BBC & Sky F1 deal: could be worse

Jake | Friday 29th July 2011 | Formula 1

I’m finding it hard to get overly worked up over the new TV rights arrangement for Formula 1 in the UK. You know the deal: in short, we’re losing live coverage of half the Grands Prix on BBC TV. There will still be highlights on BBC TV, and live coverage on BBC Radio 5 Live. Meanwhile Sky Sports will broadcast the whole shebang live.

Obviously this is a shame. Ideally, the status quo would have been maintained. But with cuts absolutely necessary at the BBC, that clearly wasn’t an option. With that in mind, the best case would have been coverage switching to ITV, Channel 4 or Channel 5. It seems safe to assume that they didn’t have the money.

Given that, a highlights package on the BBC is the best I would have expected. So retaining live coverage of half the Grands Prix – including Monaco and Britain – is a delightful surprise.

We’ve had a better run than most sports – especially comparably popular sports – in terms of keeping live coverage on free-to-air. It wasn’t going to last for ever, really, was it? A pessimist is never disappointed, I suppose.

Plus, I’ve only watched one of the last four races live, due to other commitments, and I’ve survived. It might even be nice to have half my Sundays back.

There will still be highlights free-to-air – and, lest we forget, live coverage of half the races. There are potential benefits, too, for Sky Sports subscribers, new and old.

It’s not so bad. Really. Keep calm, and carry on.

10 Comments

There are 10 comments

Comment by Fizz, Friday 29th July 2011 @ 09:58

highlights will only be othe races they show on the bbc and sky will not be having a highlights show. so an extra 20-30 a month on sky or cable to watch the f1, whic I live for, well I think I’m going to find something else to occupy my sundays :-(
Comment by Jake, Friday 29th July 2011 @ 10:39

@Fizz – Not so. The BBC is quite explicit in stating that it will carry highlights of ALL races:

“The BBC will have highlights on TV, online and mobile for any race it is not showing live, and all races will be broadcast on BBC Radio 5 live.”
Comment by KG, Friday 29th July 2011 @ 11:16

I can’t and won’t support any company owned by the Murdoch clan. As such this is VERY bad news. I’ve watched F1 since as long as i can remember (40 yrs), but on principle I’ll never pay SKY, and woudl rather just miss out.
I would like to know exactly how this falls into F1′s commitment to the EU to keep it free to air?
Comment by JMac, Friday 29th July 2011 @ 12:22

Saying it’s not as bad, because we get the highlights, is like saying to a football fan – “It’s okay, you don’t need to fork out “£28 quid a month to watch the full match of your favourite teams bi-weekly… You’ve got the highlights on the beeb!”…. Screw that. It’s a fucking disgrace.
Comment by Jake, Friday 29th July 2011 @ 12:57

@KG – Yeah, it’ll be interesting to see what Bernie and the teams have to say about the supposed commitment to free-to-air.

@JMac – You’re right, it’s exactly like the situation football has found itself in for many years. You can pay to watch it live, or wait for highlights. Your choice! I’d love it all to remain free, obviously, but that’s not realistic.
Comment by antigurner, Friday 29th July 2011 @ 15:35

it seems a bit unfair that the uk s the only country 2 hav 2 pay bt of course that also means there’ll b a lot of live european streams bouncing around the web, sync it up with 5live commentary n voila!
Comment by chris, Friday 29th July 2011 @ 15:39

seems a bit unfair that the uk s the only country that has 2 pay bt that also means there’ll b a lot of live european streams bouncing around the web, sync it with 5live n voila!
Comment by Keith, Friday 29th July 2011 @ 19:44

I for one will not pay a subscription to Sky just for this, and moreover will not pay my hard earned cash to a company whose owners behave in such a disgraceful manner (phone hacking etc).

I hope it backfires spectacularly with viewers plummeting, sponsors abandoning F1 as being not so attractive a financial proposition anymore.

I will be interested in seeing what Fota have to say as they have gone on record as saying that the only F1 model that is viable is one that is free to air. See http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2011/07/29/keeping-f1-freetoair/ for info.
Comment by Mark, Thursday 4th August 2011 @ 21:01

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/57
Comment by Ac, Tuesday 1st May 2012 @ 16:34

Have not watched F1 this year,stopped watching any sport once you pay, so sky ruined boxing,rugby,F1,cricket. Yet idiots still think this rip off is ok.