Liberty media Pay per View
Discussion
So the cat it out of the bag. Watching the team principals Q&A at Austria the press were asking the TPs how they feel about Liberty media negotiating pay per view with the TV stations.
Didn't see this one coming but guess we should have done really - Shaun Bratches , the guy who needs his eye brows trimmed - is all over PPV from his ESPN days.
No sure what others think, but I can't help but think this is just the start for us F1 punters getting our pockets squeezed... I resent having to pay for sky to watch live races, let alone on a pay per view basis..
Didn't see this one coming but guess we should have done really - Shaun Bratches , the guy who needs his eye brows trimmed - is all over PPV from his ESPN days.
No sure what others think, but I can't help but think this is just the start for us F1 punters getting our pockets squeezed... I resent having to pay for sky to watch live races, let alone on a pay per view basis..
I guess it all depends on the cost/package offered; I dropped SKY sports from Virgin a couple of years ago because spunking £40 a month on a Sports package that gave me around 1 race a month (the rest were watched on BBC or C4) as I have zero interest in any other sport on SKY, was a complete waste of money.
With F1 being dropped entirely from terrestial tv after 2018, I could be convinced to part with some hard earned, if the cost/package stacked up.
With F1 being dropped entirely from terrestial tv after 2018, I could be convinced to part with some hard earned, if the cost/package stacked up.
F1GTRUeno said:
I've said it before and I'll say it again. A WWE Network/Netflix style subscription service for F1 surely has to be the way forward.
Give us the race weekends and some organic content plus all the historic races/programmes for 9.99 a month or whatever and I'd be sold straight away.
Those of us on legacy sky hd package essentially pay that.Give us the race weekends and some organic content plus all the historic races/programmes for 9.99 a month or whatever and I'd be sold straight away.
Don't see the issue. Nothing in life is free....
If you want to watch something you should pay for the service.
You can watch on now tv for only £11 for the weekend, its hardly a big deal.
Whats that half hour of work for most. Its not like they are asking for £50/race.
Do you go into Tesco and moan that it should all be free.....
If you want to watch something you should pay for the service.
You can watch on now tv for only £11 for the weekend, its hardly a big deal.
Whats that half hour of work for most. Its not like they are asking for £50/race.
Do you go into Tesco and moan that it should all be free.....
I would happily, or at least I wouldn't moan a lot, pay a reasonable amount for F1. I couldn't justify the cost of the full Sky Sports package just for grand prix racing. I have paid for Now! for the odd non terrestrial TV race this and last season and have no problems with that.
My concern is for the health of F1 in the UK. If it goes full PPV then there will be, I think, a massive drop in interest. It will harm the sport. But if LM have worked out that it is worth it, who am I to contradict them.
The contretemps from Baku generated a lot of interest from those not regular viewers and those who know little about the sport, i.e. F1 writers for papers and some TV. If it is all PPV then that will, I think, drop.
I like WEC and GT racing and have gone to a couple of meetings this year. If they are covered live, or at least regular hourly visits, on TV or on line, then I think it could become the main motorsport in this country if LM go for the money.
I'd still pay for F1. If interest does drop then I hope the charges follow.
Win/win for me.
My concern is for the health of F1 in the UK. If it goes full PPV then there will be, I think, a massive drop in interest. It will harm the sport. But if LM have worked out that it is worth it, who am I to contradict them.
The contretemps from Baku generated a lot of interest from those not regular viewers and those who know little about the sport, i.e. F1 writers for papers and some TV. If it is all PPV then that will, I think, drop.
I like WEC and GT racing and have gone to a couple of meetings this year. If they are covered live, or at least regular hourly visits, on TV or on line, then I think it could become the main motorsport in this country if LM go for the money.
I'd still pay for F1. If interest does drop then I hope the charges follow.
Win/win for me.
Bristol spark said:
Don't see the issue. Nothing in life is free....
If you want to watch something you should pay for the service...
... Do you go into Tesco and moan that it should all be free.....
F1 isn't Tesco though. F1 relies on sponsor money. Sponsors are incentivised by exposure for their brands. So, it's a case of working out what works best.If you want to watch something you should pay for the service...
... Do you go into Tesco and moan that it should all be free.....
- Charge people to watch and lose viewers and sponsor money as a consequence. Hope what you're charging viewers is enough to cover the shortfall.
- Free to air but rely entirely on sponsor money. Plenty of sponsors because there are plenty of viewers. Also, wider range of sponsors to choose from because people less committed to motorsport will watch if it's free, meaning potentially more brands interested in gaining exposure through F1.
- Something in between - work out a price that strikes the right balance between maintaining viewers and getting revenue from them.
Bristol spark said:
You can watch on now tv for only £11 for the weekend, its hardly a big deal.
Whats that half hour of work for most.
I'd love to know where in the universe "most people" get paid £22/h. Whats that half hour of work for most.
It's not just about hourly income either. It's hourly income less tax and unavoidable living costs. What's left is what you actually have to spend on non essentials like pay TV. The last job I had was paying me £13/hour (after being in the industry for more than two decades). Take off tax, food, shelter, utility bills, etc and I was left with about 50p per hour for myself. £11 for a weekend of pay TV is suddenly costing me 22 hours' income in practical terms. For me if I pay to watch F1 I have to find the money by making economies somewhere else. I don't get the relevant sum refunded from my TV licence fee every time I watch some pay TV - I have that to pay that whether F1 is on Freeview or not.
Athlon said:
We need to eat, we don't need to watch F1, that's the difference. The sponsors and ads etc surely cover the costs and more?
I will never pay to watch F1 on tv, there are other forms of motorsport that are at least as entertaining out there for free viewing.
Yes. If it is free you get a much bigger audience, so more sponsors etc. You get more casual viewers which is better for the future of the sport, rather than limiting it to existing hardcore fans who will eventually die out with no new ones to replace them! I will never pay to watch F1 on tv, there are other forms of motorsport that are at least as entertaining out there for free viewing.
I was hoping from the noises they were making that they were not happy with the Sky only deal, let alone going further down the ppv route, so I am surprised.
I've got used to highlights now though - doesn't take too much away from a lot of the (dull) races and saves time!
Depends how much PPV costs and what the FTA option looks like.
I would have thought that PPV for live races, with highlights or a delayed full race replay of all races on FTA would be acceptable to viewers, sponsors and LM.
I am of course assuming that PPV would be a MUCH cheaper option than a full Sky Sports sub over the course of a year.
I watch a lot of cycling using Eurosport's streaming service which is excellent and costs £29 per year. F1 needs to offer similar value.
One thing that bothers me when buying a NowTV pass to watch the odd live race on Sky is that, even though you're paying for the content, you are still bombarded with tons of ads. For that reason alone, I would never hand over £600 a year (or whatever it is is) to Sky.
I would have thought that PPV for live races, with highlights or a delayed full race replay of all races on FTA would be acceptable to viewers, sponsors and LM.
I am of course assuming that PPV would be a MUCH cheaper option than a full Sky Sports sub over the course of a year.
I watch a lot of cycling using Eurosport's streaming service which is excellent and costs £29 per year. F1 needs to offer similar value.
One thing that bothers me when buying a NowTV pass to watch the odd live race on Sky is that, even though you're paying for the content, you are still bombarded with tons of ads. For that reason alone, I would never hand over £600 a year (or whatever it is is) to Sky.
The reality for me is that F1 is still a bit of a nostalgia trip for me and I'm sure I'm just hoping for the racing to suddenly improve. The reality for me, for TV viewers, is any amount of pre-race / post-race content and a bucket of slow-mo and obscure angles from the cameras, isn't enough to make the racing good value for a spectator.
In a 70 odd lap race, it's kinda background watching. Make a sandwich, catch up with some online stuff whilst waiting for the infrequent exciting moments. That's ok if it's just another channel but other than die-hard fans, I can't see why people would choose to pay to view the races over watching something else.
In a 70 odd lap race, it's kinda background watching. Make a sandwich, catch up with some online stuff whilst waiting for the infrequent exciting moments. That's ok if it's just another channel but other than die-hard fans, I can't see why people would choose to pay to view the races over watching something else.
The pay package has to represent value as well.
An American feed with a "Hey Chuck, tell us all about this guy in the lead" just would not cut it in Europe. I prefer C4s coverage to SKYs, French TV coverage is pretty awful.
The 90min race is only one element of the show. Liberty seem to want to flood us with lots of data. I cannot imagine there will be millions of casual fans remotely interested in that.
An American feed with a "Hey Chuck, tell us all about this guy in the lead" just would not cut it in Europe. I prefer C4s coverage to SKYs, French TV coverage is pretty awful.
The 90min race is only one element of the show. Liberty seem to want to flood us with lots of data. I cannot imagine there will be millions of casual fans remotely interested in that.
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