sad time for f1

Perhaps I'm being ignorant in my thinking, but I would be astounded if many pubs/hotels/bars etc. didn't start showing F1. There is a big fan base looking for a new place to watch the sport, and surely many operators would see this as a great way to get people into their establishments.

I know that football is on at the same time, and that F1 probably can't match that that, but on the other hand, in the past, F1's always been on free to air, so there's been no need to go out to watch it, like there is for football.

danm Wrote:
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> I can't see why the teams aren't in uproar about
> all of this still.
>
> Why aren't they angry? Am I missing the obvious?

But how many viewers are they actually losing? Big F1 fans will find a way to watch F1, either through internet streams, going to a friend's house, going to the pub etc.

And then with the highlights in primetime, F1 may actually get more casual viewers than ever.

Also, maybe the UK market isn't quite as important to sponsors as some would like to think.

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X (@ed24f1)

Football on Sunday's is odd. As I remember the big matches are on at 4pm, unless there's a local derby or big rivalry, in which case they put them on earlier (starting between 12pm and 2pm) in order to limit the amount of drinking and the risk of trouble outside of the ground (though to be honest that's more of an issue when fans travel overseas than it is domestically).

So whether pubs would show the race likely depends on the match scheduled for the same time. I don't think they'd show Blackburn vs Wolves over F1... unless it's Valencia...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2011 05:56PM by gav.

Recently it was live cricket matches that SKY poached from Channel 5 and now it's Formula One.
Sky seems to want all sport on their channels only forcing fans to pay a monthly subscription to
watch their favourite sport.

Moving F1 to Sky is a big mistake and Bernie thinks the viewing figures will increase. It was recently
mentioned that F1 currently has 10 million viewers and Sky only has 10 million subscribers and not all
would be F1 fans. The viewing figures would probably plummet in 2012. I hope they do which would
show those who made the decision that they were wrong to do so.

If it was Wimbledon, Ascot, The Grand National or Goodwood this would not have happened!

I would have no problem with F1 being on Sky if I could just pay for the races like they used to do, I dont want to pay out over £300 a year for it thats my problem.

Yes if I got it I would watch Indy on there and probably the football but I have lived without them for years and both can be found online anyway.

Bernie has a great team that blocks things and the other weekend someone at work was saying they looked for feeds and there was 10 all really bad quality and they kept getting stopped.

Will Sky be setting up a new HD channel for F1 as some races will clash with the football for sure.

seanmikeuk Wrote:
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> If it was Wimbledon, Ascot, The Grand National or
> Goodwood this would not have happened!


I hate the decision aswell, but the sports you mention do not come near the cost of F1.

its a shame that the BBC put so much into F1. In a way, thats been the downfall. They can not afford to sustain such brilliant coverage.

I say they should sack, EJ, DC, MB, Jake. Turn on at 12.55pm, lets have the radio 5 team commentate and let's finish when the PC is done.

I feel BBC could have cut the F1 costs MAJORLY by reducing coverage. Think about it, if we got rid of the track side team, how much would that save? Why not just pay to send out two commentators and their equipment rather than a whole film crew. That is the joke about this. It could have been done, but hasnt.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

marcl Wrote:
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> Plus why pay for something that is going to give
> us less than what we get now, and they will
> probably use John Watson and Ben bloody Collins

I didn't particularly like him as a BTCC commentator, where a different style of commentary is needed. But in the last couple of years I've watched a lot of the live footage of GPs and quali sessions shown on Eurosport in the early/mid 90s, and as an F1 commentator I thought John Watson was quite good. Not another Brundle obviously, but definitely better than, say, Legard.

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I hate the decision aswell, but the sports you mention do not come near the cost of F1.

Wimbeldon actually does. It also has far lower viewing figures than F1 (partly due to being shown during the day, during the week, when people are working). However that was Government protected, so could not be chopped. Seem fair?

They can not afford to sustain such brilliant coverage.

They actually can. They didn't cut the F1 budget because they couldn't afford that, they cut the F1 budget because the money management has been so poor that expensive things had to be cut. They only saved £20m on the F1 coverage, but ill continue to spend over £200m broadcasting BBC3 and BBC4, as well as another £10m on BBC Parliament.

As for watching it in the pub, or even delayed, no thanks. I have no interest in that. I prefer watching F1 with live timing so I know what's going on well beyond what the director shows. Without it, it's just half a show. I'd rather just find dodgy streams of Sky Sports than wait a day avoiding all TV and internet to avoid the results and watch half a show.

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theRacingLine.net
SportsCarArchives.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2011 08:42PM by DaveEllis.

The streams are what I'm going for too. They'll be in high demand next year and they're much easier to set up than they are to take down, so we should always have some available to watch at all times.

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DaveEllis Wrote:
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> They actually can. They didn't cut the F1 budget
> because they couldn't afford that, they cut the F1
> budget because the money management has been so
> poor that expensive things had to be cut. They
> only saved £20m on the F1 coverage, but ill
> continue to spend over £200m broadcasting BBC3
> and BBC4, as well as another £10m on BBC
> Parliament.

BBC4 ? wow I didnt even know that existed!!!! Apart from Family Guy on a Sunday night I avoid BBC3 because usually it's something like, 'teenage mothers' or 'world strictest parents', or 'worlds fattest man' or something like that.

Its a complete joke.

Looking at the numbers, F1 viewing figures are constantly in the high 3 to low 6 millions.

[www.barb.co.uk]?

I really hope there is a huuuuuge drop in figures for Sky. The company as a business is pretty sensational, but it doesnt help the public (but thats not its business).

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

Well this happened in Finland. Figures went from 2 million to 200,000. So expect similar in the UK.

BBC3 and BBC4 could easily be merged into 1 channel, with the constant repeats shoved onto iPlayer (that's the point in it, isn't it?). cBeebies and CBBC need to become the same channel too. BBC Parliament needs to go back to merged with BBC News (like it was before), which would advantage both channels.

BBC, if you're reading this, hire me. I'll get it sorted.

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theRacingLine.net
SportsCarArchives.com

Can't Sky put F1 on Pick TV (owned by them and available on Freeview Channel 11) as this would give the majority of viewers a chance. Currently I don't watch the channel but it's the only one Sky has.

I would be happier if they did this (if there are NO ads) as all TVs in the UK will be upgraded eventually to have Freeview as a minimum, through the digital switchover.

My position is that when I'm not at work... I'll be watching the F1 either live on BBC or some internet stream. I shall not be taking out a SKY subscription as I have no reason to want SKY, and it'd simply be a big waste of money for me.

When I'm at work and can't watch a race live anyway... I'll simply set my digibox to record the BBC delayed coverage.

I have to be honest... this BBC SKY coalition, doesn't drastically change things for me... but it does piss me off a little bit. I would rather watch the race live via my TV than via a dodgy internet stream, but a dodgy internet stream is significantly cheaper than a over priced SKY subscription which I'd only ever use a handful of times.

Actually this could work out not too badly, if we're prepared for it. Assuming we can get hold of Sky Sports streams, if the BBC are still showing re-runs of the races they don't show live, we'll get to watch the live coverage online and then have the BBC show to look forward to afterwards, just like if we'd missed the live broadcast of a race held on the other side of the world... or am I missing something?

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2011 10:11PM by EC83.

Well you're missing the point of having to pay a subscription to SKY for starters, unless like many others, myself including you intend on viewing dodgy streams.

It's not obvious I intend on viewing the streams? :P

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I watched the entire 2009 season on Mondays. So no problem for me to adapt. Screw this guys, I'm going old school again!

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EC83 Wrote:
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> Actually this could work out not too badly, if
> we're prepared for it. Assuming we can get hold of
> Sky Sports streams, if the BBC are still showing
> re-runs of the races they don't show live, we'll
> get to watch the live coverage online and then
> have the BBC show to look forward to afterwards,
> just like if we'd missed the live broadcast of a
> race held on the other side of the world... or am
> I missing something?


Well... You have just made it sound far worse than it is at least

Im sure if we were to find a good/decent enough stream would PM each other. In which case, as long as the stream is of quality, I am happy to stream.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

BBC have never known how to spend their money, I think they put too much money into Eastenders!

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Ric Scott