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Thank you Bernie!

2

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  • spiritof1947 - so you don't like some of those sports?  Others do, and some won't like the sports you prefer.  It's a matter or choice.  If you want to watch it, them pay for it, if you don't...don't.  To come out with some sweeping childish statement like you have shows a lack of maturity imho.


    From what I have been told, in the rest of Europe, motorbike and car racing are second only to football as a popular sport.

    Establishment sports like cricket, rugby and golf are way down the list.

  • Ken, I'd gladly pay the BBC to watch F1, just not Sky.  I hoped that the 4 main free-to-air providers would come to a conclusion whereby they'd share the coverage of the sport, it could've been worked out that the Beeb would retain 9 races and ITV, Channel 4 and 5 would show 3 each.  That way the large rights fee of £45m could be divided proportionately between the channels and the sport remains free-to-air.  It's such a shame they couldn't work this out.

    ITV are mooting the concept of releasing paid for content and surely the Beeb could have thought to do something similar.  If Wimbledon and The Open are lost to Sky too maybe then people will start to get the ache of it all.  I know one thing for sure, I will not be signing up to Sky to watch F1.
  • Hard to say which is more predictable:

    A F1 race or Spirit of 1947's trolling.

    Don't feed the Troll
  • Funny how the channel is called Sky Sports when the majority of stuff on it is stuff most people don't recognise as a sport (eg darts, snooker, fishing, car and motorbike races, professional wrestling, etc). Can't believe anyone pays for that garbage.
    Car and motorbike racing - Not a sport, great wind up!
    A sport if you're a car or a motorbike, maybe, but not if you're a human. Are they in the Olympics? That's the easy way to define them. In the Summer or Winter Olympics = a sport. Not = not.
    Deffo a wind up! Nice one Shiteof1947.
  • DRFDRF
    edited July 2011

    How does that theory sit with equestrian sports?

    Its in the olympics so it must be a sport - and yet the person doesn't jump the fence, they sit on a horse who jumps the fence. And shooting is in the olympics and yet a person does not run over to the clay pigeon and pnch it apart, they shoot a bullet at it.

    And archers don't hit the target themselves.

    I could go on but hopefully this shows that your theory is flawed.

    The olympics has sports, but it doesn't have every sport and has never claimed to

    This is why every host nation is allowed to introduce a new sport at every games</>

  • DRF, I refer you to Henry above!
  • If you can't get hurt then it ain't a sport
  • If you can't get hurt then it ain't a sport
    Wow! That cuts out a lot of Olympic "Sports"!
  • If you can't get hurt then it ain't a sport


    You can get hurt doing anything.

    Roger Uttley, British Lion and England rugby international, buggered up his back sufficiently just getting out of his car to miss an international some years back!

  • edited July 2011
    And while our coverage from 2012 may not be as extensive as it has been up to now, the bare facts are that the BBC needs to save money. Given the financial circumstances in which we find ourselves, we believe this new deal offers the best outcome for licence-fee payers.In a sense this partnership with Sky is another example of how the landscape of sports broadcasting has been transformed in recent years. There was a time when the BBC and other public service broadcasters could expect to televise all the big sports themselves. Now though we have a 'mixed economy', with some events on satellite while others are on terrestrial.And although this may be the first time the BBC has shared Formula 1 with another broadcaster, there is a long-standing pattern of partnerships between free-to-air and pay TV to cover major sports. So the Champions League can be watched on both Sky and ITV; US Masters golf is now shared between ourselves and Sky (with audiences for that event up this year); and then of course there is the Premier League - with live games on Sky and ESPN, while our ever-popular highlights programme Match of the Day keeps football fans entertained on a Saturday night. Ben Gallop BBC F1.

    So there  you have it, or not as the case may be?I imagine that all major sports coverage in the near future will be on a shared basis for  live/secondary coverage/highlights.Be interesting to see if sky allow the bbc to show live prem football then?...... I will not hold my breath on that one.I wonder if this will be the last Olympics as well that the bbc cover/Grand National.Sky generally do an excellent job on football, and gave the bbc a good, kick up the arse that it needed.Never understood the issue with the bbc's anti paid for subscription service attitude.  I think it fails to deliver as a public service broadcaster what the public sometimes wants!If the public want a service that can be financied by subscription, and sponsorship that otherwise would not be available, allbeit, angling, to wrestling, to the Isle of man TT etc I have no issues with that. If Sky want competition  in a so called free market let them have it, and the viewer is the winner, albeit they will have to pay for it. I can tell you this view is not as left field as it might appear, and had favour with a number of people at the bbc, but was seen as 'devisive'..... but times change?
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  • Never understood the issue with the bbc's anti paid for subscription service attitude.  I think it fails to deliver as a public service broadcaster what the public sometimes wants!If the public want a service that can be financied by subscription, and sponsorship that otherwise would not be available, allbeit, angling, to wrestling, to the Isle of man TT etc I have no issues with that. If Sky want competition  in a so called free market let them have it, and the viewer is the winner, albeit they will have to pay for it. I can tell you this view is not as left field as it might appear, and had favour with a number of people at the bbc, but was seen as 'devisive'..... but times change?

    Absolutely nail on head.  Even if 5m subscribers (bearing in mind that currently there is on average 7-10m viewers) paid 75p per race the Beeb would break even with its coverage of F1.  I simply cannot understand the logic of releasing the rights to a rival broadcaster that will only outbid and outmuscle the BBC in any future contract talks regarding the sport.  You can bet any money free-to-air coverage of F1 will end indefinitely from 2018, if not sooner.

    Long term the BBC has absolutely screwed over the public by bending over for Sky and letting them get away with it.  There were ways around this than pandering to them.  There is no competition if Sky are the only network with sole rights to any event.
  • Football has been on sky since 1992, people moaned then as they are now over f1. Truth is f1 is a minority sport in this country in the same league as golf and tennis, and fans should be glad they have had so long of free to air races. Sky has transformed football,darts cricket, Christ they even jazz up fishing with the great fishomania event. If I was an f1 fan then I would be happy that I will still get to see x amount of races on the BBC, when was the last time a top English league game was on the BBC? they can't afford to compete with sky even with ch5 having the boxing last weekend trumped the beeb, sport is dead on BBC it's something we will have to get used to, didn't the old government make a law that certain events such as fa cup, grand national boat race world cup finals will still be on terrestrial tv so at least those without sky or digital tv will get to see some sport at least.
  • My favourite Olympic 'sport' must be live pigeon shooting
    for those of you who may have forgotten, the results were as follows
    1. Leon de Lunden (Belgium) 21 birds killed
    2. Maurice Faure (France) 20 birds killed
    3. Donald MacIntosh (Australia) 18 birds killed
    My second favourite sport would be Spirit baiting.

  • Not sure I agree with you about F1 being a minority sport in the UK Adam...... and if it is such why do sky want to share rights?
    The F1 industry is based in the UK, and we have had a string of world champions, and constructors for years, seems one of the few industries that we excell in.
    I do not disagree with you re sky and football hence my line........Sky generally do an excellent job on football, and gave the bbc a good, kick up the arse that it needed.
    They have also done a pretty good job on cricket!. The genie is out of the bottle with sport, it has been for a time.
    The BBC has to devise imaginative solutions to it's position, otherwise it's licence fee position will be not only irrelevant, but impossible to sustain to the public.
    The BBC has it's faults, it can be slow to listen, and seem cold to criticism. But it still produces some great programmes and  services.
    I am biased of course, so my view is tainted with the belief that it has, does and will produce great entertainment and public service broadcasting, and like the NHS not without fault but  a great national asset. 
  • Now F1 has been cut in half I'm struggling to think of what I actually watch on BBC. MotD and FL show at a push... nothing really. Sounds like this was BBC decision to cut costs, wonder what else they'll get rid of.
  • Well thats F1 ruined for me once they start splitting the grand prixs between them
  • http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/keepf1onthebbc

    Seems to be the strongest online petition at the moment. 

    All this has been particularly galling as both Eric Boullier (head of Lotus Renault) and Adam Parr (Chairman of Williams) have stated that this is a good deal for the fans.  WTF?!?!  Parr even had the audacity to state that fans should be paying more!  Hmm so if actually getting to a Grand Prix wasn't almost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for, I would guess, 99% of the population, now the fact that fans will have to fork out over £500 to watch it on TV, apparently isn't enough?  There are too many people running the sport who live on another planet.

    http://www.pitpass.com/44418-BBC-and-Sky-Who-is-really-to-blame-and-who-should-really-stop-it
  • BBC & Sky have agreed to show half the races each. BBC will show the start of each race and Sky will show the finish to each race.
  • Football has been on sky since 1992, people moaned then as they are now over f1. Truth is f1 is a minority sport in this country in the same league as golf and tennis, and fans should be glad they have had so long of free to air races. Sky has transformed football,darts cricket, Christ they even jazz up fishing with the great fishomania event. If I was an f1 fan then I would be happy that I will still get to see x amount of races on the BBC, when was the last time a top English league game was on the BBC? they can't afford to compete with sky even with ch5 having the boxing last weekend trumped the beeb, sport is dead on BBC it's something we will have to get used to, didn't the old government make a law that certain events such as fa cup, grand national boat race world cup finals will still be on terrestrial tv so at least those without sky or digital tv will get to see some sport at least.


    Erm Minority sport???

    It is the second biggest sport in terms of TV viewing after football. The race that Hamilton won the title attracted 13.2million viewers - not much less than a world cup game featuring England. And most of the races now do 7 to 10million. Miles more than Murray games at Wimbledon (c3-4m) golf (even less) and cricket (even less still).

  • edited August 2011
    Thanks for the URL  on pitpass, which is quite  interesting, either F1 or Wimbledon, seems to be the choice, and the Beeb decided to opt for the tennis.

    Of course this is not the first time it has dropped F1, and this does seem a rather  half way house, seems a bit like having half a football match, or we will show till Christmas then over to sky.......
    I posted a comment on a website and quite a few of my ex BBC colleagues, went on and on about  being a public service broadcaster. When i reminded them if  the BBC was only interested in having programmes that other commercial  organisations  would not produce then why do they have a very successful publishing division , that produces non BBC title programmes,  Why not sell the radio Times, as well as co-producing exhibition shows, and so forth. You could argue why does it have a national pop station Radio 1 when there are people that could produce a pop station like Virgin and Emap to name  just two, so the idea that it has to be a minority, or a venture that would only sustainable  without 'public service money' does not stack up?

    Do not get me wrong I am a great fan of the bbc and it's general philosophy, but it does have an unsustainable business  model, and can  reduce competition with it's resources. I am also rather concerned about leaping into partnership with Sky, we have seen there business ethics, and although I am sure no media organisation is whiter than white, Sky seem a darker shade of grey to myself.  The so called independent board of governance  at Sky/ gave 'digger' a hard grilling on the NI did it. I do not want to discuss that...... oh okay chairman we will move on..... not  journalism's finest hour was it.......

    I proposed  a sport subscription channel, at least it has the transparency of delivering what it say's on the can, as the saying goes, it could also in time transfer tennis, golf, and horse racing, it could also cover boxing, and bike racing on a pay as you go facility. I get the impression that the purist view that others will do this will prevail, I am dubious of this position. I think the bbc will shrink from it's current output, as 'niche tv'  along with the internet will deliver it on 'i pad', and other mobile devices........In the meantime  enjoy sport on what ever station as I feel it may be limited to the pay to view in the future, the question is how soon?

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  • Bernie eccleston has absolutely ruined F1  
  • And, and ,and.................................(that's my murray walker impersonation. Good, innit?  :-D
  • I think the Beeb is facing fundamental questions to it's long term viability as an organisation if it persists with seemingly illogical decisions such as these.  This decision has been made by the bean-counters and from reading hundreds of comments many people are very angry to an extent that they feel betrayed.

    I think the sport has under-estimated the UK-F1 market and become very complacent with it.  How long will the major sponsors and partners put up with seeing the audience share that their brands are exposed to drop by as much as 80% (or more)?  Formula 1 is an event, not a match, you can't just simply turnover onto another channel and catch another race.

    Audience figures for next years championship to be shown on the BBC will plummet too IMO, and only then will the powers that be realise what a mistake they have made.   Sponsorship drives the sport more than anything and if those sponsors feel as though they are not getting a return they will walk.
  • There's only one Formula 1 race EG, but there's lots of motor racing going on in the UK and round the world. If the BBC put their weight behind a different Formula, they'd get an audience and it would be two fingers up to Bernie.

  • Whilst I think it is a shame for the beeb to lose it, it will be interesting how much the sky coverage is better.

    I think most sports Sky has invested in from Football, cricket, Darts as well as US sports have improved massively for the armchair fan.

    Sky will be able to bring in the best commentators, better camera angles, slicker production so the armchair fan should really enjoy the experience more.

     

     

  • Bernie eccleston has absolutely ruined F1  



    incorrect - bernie has made f1 into the global sport that it has become. Sky will be showing all the races, with the beeb showinf ten races. For me, i dont see this as a bad move. Sky are known for their high quality sports broadcasting i.e football and cricket. In fact, i feel the resurgance of interest in cricket is partly down to sky's fantastic coverage. I dont see why f1 has to be on free to air tv - football isnt, and viewing figures are huge even on sky.
  • But do sky really offer the best for the armchair fan?

    You try watching a prem game with that ex-gooner moron alan smith commentating(talking shite), and then ask yourself... is this the best they have to offer?

     

  • I agree with Jarman here - their commentators or pundits, or whatever they're called, are all poor. And I can't stand the Sky concept of the "big four". I hated the way they were so patronising when we were in the prem if we had the gall to score a goal or, heaven forbid, win a game against the "big four". I could go on, but nursey is worried about my blood pressure.
  • TBH with Sky's coverage of football I literally only watch the game, don't bother with any of their post match and pre match coverage as it's riddled with adverts and genuine crap.

    BBC's F1 coverage if brilliant both pre race (this week they have Hamilton and Button changing tyres in a race vs Humphreys and Brundle, guide round Mercedes factory with Schumacher) and the post race (F1 forum) all adds to the programme. Fat is BBC have absolutley nailed the coverage of F1 right now. It's going to be very difficult for Sky to beat that especially as they will have ad breaks pre and post race. You will also lose alot of casual fans for F1, 6 million tuned in on Sunday highest audience of the week for the BBC, not all 6 million have access to Sky
  • I will not comment on the presenters, as most of them were from the old ITV presentation, which besides the adverts was okay.

    I am sure sky will bring the resources to do this, and will do this to a very high level.

    Do not forget BBC do not have outside  resources anymore, that is now an independent company and a bought in resource.

    The production values are probably very similar, and probably the staff at sky and BBC  are freelance anyway. The producer, editor may be staff, or a version of full time staff.

    What you have is the production direction and the presenters, and the editorial content. i.e the format.  I am sure sky will invest in more lavish presentation as it has the money to.
    The BBC has to justify in financial terms it's value for money as well as other criteria. There are some  licence fee payers who resent any sport, let alone F1, or football. There seems to be very little left in the  BBC domain now that is not up for consideration, I feel that we have a half way house at present, remember the BBC  is still working to the old remit of Inform,Educate and entertain....... along the day's of Reith. Personally speaking I cannot see the problem with giving the public what they want, if they are happy to pay for it, hence the subscription idea. You could also extend this to  the arts as well, Opera, Proms,Concerts, Festivals, etc. If the BBC  is to not duplicate its coverage with reporters, bj's running around just broadcasting for  specific channels, they have to share there resources. This is something that Patton the chairman is looking at right now!. As the licence fee is certainly in question for the future, either reduced or  kept at the same level I cannot see how they can keep the same level of output, and coverage. perhaps it should not try. Trouble is what should they cut. The independent sector claim popular tv and commercial music websites and magazines.  Remember Radio 1 was introduced mainly because of pirate radio, and that got it's finance from advertising. There is going to have to be some difficult choices for the BBC Trust to decide on, and some honesty is required.

    Sponsorship is  also a possibility, but like advertising despite the fact that it is on BBC world when you are abroad is something that seems to be a consideration to far for many?.

    I do not have the answers, just a perspective on the way the BBC works, or did till last year.......
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