F1 To Be Split Between BBC 1 and Sky Sports from 2012

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 15 Aug 2011, 09:45

MinardiFan95 wrote:Hmm, sounds a lot like a certain commentary team over here in Australia...

I remember this. The basketball play-offs ran overtime, and someone forgot to turn the live streaming cameras off (on one of the rare occasions when I could get it to work). They were really unprofessional.

MinardiFan95 wrote:They even have their two additional pit reporters as well, Tom Clarkson and James bathplugging Allen.

To be fair, James Allen is actually pretty good - when he's pre-recorded a segment. When he was in the commentary box for ITV, it all had to be spontaneous because you cannot have periods of dead air. But I've found the few segments of his that I've seen to be really good, especially for newcomers to the sport. His blog is also pretty decent, too.

the Masked Lapwing wrote:See, Channel 7 should do the F1 coverage instead of 10, and use the V8 commentators. They'd know sod all about what was going on, but Skaife and Larkham at least make it worth listening to them.

Ugh, but that would mean listening Matthew White, who gets super-excited about EVERYTHING THAT'S HAPPENING! Not to mention the way HE TALKS OVER THE TOP OF EVERYONE! I mean, I think AND THEY'RE ALL LINED UP ON THE GRID! Mark Skaife (who I never liked as a driver) does a AND NOW THEY'RE SINGING THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM! really good job in the commentary box, or at OVERLY-DRAMATIC STATMENT ABOUT THE RACE! least he would if he could LOOK, THERE'S A SEAGULL! get a word in edgeways.

At least the OneHD commentators cut back to the BBC quickly these days. I suspect they were told by the Powers That Be at the start of the year to stop offering their own opinions and analysis before and after commercial breaks.

Post by **Londoner** » 20 Aug 2011, 10:54

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/motorsport/2011/08/19/formula-one-supremo-bernie-ecclestone-my-hands-were-tied-over-bbc-sky-deal-115875-23354947/

I wouldn't take this at face value straight away, because it is the Daily Mirror. Also keep in mind that it is Ecclestone...

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 20 Aug 2011, 21:25

I don't see how splitting F1 into a pay channel which is part of a corporation led by a man that many people hate right now is going to attract bigger viewing figures, but perhaps Bernie knows something I don't

ADx_Wales · Post by **ADx_Wales** » 26 Aug 2011, 17:09

For those that want to listen:

http://audio.mpix.org.uk/specials/f1_brazil.mp3

This was "leaked" from radiolemans back in 2008, which means its the final round of the season where Lewisteria reached its peak, and where Massa in any other universe would have won a championship.

John Hindhaugh, Tim Gray and Nick "Interviewed by F1 Rejects" Daman are joined by Toby Moody, who up until then was commentating on Moto GP live for Eurosport and possibly the world Moto GP Feed, I have a sense that this was being used as a "demotape" for an attempt for either John or Toby's "Audition" for the BBC who ended up (the hill) with Jonathan Legard.

It may be meaningful again if Sky are looking for a lead commentator, Toby Moody is doing quite a good job here.

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 26 Aug 2011, 22:13

I find it hilarious that all the F1-related blogs and articles with a comment feature on the BBC Sport website are almost unanimously bombarded with comments asking for the BBC to 'come clean' and justify its actions, rather than comments remotely related to the article's content!

They really couldn't have picked a worse area to cut back on could they?

ADx_Wales · Post by **ADx_Wales** » 26 Aug 2011, 22:20

I have a feeling people assume that the Beeb said to sky "Here take half of this!"

Archie2K · Post by **Archie2K** » 27 Aug 2011, 14:18

AndreaModa wrote:I find it hilarious that all the F1-related blogs and articles with a comment feature on the BBC Sport website are almost unanimously bombarded with comments asking for the BBC to 'come clean' and justify its actions, rather than comments remotely related to the article's content!

They really couldn't have picked a worse area to cut back on could they?

Next area to be cut back on... blogs and comment features.

ADx_Wales · Post by **ADx_Wales** » 28 Aug 2011, 09:43

Sky Sports News channel has taken to discussing the race build up for a little bit, Unknown Blokey-Presenter-McSmug alongside Tony Jardine, infront of the giant touchscreen usually used for rumoured football transfers...

...Oh Bathplugging Dear.

Post by **Londoner** » 28 Aug 2011, 10:18

ADx_Wales wrote:Sky Sports News channel has taken to discussing the race build up for a little bit, Unknown Blokey-Presenter-McSmug alongside Tony Jardine, infront of the giant touchscreen usually used for rumoured football transfers...

...Oh Bathplugging Dear.

Tell me about it! :evil:

He could hardly keep the smugness off his face when he reminded everyone that F1 was coming to Sky Sports in 2012!

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 28 Aug 2011, 15:29

East Londoner wrote:
ADx_Wales wrote:Sky Sports News channel has taken to discussing the race build up for a little bit, Unknown Blokey-Presenter-McSmug alongside Tony Jardine, infront of the giant touchscreen usually used for rumoured football transfers...

...Oh Bathplugging Dear.

Tell me about it! He could hardly keep the smugness off his face when he reminded everyone that F1 was coming to Sky Sports in 2012!

Well, that's what these guys get paid up for, isn't it?

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 30 Aug 2011, 23:38

BBC staff paid 32.5 million pounds in "flexable allowances".

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 31 Aug 2011, 10:22

It's just incredible. The entire mess that has been the BBC cutbacks is symptomatic of this country's inability to make savings in the right areas. :roll:

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 31 Aug 2011, 10:36

AndreaModa wrote:It's just incredible. The entire mess that has been the BBC cutbacks is symptomatic of this country's inability to make savings in the right areas.

It is hard for politicians to make savings in something unless it is something that only a handful of powerless people defend, like F1 (Bernie didn't care if he kept receiving his doe). They risk losing popularity, angry money backers and lose votes which in turn leads to lost elections, forcing them to leave beloved power...

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 02 Sep 2011, 11:31

The deal is now being investigated by the Commons' Culture, Media and Sport select committee next month. The article makes interesting reading and, to me, sounds like that this is far from being over (even if nothing happens for 2012 at least).

eagleash · Post by **eagleash** » 02 Sep 2011, 18:58

dr-baker wrote:The deal is now being investigated by the Commons' Culture, Media and Sport select committee next month. The article makes interesting reading and, to me, sounds like that this is far from being over (even if nothing happens for 2012 at least).

Might not lead to anything. Test Match Cricket was supposed to be protected once upon a time.

Still at least the Govt. are looking at how the money is being spent. Buying in talent shows is not within the BBC's traditional "remit". The Corporation has more often gained extra revenue by selling programmes & expertise around the World.

TheBigJ · Post by **TheBigJ** » 02 Sep 2011, 19:32

It's a very sad situation, but if Bernie's right (and Bernie never blatantly lies, he just squirms), then I don't blame him at all. He sells TV rights to over 60 countries worldwide, so long as they give him money. He even pays some countries who can't afford it just for the advertising. Why should he be bothered if he's been given no option by the BBC, who don't want to lose it altogether...just sell it to Channel 4, get the entire BBC team there apart from the annoying Jake Humphrey, who can have his Olympics, and be done with it already!

ADx_Wales · Post by **ADx_Wales** » 02 Sep 2011, 20:44

Yeah, Jake, Stick the olympic torch up your.....no wait, too cruel?

Post by **Londoner** » 05 Sep 2011, 14:55

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2011/09/05/full-race-repeats-bbc-ecclestone/
BATHPLUG! I wanted to see the highlights in full! :evil:

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » 05 Sep 2011, 17:10

This might actually make the decision easier to take the plunge and get Sky, plus there's a load of other stuff I want on Sky like the Ryder Cup, and overseas cricket. (For home cricket I'm quite happy with the highlights they do on 5).

Jordan192 · Post by **Jordan192** » 05 Sep 2011, 17:53

TheBigJ wrote:It's a very sad situation, but if Bernie's right (and Bernie never blatantly lies, he just squirms), then I don't blame him at all. He sells TV rights to over 60 countries worldwide, so long as they give him money. He even pays some countries who can't afford it just for the advertising. Why should he be bothered if he's been given no option by the BBC, who don't want to lose it altogether...just sell it to Channel 4, get the entire BBC team there apart from the annoying Jake Humphrey, who can have his Olympics, and be done with it already!

Bernie may not lie outright, but he's good at shaping the truth.
Had the BBC backed out of their original contract entirely, there would have been a hefty penalty clause (I've heard numbers of the order of £50 million mentioned) that kicked in. It's all very well him saying "We wanted to talk to ITV and C4 but the BBC wouldn't let us", but how could the BBC afford to do anything else?

sswishbone · Post by **sswishbone** » 04 Oct 2011, 09:14

Well the Premier League soccer organisation have lost a very interesting case

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15162241

Now I don't know if this could affect other sports, but the suggestion is that it will, especially for more niche sports. So this may soon get re-opened. Nothing to confirm that, just thought you might all be intereste in a potenital development

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 04 Oct 2011, 13:07

sswishbone wrote:Well the Premier League soccer organisation have lost a very interesting case

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15162241

Now I don't know if this could affect other sports, but the suggestion is that it will, especially for more niche sports. So this may soon get re-opened. Nothing to confirm that, just thought you might all be intereste in a potenital development

Unfortunately I doubt any pubs will show F1 over PL games

While it is interesting, I don't see it affecting F1, simply because Sky Sports knows F1 isn't being targeted in the lawsuit.
The consequence however is it will have devalued Sky Sports' prized asset. Premier League rights are without a doubt their biggest profit center & demands the biggest payments. Licensing their sports channels to pubs around the country is a big market that has potentially gone out of the window.

The only consequence for F1 I can see is a much lower quality broadcast - Sky Sports is known first and foremost for football, without it the parent company may not be so willing to pour money in and other programs could suffer from budget cuts as a result. Could take a few years for that to kick in though.

IdeFan · Post by **IdeFan** » 04 Oct 2011, 14:58

What that ruling says to me is that taking the free to air RTL coverage and 5Live commentary is not illegal.

sswishbone · Post by **sswishbone** » 06 Oct 2011, 08:08

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/95056

Bernie threatening to take rights of broadcast off 5live

dinizintheoven · Post by **dinizintheoven** » 06 Oct 2011, 09:18

But Ecclestone has said he is not worried by the possible commercial implications – and played down the idea that fans could watch the sport on foreign channels and listen to live coverage on Radio 5 Live.

Or even watching it on Sky and listening to the commentary on Five Live. Short of prising Ben Edwards away from whatever it is he's doing now, I would wager a large sum of money on Sky's commentary inducing a torrent of rage that is the sum of that that was (not always fairly) directed at James Allan, Jonathan Legard, Speed TV, those Aussies who keep namedropping Mark Webber every five seconds, and the Spanish commentators whose blinkered Alonso-love-in makes even the Ferraristi on finalgear look restrained.

Alianora La Canta · Post by **Alianora La Canta** » 06 Oct 2011, 13:15

Legally Bernie can't stop the Five Live contract until 2018, and at the moment it's his only hope of having a decent number of viewers through a system he can count (the previously-definitely-illegal internet streams, which may have been inadvertently legalised in the case of EU-to-EU transmissions, don't send official user numbers anywhere for obvious reasons).

Country-by-country negotiations independent of the EBU makes F1 more vulnerable to this ruling, not less. It specifically attacks the concept of exclusive rights provision for anything short of the entire territory, and if Bernie tries to give the entire EU rights to Sky, F1's viewing figures will do an immediate pancake impression (among other things, he'll lose 3 of the 4 major current F1 viewing locations and 1 of the 4 that's been targeted as a growth market). The EBU sports have a union to protect their interests. The EU is far more likely to respect a traditional union than one entrupeneur that already has a bad history with the EU dating back to the 1990s.

This arrangement affects everything Sky touches in terms of sports. Prices will have to come down to figures approaching those used by the cheaper EU providers, which means that shiny new deal in the UK will be even harder to finance. It looked to me like they'd already have to attract between 0.5 and 0.88 million completely new viewers to the F1 simply to break even. If they lose 60% of their commercial income due to needing to match EU rates, and pubs are 2.5% of the entire group's earnings, then that's £165 million the company needs to make up to sustain its current position. This doesn't count the loss of advertisers due to a large amount of Sky's unique audience switching to other forms of TV. Nor does it count the people in homes who decide to get a decoder for Spanish or German TV instead of buying Sky (even if Bernie removes the Five Live option, people will use the internet to keep up-to-date instead, and doubtless unofficial "radio broadcasters" will get in on the act). Sky's F1 contract starts at £40 m per year, which is 1/165th of Sky's earnings and must therefore bear 1/165th of the losses. So that's an extra £1m, at minimum, Sky will need to get from F1 to make the contract pay - or between 12,500 and 22,000 extra new contracts, at a time when alternatives are being explicitly legalised.

sswishbone · Post by **sswishbone** » 06 Oct 2011, 16:27

If five live goes, F1 rejects should supply a broadcast of our own commentary :lol:

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 06 Oct 2011, 17:50

sswishbone wrote:If five live goes, F1 rejects should supply a broadcast of our own commentary

The only problem is if it has to be another "community" project - without TimmyB it will be the most woeful commentary in the history of sport

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 06 Oct 2011, 18:31

kostas22 wrote:
sswishbone wrote:If five live goes, F1 rejects should supply a broadcast of our own commentary

The only problem is if it has to be another "community" project - without TimmyB it will be the most woeful commentary in the history of sport

Can't be worse than a few commentary crews that I know of... (Yes, I am looking at you, Portuguese broadcast!)

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 06 Oct 2011, 19:31

DanielPT wrote:
kostas22 wrote:
sswishbone wrote:If five live goes, F1 rejects should supply a broadcast of our own commentary

The only problem is if it has to be another "community" project - without TimmyB it will be the most woeful commentary in the history of sport

Can't be worse than a few commentary crews that I know of... (Yes, I am looking at you, Portuguese broadcast!)

In reality I was being a bit harsh - personally I think I'd do alright in some parts, I often seem to pick up on things Brundle & co don't. My lack of witticisms compared to him however would be my downfall, not interesting enough. Jamie & Enoch doing commentary would be legendary though. They should do some races and mail them to Channel 10 so they get the gig on national TV

Post by **tommykl** » 07 Oct 2011, 15:49

People say I'm not a bad commentator once you get past the almost complete lack of enthusiasm in my voice and the horrible Belgian accent in both English and French.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 07 Oct 2011, 16:49

We should get a few people together on skype (or something similar) and record the F1Rejects commentary broadcast. The first international F1 commentary broadcast! I bet it would be, erm, rejectful!

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 07 Oct 2011, 16:52

Yeah. Especially if some of us watches it on a stream. Imagine shouting at an accident then :lol:

Barbazza · Post by **Barbazza** » 07 Oct 2011, 19:13

I used to be a radio presenter. My one and only attempt at any sports commentary (a football game at what would now be League 2 level) was *abysmal* though!

Ferrim · Post by **Ferrim** » 07 Oct 2011, 19:33

Shizuka wrote:Yeah. Especially if some of us watches it on a stream. Imagine shouting at an accident then

"Oooooooooh! My goodness!! Jérôme D'Ambrosio spins himself in the pitlane!!"

"But what is Hamilton doing?"

"That's Karthikeyan, and he's getting a little bit in the way there, now he should move out of the way, he's desperately slow, he's there because of his money"

"Kamui Kobayashi, undoubtedly the best driver that Grand Prix racing has ever produced"

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 08 Oct 2011, 03:42

DanielPT wrote:We should get a few people together on skype (or something similar) and record the F1Rejects commentary broadcast. The first international F1 commentary broadcast! I bet it would be, erm, rejectful!

Myself & ADx tried it, but as I was in charge of all the technical nonsense the Skype link to the broadcasting software failed so it was just me talking with extremely long pauses

Also, due to the complexity of it, and the various causes of lag, the commentary would be 10-20 seconds behind what everyone is actually seeing

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 10 Oct 2011, 11:59

kostas22 wrote:
DanielPT wrote:We should get a few people together on skype (or something similar) and record the F1Rejects commentary broadcast. The first international F1 commentary broadcast! I bet it would be, erm, rejectful!

Myself & ADx tried it, but as I was in charge of all the technical nonsense the Skype link to the broadcasting software failed so it was just me talking with extremely long pauses
Also, due to the complexity of it, and the various causes of lag, the commentary would be 10-20 seconds behind what everyone is actually seeing

True. We should also lag the tv/video streaming.

eagleash · Post by **eagleash** » 24 Oct 2011, 10:32

Report that MB is to move to SKY.....alongside David Croft.....(& possibly Ted Kravitz too)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motors ... -team.html

Collieafc · Post by **Collieafc** » 24 Oct 2011, 11:00

What a Turncoat

eagleash · Post by **eagleash** » 24 Oct 2011, 11:13

Collieafc wrote:What a Turncoat

Bit disappointing, if it's correct, yes.