2011 F1 Coverage

[kelli52]

Its so sad for people who dont have Sky. Just because the BBC are sharing next year, it wont be long before Sky takes over completely. The sport will suffer as a result, less viewers means less people going to races, less money, sponsors wont be interested if people arent watching.... F1 really will be turned back into a rich-man-only sport.

[Lucius]

Sky will never reach the levels of ratings that the BBC brings in. Funny as Sky is subscription/ratings orentated and the BBC don't really care either way as long as ENOUGH people watch something. Why would a new viewer watch purely because it is on Sky? If they didn't take the time to watch it on the BBC they won't on Sky. And yes some obsessed F1 fans might go to Sky after a few races if the highlight package is too bad or something, but not the millions that watch on the BBC.

Sky Sports is such a stupid place to put it. And Bernie already knows digital tv destroys F1 after the F1 digital channel.

[Anna]

‘Sky targeting Brundle for 2012 coverage’

22 September 2011
Sky Sports are reportedly targeting Martin Brundle as their lead commentator, with all live F1 races being broadcast by the pay-per-view broadcaster from 2012 onwards.

Former driver Brundle was promoted to the role of lead commentator this season, replacing Jonathan Legard for BBC Sport as David Coulthard stepped up to the commentary box alongside.

With the BBC showing only half of the Grands Prix live next season and with the money-saving corporation having agreed to share races with Sky, it is yet to be revealed as to whether the channels will share their commentary team.

“I'm still trying to understand the exact details of the Sky/BBC deal,” Brundle is quoted as saying by The Daily Mail. “I can't make any decision until then.”

It is believed Sky are offering the 52-year-old a one million-pound contract.

[Psycho Seal]

Sky actually does have brilliant football/cricket coverage, but the casual F1 viewers who wtch it because there's nothing else to do on a Sunday afternoon aren't going to pay for it.

It's not just the people who can't afford to pay for sky that won't be watching it but those who just don't care enough to get sky sports. It was a stupid decision. Look at A1GP that didn't last long, and if the sponsors aren't paying for it the smaller teams will be forced to pull out and we will end up with a championship of Ferrari, Red bull and Mclaren...

[Anna]

Apparently the good news is BBC can't afford to keep the rights BUT they will send out a BBC team to all races... Now, maybe this is just the voice of someone who found themselves working most of the weekends anyway this year but I'd rather have a BBC team in a studio in London with no live stream for Practice and have all races than people being paid to go around the world to bring us HIGHLIGHTS of a race that will most defo be spoiled by the time the BBC watch it.

Oh and if Austin doesn't go ahead and we have an odd number of races Sky gets the odd one out not BBC . Meaning if Austin fecks up we don't half the races (mainly because there isn't half of an odd number but you'd think the BBC would have wanted the odd one out).

[r1ch91]

"Sky Sports are set to run a dedicated Formula One channel next season which will be available to Freeview customers for a monthly fee.

In a move aimed at appeasing frustrated British F1 fans following the unprecedented switch from terrestrial to pay-TV, I’m told that Sky will operate the package at a cost thought to be around £10-a-month.

The new channel will be included free of charge in Sky and Virgin Media packages.

Set for a change: F1 will be screened on Sky Sports next year

Sky agreed a highly-controversial seven-year deal with the BBC to share the rights from 2012 onwards earlier this year.

The new contract will see Sky screen all 20 races with the BBC broadcasting half that number, as well as a highlights show for every grand prix.

Almost 40,000 petrol heads signed an online government petition protesting the move, with many saying they’d no longer be able to afford to watch the sport.

But Sky’s latest decision will leave fans in a position to tune in to Formula One next year without having to fork out for Sky's full package which costs in excess of £60-a-month."

duncanblog.dailymail.co.uk/2011/11/f1-sky-sports-to-make-dedicated-channel-available-for-free view-customers-in-2012.html

[Anna]

I guess £10 a month isn't too bad... Well it is now because I'll be working Sundays the irony!

[r1ch91]

Never read the article properly and only just noticed the bit about it being on Virgin Media yay

[r1ch91]

hmmm, maybe not then no mention of freeview or virgin media on this article

Sky Sports to launch bespoke F1 channel for 2012 coverage
By Sam Tremayne Friday, November 25th 2011, 12:14 GMT

Sky Sports will launch a dedicated new channel, Sky Sports F1 HD, for its coverage of Formula 1 races in 2012.

Starting in March next year, the channel will offer live coverage of every practice, qualifying session and race throughout the season, with Sky confirming that races will be broadcast without adverts.

Sky's interactive service will also allow fans to follow on-track action through a selection of on-board cameras and race data, and also allow them to go behind the scenes with the teams along the pit lane.

Sky says the channel will be provided at no extra cost to existing Sky Sports 1 and 2 or Sky HD subscribers, and will also be available online and through mobile and tablet devices via Sky Go.

Barney Francis, Managing Director of Sky Sports, said the deal would give fans greater access to Formula 1 both at each grand prix and across the season.

"Formula 1 followers are hungry for more and we want to give them the ultimate experience," Francis said. "It's not just every minute of every race but a channel devoted to Formula 1.

"We can now tell the whole story of the season, from every grand prix, from start to finish. Formula 1 will get the full Sky Sports treatment.

"We have big plans for live shows and a rich line-up of Formula 1 programmes; getting to the drivers, exploring the technology and lapping up the drama.

"With a dedicated channel for Formula 1 we can also give all sports fans the depth and breadth of sports they demand every weekend, right through the year."

[r1ch91]

SkySportsF1 Sky Sports F1
@
@boxofneutrals Sorry, the channel will not be coming to Freesat or Freeview

SkySportsF1 Sky Sports F1
@
@riiiiiiiiichard It is not yet known whether the new channel will be available on Virgin Media. We will advise when we can.

[r1ch91]

Live races on BBC, as expected the awful races + spa

15 April: China
13 May: Spain
27 May: Monaco
24 June: Europe
8 July: Britain
2 September: Belgium
23 September: Singapore
14 October: Korea
4 November: Abu Dhabi
25 November: Brazil

[r1ch91]

BBC reveals 2012 F1 coverage plans
By Jonathan Noble Friday, November 25th 2011, 16:29 GMT

The BBC has announced its coverage plans for 2012 - revealing the 10 races it will broadcast live and outlining its plans for highlights programmes.

With Sky showing every grand prix live, the BBC will not broadcast its first live race until the third round of the championship in China.

After that, it will broadcast the races in Spain, Monaco, Valencia, Britain, Belgium, Singapore, Korea, Abu Dhabi and Brazil.

For the events it shows live, there will be full coverage of qualifying and the race, with practice shown online and on its interactive channels.

At the grands prix that are not being broadcast live, there will be a highlights package shown later in the day.

For the European races this will be a 90-minutes programme broadcast at 5.30pm, while for the events that take place in the Far East there will be a two-hour programme shown at 2pm.

An announcement about its line-up will be made after the season, with current commentator Martin Brundle poised to make the switch to Sky to work alongside David Croft.

Further details about the BBC plans can be found here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/15893254.stm)

[Anna]

It isn't really that strange, I knew Jake was a BBC boy through and through and they were prepping him for London 2012 giving him the F1 job, but its been officially confirmed that Jake will be doing London 2012 coverage .

This probably also means that the wonderful Lee McKenzie who also is confirmed (along with DC) for BBCF1 2012 might get back into the presenting role for any of the highlight/races that Jake might need to miss for London 2012.

Still a bit miffed that even with half the races live they are sending a whole team out to every race, I know it wasn't the production cost that made this deal necessary, it was the same with every problem F1 has Bernie Ecclestone, but it feels wrong saying we're cutting costs and this is something that needs to be cut yet the only visible cut is that we get half the races live and Brundle going to Sky.

[Lucius]

I think the problem we have is that Sky are all about subscriptions and selling their own goods. If they opened it up to all platforms like they do with a lot of their content then they'd probably get nearly three quaters of the BBCs auidence easy. People would possibly tune in for the live BBC races but if you had it on Sky, Virgin, BT and Freeview people wouldn't mind paying £10.

As it is most people think BT Vision is a defo no go and that it might come at too much of a price for Virgin (that is also why Freeview won't get it) so even though Sky are being to a point fair it still means quite a few people won't get it, especially if Virgin or BT don't get the F1 channel.

The horrible thing is the F1 channel will be awesome especially if they do move GP2, GP3 and Porshe Supercup to it, but to some people the move to Sky just can't happen and its sad.

Wouldn't it be nice just for once for people high up to think about the people they are screwing over before they think of themselves?

I'm happy BBC have Jake, Lee and DC though. I'd rather they cut EJ out though. And I really want them to keep Ted!

[r1ch91]

Sky confirms Formula 1 coverage line-up
By Jonathan Noble Wednesday, December 7th 2011, 09:58 GMT

Sky has officially confirmed that former BBC Radio 5 commentary duo David Croft and Anthony Davidson are to join its Formula 1 coverage next year, alongside Martin Brundle.

Croft will be joined by Brundle in the commentary box for every race, with Davidson being used for each of the weekend's practice sessions.

Sky's pitlane reporters will be Natalie Pinkham and Ted Kravitz, with the latter also co-presenting an F1 magazine show on Sky Sports with Georgie Thompson.

Martin Turner, Sky Sports Executive Producer, said: "In Martin Brundle we have the outstanding F1 broadcaster - on the track and in broadcasting, he's proved it time and again.

"Working alongside him, David Croft is a passionate, experienced commentator and Anthony Davidson can bring great technical knowledge to live practice sessions."

Sky has also announced that the F1 race weekend programmes will be presented by Simon Lazenby, with veteran broadcaster Steve Rider being used for interviews with F1 legends.