uk f1 tv coverage - sky, bbc and ch4

[b1ackcr0w]

The BBC have signed Allan McNish for this year. Apparently he'll be co-commentating on races, but I don't know whether that's on TV or Radio. The release is a bit hazy.

I think it's a good call, the beeb have done pretty well with ex drivers in the past.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/25913478

[ScotsBrutesFan]

He's co-comms on radio for 15 of the 19 races. He will either do a bit of pre and post race punditry on the live TV races too, or perhaps just film features with DC. Looks like he'll either blog or have a column on the website too

[bella]

excellent signing. looking forward to hearing his comments wherever they may be.

[davyboy]

Ahem... tell me how much we pay for our licence fee again ?

[Aysedasi]

'Mogul' eh? And he can't even afford a decent shirt.........

[garcon]

I think he's spent his shirt budget on his new yacht.

[Paradise City]

I doubt the presenters get much of a wage from the BBC - Jordan included. Jordan is on the board or was on the board of Sunseeker so he'd probably get a discount knowing him or it was in partial compensation from the sale of his shares.

McNish is an OK addition but he doesn't compensate for the loss of Anderson.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

I doubt the presenters get much of a wage from the BBC - Jordan included. Jordan is on the board or was on the board of Sunseeker so he'd probably get a discount knowing him or it was in partial compensation from the sale of his shares.

The BBC supplies the commentary to various overseas satellite channels so they have to be at the races anyway, even if in the UK they only provide highlights.

Originally Posted by Paradise City

McNish is an OK addition but he doesn't compensate for the loss of Anderson.

I've heard him before on 5Live Extra and he's ok. As you say though, not a substitute for Gary.

[henners88]

Originally Posted by LC2guy

Absolutely nothing wrong with that as far as i can see, both my sons do the same.

Its horses for courses really, but don't assume that just because someone has Sky that they aren't " Productive ". When i was younger, had a mortgage and the Mrs was on Maternity leave, like you i couldn't justify the time or the money, but things change as you get older, and if you are lucky they get a little easier. I watch all the F1 stuff with my 2 sons, but far from being couch potatoes as some may insinuate, we spend most of our lives going from one activity to another, so downtime watching what i am passionate about is ok in my books. In a couple of years when F1 is PPV only i'll get the boys to pay

Things may change when I am older but that won't be for another 20 years as kids are expensive and they seem to demand more money as they get older! To be honest though I could probably stretch to afford Sky now, but it just seems a lot of money for a bit of TV, especially for me as the F1 channel is the only channel I don't currently get that I have any interest in. Its turned very much into a luxury now and if I can find a cheaper way of receiving it I will. I can't see that changing either as I've never been an avid TV watcher. Maybe my kids will grow up and get Sky and I'll nick it off them lol.

Originally Posted by davyboy

Ahem... tell me how much we pay for our licence fee again ?

I could be wrong but I think Eddie made a fair few bob before he became a pundit for the BBC. If we consider Brundle is now on 2 times what the BBC paid him, you can see why he went for the money.

[ghinzani]

Skys only real annoyance point for me is Craig Slater, to who we need to say 'see you later, Mr Slater!' and hopefully send him back to Football from whence he came. Although presumably they didnt want him too..

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by henners88

I could be wrong but I think Eddie made a fair few bob before he became a pundit for the BBC.

Ya he did, you're right. My comment above was just a joke... The BBC announce their line up for 2014 and EJ announces that he's bought a £32M yacht

[henners88]

I know

The BBC team are probably all staying on it for the Monaco GP to save a bit of money!

[wolfhound]

F1's global TV audience has dropped 50 million to about 450 million viewers. This has been blamed on Vettel's domination of the championship.


17 million of those were in France where F1 has switched from free to air to pay TV (surprise surprise). Another 30 million were lost in China also due to changes in broadcaster. There were a lot of other countries that had audience drops.

To make Bernie happy there was an 18% increase in the USA. The only other increases were slight ones in Britian and Italy of the major markets.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report...ce=mostpopular
I could not find this on formula1.com, I wonder why?

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

I could not find this on formula1.com, I wonder why?

classic FOM!

i seem to recall during the Schumi/Ferrari days TV audience figures were going up and up. at the time i just thought that it had more to do with new markets opening up like Eastern Europe and China and improvements in satellite and internet technology.

perhaps that is still true but now im also curious to know how much of the current decline has to do with the lack of success Ferrari has had recently?

someone brought this up elsewhere recently but if you go to a race (some more so than others) you are going to see Tifosi out numbering fans of the other teams by a significant margin.

it also unusual for a sport to decline in popularity when there is one athlete dominating. from my own viewing history, Gretzky in NHL, Jordan in NBA, Woods in PGA, Williams sisters in WTA.

is it possible that the only reason the Vettel dominance translates into declining viewers is because he doesnt driver for Ferrari and the Tifosi have just turned their attention elsewhere?

[henners88]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

F1's global TV audience has dropped 50 million to about 450 million viewers. This has been blamed on Vettel's domination of the championship.


17 million of those were in France where F1 has switched from free to air to pay TV (surprise surprise). Another 30 million were lost in China also due to changes in broadcaster. There were a lot of other countries that had audience drops.

To make Bernie happy there was an 18% increase in the USA. The only other increases were slight ones in Britian and Italy of the major markets.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report...ce=mostpopular
I could not find this on formula1.com, I wonder why?

Hardly surprising and I don't think it is solely down to one team dominating. People aren't watching because the sport has less TV coverage now and if there is less coverage, people are less likely to tune in, I think it is as simple as that. As soon as we saw F1 being squeezed behind a pay wall throughout some of the worlds biggest markets, we saw the start of the decline. I have to say I do have a little smile on my face knowing I have been saying this would happen all along. We are seeing the sport we all love diminish in popularity rapidly which is very sad, but at least those of us who have been affected by this the most can take some comfort in the fact it will eventually affect everybody, including the teams. With greed comes karma

Originally Posted by chillibowl

classic FOM!
perhaps that is still true but now im also curious to know how much of the current decline has to do with the lack of success Ferrari has had recently?

I don't think so. We had 21 years of Ferrari not winning Championships and we didn't see any less passion from the Tifosi back then.

[wolfhound]

Joe Saward has a little more info on the TV numbers.

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2014/...of-tv-numbers/

[chunder]

I think a lot of it is to do with the natire of Vettles wins.

The car is designed to not need KERS or DRS, it is designed with all those parts incorporated into the design to be used as ballast, so that if all that fails the car is still quicker than everything, hence low top speed, etc etc. it is why he often struggles in a scrap as the car is so focussed. But also why he finds it easy to pass coz the car is simply faster than everything else by miles.

therefore he gets away. pulls 2 seconds in first lap and the race is over. It is clever design rather than Seb that is stopping people watching.

[henners88]

Originally Posted by chunder

I think a lot of it is to do with the natire of Vettles wins.

The car is designed to not need KERS or DRS, it is designed with all those parts incorporated into the design to be used as ballast, so that if all that fails the car is still quicker than everything, hence low top speed, etc etc. it is why he often struggles in a scrap as the car is so focussed. But also why he finds it easy to pass coz the car is simply faster than everything else by miles.

therefore he gets away. pulls 2 seconds in first lap and the race is over. It is clever design rather than Seb that is stopping people watching.

When you compare Vettel's dominance and the fact at least 80% of Britain's F1 viewing audience don't have Sky TV, I think it becomes a destructive combination. I just speak for the UK, but F1 has lost out in nearly all of the big markets.

Some of it can be put down to Vettel, but the bigger problem is pay tv. If F1 puts the sport out of so many fans reach, then they can't exactly be surprised if many stop watching.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by chunder

I think a lot of it is to do with the natire of Vettles wins.

The car is designed to not need KERS or DRS, it is designed with all those parts incorporated into the design to be used as ballast, so that if all that fails the car is still quicker than everything, hence low top speed, etc etc. it is why he often struggles in a scrap as the car is so focussed. But also why he finds it easy to pass coz the car is simply faster than everything else by miles.

therefore he gets away. pulls 2 seconds in first lap and the race is over. It is clever design rather than Seb that is stopping people watching.

Funny about Webber in an identical car ...

[henners88]

Originally Posted by wnut

Funny about Webber in an identical car ...

You are right, the car is no better than any other. Seb's talent alone sets him apart from the rest lol.

[Born Racer]

Pretty unimpressed with Sky right now. Just got a call from them claiming I owed them money, when it transpires it was a mere ploy to get me to rejoin. They kept asking me who my broadband provider is now. I had to say on several occasions it was irrelevant. Then they went quiet when I asked what I owed money for.

That's bad practice.

[chunder]

It is because of BT pure and simple

And in the case of Webber, its clear he wasnt as quick as Seb, but from people who know in the industry I can tell you the car was packaged so tight that Marks car was more prone to reliability issues, hence he had more.

That car was setup to run quick regardless of Kers and DRS, that means packaging everything in places as ballast, which means it was getting hot, which means a taller driver puts more stress on that packaging.

I know this is a whine, but it does have an element of reason.

Hence why the races were boring, Seb didnt need anything like DRS or Kers!

Pay tv is the future, there is nothing else until people don't buy it and it goes back to terrestrial as it has done once or twice with various sports. If you are paying for sport on telly then you are contributing to its isloation on pay channels, pure and simple. Either pirate stream it or don't watch it anymore if you don't want to pay.

The choices are simple really, and there are plenty of them.

[davyboy]

So viewers are leaving in droves because Vettel has been dominant For the love of god, how stupid do they think we are ?

[Peter Mallett]

Nothing to do with DRS or Tyres then.

[henners88]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Nothing to do with DRS or Tyres then.

They are contributory factors but nothing in comparison to the effect pay TV is having on viewership.

Anybody who thinks the decline is down to just Vettel, tyres or DRS is underestimating just how damaging putting F1 behind a pay wall has been IMO. Its naive to think the on track action is the sole reason viewers have stopped watching since the end of 2011. If this were the case, it would be a pretty easy fix.