back to article Murdoch muscles BBC out of Formula One driving seat

BSkyB has snatched the full Formula 1 broadcasting rights from the BBC, which had been the exclusive channel showing the live races since 2009. It's a deal sure to upset fans of the Beeb's recent slick coverage of F1, which has won bumper TV ratings. BSkyB will – from the start of the 2012 motor-racing season – broadcast …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Balls!

    Read about it on the Beeb, and was appalled at their cheery reporting of what is essentially crap news.

    I only watch one sport on TV: F1. And BBC's coverage is amazing.

    And now I either miss half of the races (sorry... I mean watch the highlights. Gee. Great), or give Murdoch money.

    /froth

    1. Marky W
      Megaphone

      Master Plan

      A cynic (e.g. me) might suggest that the beeb losing most of F1 to Murdoch, whilst still funding the utter crap that spews from BBC 3 (and often BBC 1) is steering public sentiment towards paying a larger license fee in the future.

      As I said, only a world-weary, misanthropic cynic would think that could possibly be true. It would, however, explain the cheery reporting.

      1. Chris Miller

        How budgeting works

        Clearly some folks have never had to manage an operational budget (lucky them). When asked to reduce your expenditure, the trick is to identify something that will cause an almighty stink, if eliminated. If you're the Marshal of the RAF and the MoD come looking for cuts, you make sure that the Red Arrows are near the top of the list and the politicos soon back off.

        The Beeb would love us to think that any cost savings can only be achieved by cutting their popular programmes and not in any way by eliminating the unbelievable layers of 6-figure nepotistic chair-polishers they employ, no sirree Bob!

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Alert

          No...

          I've managed operation budgets. The difference is that I managed them properly, instead of politically. Big difference.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Budgets

          On the contrary, lots of us have handled budgets and know how the game works. That's why we are kicking up the required stink.

      2. Munkstar

        Well some of it is but ....

        Family Guy crap!?

        1. caz

          Crap?

          Yes.

          That's all.

    2. Greg 16
      Unhappy

      BBC free?

      To be fair, at least you now have a choice of paying for it. A choice that you don't get with the TV tax for the state owned BBC.

      F1 is the only thing I watched on the BBC - not exactly great value for £150 per year.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        face

        Well the option of paying more at least.

      2. Essuu
        Megaphone

        You speak of value ?

        Based on the price quoted here http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/93461, with pricing starting from £31/mth or somesuch, £150p.a. for F1 is actually pretty good value compared to £372+ p.a. with Sky.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          FAIL

          not cheap

          you forgot that sky are rejigging the packages in september 11 (Sky sports packages are likely to merged as they are doing with entertainment packs) , and to watch in HD will cost you 10 quid more a month. All in all to watch every sport on every package that used to be free on all platforms now costs 60 quid, not forgetting you can only watch it in one room. Multiroom is extra again. Currently to watch everything movies/sports costs in 2 rooms costs 90 a month, thats 1000 a year approx. So put that in good value pipe and smoke it.

      3. tiggertaebo
        FAIL

        Maths Fail

        Except of course to watch it on Sky you still have to pay that £150 a year PLUS another £360 a year to Sky. Care to explain how that is going to be better value for money?

        1. Greg 16
          FAIL

          Maths fail

          There are other ways if you actually look instead of crying. BT vision has SS1 & 2 for £12.99pm. Sign up through quidco and get £150 cashback. Oh and you get all the other sport as well.

          1. Rob Beard
            Meh

            BT Vision

            But BT Vision also requires you to have a BT phone line and BT Broadband. As an ex-BT Vision customer, I liked the service but the broadband wasn't that great. I'd take it again if there was the option to have the BT Vision box without the BT broadband.

            Oh well, maybe Youview might offer some subscription services at a lower cost than Sky... but then again probably not.

            Isn't Sky Sports also available on XBOX Live too and online at a lower cost (albeit not in HD)?

            Rob

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Unhappy

        gutted by greed in incompetence

        "at least you now have a choice of paying for it. A choice that you don't get with the TV tax"

        internet, so long as it's not live or "virtually live". it's all licence free...

        "state owned BBC"

        is it? really? bit of an iffy statement IMHO.

        I'm personally gutted. there is no way i'm paying Murdock and a licence fee for less. and the promised hacked to death BBC coverage is worse than useless.

        I'll be of looking for a web feed, I don't think I'll be the only one.

      5. Ian Moffatt 1

        Don't understand the logic here

        I can never understand the logic behind comments like this. Whatever your choice of TV provider, you'll still have to pay a licence fee. If you choose to go with satellite or cable you'll just pay more to watch programmes that only require a TV and aerial to receive.

        Don't forget the BBC does more than just TV. Everyone should listen to Stephen Fry's speech on the subject from a couple of years ago.

        That all said and done. I would sooner the BBC spent the money on F1 (which I don't watch) than waste it on drivel like EastEnders or brain numbingly tedious Celebrity Chav Show Jumping On Ice Karaoke.

        And whilst we're on the subject of BBC handing out money. I'll decide which charity I'll donate to thank you very much.

        I'm no fan of that idiot Ross either.

      6. Anonymous Coward
        Happy

        @Greg 16

        So, do you think you don't pay for ITV? Even if you never watch it? SOMEBODY pays for all those adverts and it sure as hell isn't the advertisers hoping to lose money on the deal!

      7. Frank Bough
        WTF?

        Yeah, that makes sense

        So now you're going to pay £150pa plus £50 per MONTH to get the same thing.

        I thought Murdoch was supposed to be on the back foot?

    3. Chronos
      Mushroom

      Balls, indeed.

      Bloody $ky. That is all.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Megaphone

      Sign the petition

      http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/keepf1onthebbc

      It will probably make no difference, but surely it can't hurt...

    5. Naughtyhorse

      hilights???

      what hilights?

      alonso passing vettel into the first corner...

      then vettel winning th erace

      coo!

  2. Jim 15
    Unhappy

    "10 year high" is because of the quality of BBC coverage

    "The sport has never been more popular with TV audiences at a 10-year high and the BBC has always stated its commitment to the big national sporting moments".

    Prepare for 2012 to have TV audiences at a 10-year low.

    1. Alister

      ...words out of my mouth

      Exactly what I was going to say - F1 viewing figures will drop next year, I guarantee.

      With the Beeb, not only did you have a good team presenting (who may migrate to sky, I suppose) but the best thing, which carries the most weight with viewers NO ADVERTS.

      After the pain of the ITV years, where they once even went for an Ad break on the last lap, if I remember correctly, it's no wonder viewing figures increased when the Beeb got the franchise.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Screw you, Bernie. Screw you.

        I think that the new deal comes in for 2014, so no immediate panic.

        But yes: I hated F1 under the ITV coverage. It blew goats. The BBC coverage is amazing and has even got my misses interested in the sport.

        1. Shaun 1

          RE:2014

          Nope, starts next year

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          BBC F1

          Absolute kudos to the BBC, and Jake Humphries, for their F1 coverage.

          Great Practice, Qualifying and Race coverage, in depth articles, features with the drivers and the teams, great banter between the presenters and there seems to be goodwill to them from the likes of the Red Bull boss (who even roped in the Ferrari team boss to an interview at the end of the German GP) and McLaren bosses. Martin Brundles pit walk is interesting sometimes getting last-minute insights, interviews and some genuine laugh out loud moments, and his commentary (along with Coulthard) is knowledgeable.

          It has got my missus into F1 too!

          ITV managed to balls the whole thing up when they had it.

          From the coverage when it suited them in the schedule, the horrible moby soundtrack instead of fleetwood mac, the constant advert breaks (as someone else mentioned - last lap!), the presenters who seemed to have been plucked from football and boxing coverage and thrown a script, the ambience of being in a studio that could've been anywhere compared to the BBC boys floating round the pit lane, and the less said about James Allen the better.

          Sky will no doubt pepper the coverage with advert breaks and swoosh-in banner adverts for tonight's football.

          Wouldn't be surprised if the BBC cut resource funding to F1 either, less funds for presenters / features / F1Forum / broadcasts, so they end up with the best staff from the current coverage moving to sky, and ending up on BBC with a poor ITV-style coverage. Maybe this is Bernie/BSkyBs long term plan?

          1. Hayden Clark Silver badge
            Unhappy

            Jake Humphries?

            Sorry, but he's not the best part of the BBC coverage, by a long shot. I'm really fed up with his "serious, frowny" look when telling us anything. Any interviews he does are just bum-clenchingly awful.

            Bring back Martin Brundle!

      2. AndrueC Silver badge
        Meh

        In theory

        ..you shouldn't get adverts on Sky either. At least they didn't have them last time they carried it.

        1. Captain Scarlet Silver badge
          Facepalm

          hmm

          Well they always have adverts in football, BSkyB will want to make money out of it, I think they will have more adverts i.e pre-FIA broadcast but not sure about during the race.

      3. Tony T 1
        Unhappy

        Not happy.

        Surely the worst ITV ad break was the one during which Mika Hakkinen won the world championship?

        1. Naughtyhorse
          Unhappy

          it;s all very well slagging of ITV

          but BEFORE itv took it the beeb had F1 for decades and with the singular and notable exception of one M Walker the coverage was APALLING.

          live races getting bumped for snooker

          horse racing

          even fucking bowls for crying out loud!

          the only races you could guarantee seeing live from start to finish were the ones taking place on the other side of the planet.

          so ad breaks were a pain for 5 minutes here and there(and a few breaks were horrendously positioned), better then 40 mins of edited highlights on monday night on BBC2 - and thats your lot, which is what we used to get.

          It will be a shame to see it go to sky, like many i will not be following.

      4. Frank Bough

        They don't care if audiences dwindle...

        ...as long as revenue is up.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      How many people will buy a SKY subscription off this?

      Just a thought. This only makes money for SKY when people buy subscriptions as a result. It seems like a pretty poor deal for SKY subscribers really - i mean think of it this way - you are paying that premium (probably £30 ~ £40 a month) and only getting half the races that the great unwashed (i.e. me) won't get live.

      So seriously, would you the best part of £400 / year for 10 extra races?

      So i'm guessing that people who already have SKY sports will watch the extra races there, but i'm not sure that anyone who hasn't already got it will pay the extra... and surely that is where SKY are looking to get their money back.

      BTW, I don't have SKY and as I do not want to give murdoch a single penny i won't be getting it either..

      1. CmdrX3
        Unhappy

        No new subscription for me

        Not a chance in hell. I will download it and watch it before I pay for a Sky sports subscription just for the priviledge of watching 10 races.

        Fuck you Bernie, you greedy little fucking oiik.

    3. Can't think of anything witty...
      Alert

      ratings..

      i think that this might well be Bernie testing the water with sky... if people still watch it on the BBC as opposed to paying the extra for sky then maybe he'll figure out that completely selling the rights to sky would be a really bad move for viewing figures.

      and i think that is probably (one of) his main criteria.

      By the way - who thinks that next years championship should be decided solely on the basis of the Free to air races - with the extra "demonstration events" on sky not counting to the points total...?

      :)

  3. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Oh well, there is still the Radio

    where I'll be able to listen to the races. I certainly won't be forking out the inevitable premium that Sky will charge for their broadcasts.

    Anon because I was once a Sky subscriber and I don't want a deluge of sales calls from them (or Virgin for that matter)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Have They Not Hacked You Already?

      AC

      With all those fearless helpers for the NOTW now out of work will they will be busy working for Sky now? So will they find you anyway!

  4. al89
    Facepalm

    Gutted!

    What a shame, Just as the viewers were on the up, the sport was starting to gain popularity, and the BBC coverage was really taking shape the call of yet more money pulls Bernie towards Sky.

    I would have taken a return to ITV and adverts over this as no way will I join sky and pay an extra subcription to sky sports to watch it. I'm still getting over my last ordeal with them.

    Just have to enjoy watching the race the bbc dont show a few hours after it finished.

  5. Dave Bell

    The must have given it up!

    So we have a contract expected to end in 2013 and it ends early?

    Either the BBC was hit by a break clause they couldn't fight (and how could that happen) or they didn't want the rights.

    OK, I'm not devoted to F1 but I can see they do a good job. Maybe they have discovered just how big a hassle the Olympics will be, next year. F1 or the Olympics? I'd vote for F1, but that would be so unpopular with the politicians.

    1. Danny 14
      Unhappy

      not really

      there will have been a mutual consent. i.e. they didnt have the money to fight BsB in 2013 contract negotiation so they struck a deal now.

    2. Shaun 1

      BBC have been talking for a while now about not renewing the deal

      at the end of 2012, and potentially pulling out at the end of this year.

  6. Christopher Rogers
    FAIL

    Idiots

    The F1 coverage has been excellent. Now it will be a bit shit. Sky for Footy, BBC for F1.

    1. Velv

      Opportunities

      If Sky have any sense at all, they will do a deal with the BBC that the current F1 team will continue to provide the commentary, coverage and comment, and the only thing Sky will provide is the broadcast medium.

      Over 40 countries currently take the BBC feed as their licensed coverage - don't fix something that isn't broken!!!!

      Can you see Jeff Sterling doing F1... I think not.

      Lee McKenzie - fwhoar :)

      1. SteveBalmer
        Joke

        New presenters for Sky F1 coverage confirmed.

        Jedward...

        Can't wait....

        Seriously, what the fuck, F1 is dead in the UK now. Thanks Bernie you greedy fuck.

      2. Annihilator
        Boffin

        @Velv

        "Over 40 countries currently take the BBC feed as their licensed coverage - don't fix something that isn't broken!!!!"

        Which countries are these? The "feed" is generally created by FOM and is the same the world over - the BBC get the same feed as everyone else.

        1. GettinSadda
          Boffin

          @Annihilator

          No, FOM feed is pictures and sound with no commentary. Commentary and extra shots are added by the BBC and this combined feed is taken by a number of countries. MB mentions Australia as one recipient at times, so I assume this is "One HD"

  7. melt
    Facepalm

    bah

    Such a shame; the BBC's coverage over the last two years at least has been absolutely fantastic.

    It's going to be very difficult to keep that going. I'm certain that Sky Sports won't be able to generate the same feeling.

    I'll be watching on BBC, and I guess i'll have to find a motorsports-friendly pub somewhere that my friends and I can adopt on Sky-only weekends.

    1. Naughtyhorse

      not a good plan

      dont support sky

      and dont support dipshit landlords who support sky

  8. SteveBalmer
    Mushroom

    How many F1 fans will want to watch some races?

    Answer: NONE.

    Sky know this, just like they know that F1 fans paying for Sky Sports premium subscriptions won't be interested in any of the other stuff on Sky Sports...

    The only outcome will be that this deal kills F1 in the UK... Viewing figures will plumet, as I certainly won't be paying for Sky Sports to watch a race every other weekend...

    I wonder what happened to Bernie's promise?

    http://billionaires.forbes.com/article/00FvfdI8u03yh?q=Rupert+Murdoch

    "It is all rubbish ... Formula One is not for sale. And anyway, we would not sell to a media company because it would restrict the ability to negotiate with other broadcasters."

    Still not that it matters, as the sport will be in turmoil soon anyway, as Bernie will be in jail on corruption and bribery offenses.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: How many F1 fans will want to watch some races?

      >I wonder what happened to Bernie's promise?

      Formula One has not been sold to Sky so his promise is still intact.

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