BBC to pull out of F1 entirely.
Discussion
otolith said:
The Beeb just gets better and better value for money.
If the BBC pay a penny for the dull procession that is F1, dropping F1 increases the VFM for every licence payer.F1 isn't a viewing experience worth paying for sadly. Very few races are anything other than a foregone conclusion with virtually zero racing.
This is about getting attention rather than being a genuine money saving exercise, Hall has a lot of previous with this sort of thing. I suspect that proper cost savings like cutting salaries for the 'talent' (no point paying £LOTS for radio or TV presenters, there's nowhere else for most of them to work) or dropping spending on tired entertainment formats or sending hoards to cover things like Glastonbury might be better cost savings.
News operations could be trimmed too, there are a lot of staff employed to generate not a lot of content.
And after all when they dropped half of F1 all they got for the money was the rights to the Voice, and even then not for very long. Great use of the budget.
News operations could be trimmed too, there are a lot of staff employed to generate not a lot of content.
And after all when they dropped half of F1 all they got for the money was the rights to the Voice, and even then not for very long. Great use of the budget.
If this is the end of free-to-air F1 then it is also the end of my F1 viewership. I wouldn't pay for the current 'show', and certainly not to the Murdoch empire. I've already become accustomed to only catching the highlights rather than the full live broadcast, so maybe in future I'll be satisfied to just look up the results on Monday morning.
thegreenhell said:
If this is the end of free-to-air F1 then it is also the end of my F1 viewership. I wouldn't pay for the current 'show', and certainly not to the Murdoch empire. I've already become accustomed to only catching the highlights rather than the full live broadcast, so maybe in future I'll be satisfied to just look up the results on Monday morning.
Same thoughts ran through my head. johnfm said:
If the BBC pay a penny for the dull procession that is F1, dropping F1 increases the VFM for every licence payer.
F1 isn't a viewing experience worth paying for sadly. Very few races are anything other than a foregone conclusion with virtually zero racing.
Last time they sold out half exclusively to Sky the money went on The Voice. I can't see them getting more than that this time.F1 isn't a viewing experience worth paying for sadly. Very few races are anything other than a foregone conclusion with virtually zero racing.
It was always on the cards that the contract would not be renewed.
Look on the bright side: Cameron has promised more religious programmes.
This will hurt the CVC sale to an extent, although any potential purchaser would have taken into account that the BBC might be forced to drop it.
If this does happen, and I think it probably will, I'll still pay for the occasional NowTV race, but probably just the tracks I like.
I didn't pay for Austin and that took some of the anticipation from last Sunday.
It was always going to happen. ITV got its fingers burned last time and I can't see them stepping in.
Let's hope for more coverage of other high level motorsports, such as WEC, DTM and national GT racing. But let's not hold our breaths.
I'd say this would be the death of F1 as a mainstream sport in this country. Without a big fanbase watching the sport, the papers will not cover it.
Look on the bright side: Cameron has promised more religious programmes.
This will hurt the CVC sale to an extent, although any potential purchaser would have taken into account that the BBC might be forced to drop it.
If this does happen, and I think it probably will, I'll still pay for the occasional NowTV race, but probably just the tracks I like.
I didn't pay for Austin and that took some of the anticipation from last Sunday.
It was always going to happen. ITV got its fingers burned last time and I can't see them stepping in.
Let's hope for more coverage of other high level motorsports, such as WEC, DTM and national GT racing. But let's not hold our breaths.
I'd say this would be the death of F1 as a mainstream sport in this country. Without a big fanbase watching the sport, the papers will not cover it.
thegreenhell said:
If this is the end of free-to-air F1 then it is also the end of my F1 viewership. I wouldn't pay for the current 'show', and certainly not to the Murdoch empire. I've already become accustomed to only catching the highlights rather than the full live broadcast, so maybe in future I'll be satisfied to just look up the results on Monday morning.
This is pretty much me these days, catch it if I happen to be somewhere that it is on, if not I just catch the gist of whats happening on line. If BBC don't have it at all then I will probably start look for "the gist" less and less too.moanthebairns said:
Just looked its £29 to add sky to my virgin, and another £7.50 if I want it in HD, £350 a year for F1 .
Don't have Sky, so I've just had a look at the Now TV Sky Sports passes. 21 x 24 hour passes would be £146.79. £230.79 for 21 x week passes.http://www.nowtv.com/sports
Hmmm.
Last time I looked Sky F1 viewing numbers were down.
It's across the board lack of interest - my teenage children have zero interest in motorsport.
I know I sound like a moans-a-lot, "it was better in my day", but F1 is a sport in serious decline.
Anyway, my only immediate worry is that Sky will end up with some of the BBC's redundant "talent".
It's across the board lack of interest - my teenage children have zero interest in motorsport.
I know I sound like a moans-a-lot, "it was better in my day", but F1 is a sport in serious decline.
Anyway, my only immediate worry is that Sky will end up with some of the BBC's redundant "talent".
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