quality...but is it possible to receive a 4K/UHD signal via FTA? if so how much would that equipment cost?

regardless, given the current level of technology though, surely FTA is an antiquated format and requires the purchase of unnecessary or even redundant equipment.

if its about getting more people to watch then surely the push should be for a free internet stream provided by FOM and accessible via an F1 app for one's smart TV, dongle, tablet, cell phone, computer, etc with tiers added so there is a very basic level of free coverage and subscription levels for those that wish for 4K quality, more content, commentary, replays, archives, multiple camera angles etc.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

the cable model over here has pretty much always been subscription based so thats been my experience. 20-25plus years ago it was also available via radio based/over the air (not sure how that differs from FTA - or is it the same) but the quality of the antenna signal was always terrible so a subscription based signal via coaxial cable was my norm.

i imagine though today the OTA or FTA signal and equipment has improved to the point where HD signals can be received in stable quality...but is it possible to receive a 4K/UHD signal via FTA? if so how much would that equipment cost?

regardless, given the current level of technology though, surely FTA is an antiquated format and requires the purchase of unnecessary or even redundant equipment.

if its about getting more people to watch then surely the push should be for a free internet stream provided by FOM and accessible via an F1 app for one's smart TV, dongle, tablet, cell phone, computer, etc with tiers added so there is a very basic level of free coverage and subscription levels for those that wish for 4K quality, more content, commentary, replays, archives, multiple camera angles etc.

All the FTA channels in the UK are available in digital format, so no need to watch with unnecessary or redundant equipment.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

All the FTA channels in the UK are available in digital format, so no need to watch with unnecessary or redundant equipment.

yeah sorry i worded that poorly...surely you still need some sort of equipment to receive and decode the FTA signal (antenna,dish receiver)?

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

yeah sorry i worded that poorly...surely you still need some sort of equipment to receive and decode the FTA signal (antenna,dish receiver)?

FTA analogue terrestrial TV broadcasting in the UK finally ended on 24 October 2012, when Northern Ireland came on board. Otherwise most of the UK switched to digital between 2009 and 2010.

[Mike Harte]

The latest figures for the viewing numbers makes sobering reading: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/u...16-879950/?s=1 .

According to the article, Liberty currently believe that the income derived from pay-to-view is more important than the size of the audience. One wonders how long that that can continue, because there must come a point at which the revenue stream might not justify F1 being behind a paywall. I would certainly be concerned that F1 has lost 130 million viewers since 2010!

[chillibowl]

130 million decline since the introduction of the paytv/removal of traditional viewing methods is a shockingly high number.

but i do find myself a bit confused by the numbers though...

'...F1's annual Global Media Report that is sent to television broadcasters revealed that just 21.8 million viewers watched the sport last year – despite there being a record 21 races.'

is that to be read as an average viewing number for each race or the total for the whole year? i am assuming the 28 mill is just the UK audience though so i would think it means an average of 1 mil UK viewers per race over 21 races.

[Mike Harte]

chillibowl, I think that your interpretation is correct; an average of just 1 million viewers in the UK per race. And a loss of about 20% of it's audience in the UK over just one year!

What is more worrying, certainly in the UK, is that the loss of viewers is despite the fact that although Sky's coverage of all the races is live but is behind the paywall, our FTA on Channel 4 carried half the races live with the remaining ones shown in full later during the day/evening.

So, it's not all down to having to pay a subscription here in the UK; there are things far more fundamental. For example, neither of my two sons, both of whom have enjoyed watching F1 from the time that they could comprehend what it was all about, now don't bother watching at all. One has a Sky sports package, but still doesn't turn it on, whilst the other hasn't viewed the free-to-air for the last couple of years.

They are both, I would have thought, part of the target audience that F1 needs to keep. They are in their mid 40s, with young children, each has a reasonable disposable income, and both are partners in their respective international firms. In fact, one of them was partly responsible for his firm sponsoring a team and a driver in GTs a few years ago; a rather expensive foray into motor racing. But they are currently lost to F1.

[Moneyseeker]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

chillibowl, I think that your interpretation is correct; an average of just 1 million viewers in the UK per race. And a loss of about 20% of it's audience in the UK over just one year!

What is more worrying, certainly in the UK, is that the loss of viewers is despite the fact that although Sky's coverage of all the races is live but is behind the paywall, our FTA on Channel 4 carried half the races live with the remaining ones shown in full later during the day/evening.

So, it's not all down to having to pay a subscription here in the UK; there are things far more fundamental. For example, neither of my two sons, both of whom have enjoyed watching F1 from the time that they could comprehend what it was all about, now don't bother watching at all. One has a Sky sports package, but still doesn't turn it on, whilst the other hasn't viewed the free-to-air for the last couple of years.

They are both, I would have thought, part of the target audience that F1 needs to keep. They are in their mid 40s, with young children, each has a reasonable disposable income, and both are partners in their respective international firms. In fact, one of them was partly responsible for his firm sponsoring a team and a driver in GTs a few years ago; a rather expensive foray into motor racing. But they are currently lost to F1.

Mike, I find myself watching less F1 races and certainly whole F1 races and I have been following it since the late 70's, yet I do make an effort to watch BTCC races, which probably says something.

Generally sports TV veiwing figures are falling, even football and I think that this is a social change as much as anything and people cannot commit the time to spend 2 hours watching a GP, let alone one that is decided at the first corner and then drones on for another 70 laps.

Some of the races are simply far too long and tortuous to watch for even an interested fan. 50 laps of Baku's almost 4 mile circuit was agony!

So, I agree PPV hasn't helped as you won't pick up casual fans. Moving to CH4 probably hasn't delivered much of an audience as it is a channel with low viewing figures anyway. I have to say the product has been pretty dire for the last few years, the race weekend format is too dated and the races too long.

Address some of the above and sprinkle in some promotion and Liberty-esque digitialisation and it might make an impact, be interestting to see what they do.