Formula One is one of those sports, like Cricket that I enjoy to watch on terrestrial TV when it is on. I thought the F1 BBC coverage this year was pretty good. I really enjoyed the races, Jensen Button's driving at the Japan GP was excellent. The race qualifying was always watchable as well. I am not prepared to pay extra to watch it on pay TV though. I can live without F1. When it disappears onto PayTV (Sky), like the Cricket or England Internationals then it ceases to exist for me and I don't pay it too much attention.
There will be a lot of people in this category. F1 and Cricket will have the money to make up for the lack of National Coverage and exposure for their sport. If that's what they want then I am sure their increased individual bank balances will soften the blow. Then Sky is all about the money and the best interests of the sport is subjugated to the need for Sky to enrich themselves. It stops being about the sport, and it is all about the money and how much Sky can make for themselves. And how much individuals can make within that sport. The structure of the competition gets distorted to suit entirely the needs of Sky.
In addition, I think that Murdoch is an anti democratic, pernicious, and evil blight on this country. The major interest Murdoch and Sky have is an unprincipled drive to increase their own profit margins at all and any cost. Milly Dowler's family and others know this too well. It is one thing to have market forces, but the unscrupulous way that company goes about its business is wrong. I can't ignore that Sky Sports is part of a company that has intimidated, corrupted and bullied governments to get its commercial way. The company needs to fix its corporate governance. Until then, they will not be getting a subscription out of me.
If F1 (or cricket) want to sup with the devil then they go to hell just don't expect me to pay to join them there.
VFF - Associating the phone hacking with the work people put in in Sky Sports is at best lazy and worst completely unfair. As for pointing out that Sky, as a corporation, is designed to make money... well, It has become clear to me that rather than watch sport on TV, you have a VHS library full of Columbo episodes. You must have been so annoyed when the 1990s series ended up on Sky Movies.
My main question to the "Murdoch haters" (I wouldn't defend him, I just think it's nuts to judge Sky as an entertainment option on his existence in the upper echelons of News Corp) is, do you apply this level of judgement for all corporations? Can you even name the heads of every company you interact with every day? Are you that confident that your clothing wasn't made by slaves? That Coca Cola have given lots of money to charity before you opened the can? The hypocrisy is inevitable. And the vitriol, in my eyes, idiotic. Murdoch's influence in the day to day running of Sky is so minimal, but you don't want to hear that - it's easier to think of them as money-grabbing bstrds who ruined your sporting viewership.
Go back to 1987, check out the quality of football back then, especially the coverage back when the Beeb and ITV had a pally 'let's not outbid each other and keep this thing cheap' relationship, not to mention calibre of player, and tell yourself it was a thousand times better! Meanwhile, I've got the CAFC game recorded on Sky+ in HD, so I'm gonna go watch it back, and send Murdoch a thank you card. Cos, you know, he invented Sky+. He's a frikkin technical scientist and is responsible for all Sky innovation!
Everyone says that Sky will do an excellent job - but they won't get the chance for the actual race coverage. All the camera feeds are controlled by Bernie's company. It took him ages to agree to making HD coverage available even though the track cameras were producing HD standard. Whoever was hoping for 3D will likely have a long wait. Although Eddie Jordan's wig in 3D might be worth waiting for.
Comments
There will be a lot of people in this category. F1 and Cricket will have the money to make up for the lack of National Coverage and exposure for their sport. If that's what they want then I am sure their increased individual bank balances will soften the blow. Then Sky is all about the money and the best interests of the sport is subjugated to the need for Sky to enrich themselves. It stops being about the sport, and it is all about the money and how much Sky can make for themselves. And how much individuals can make within that sport. The structure of the competition gets distorted to suit entirely the needs of Sky.
In addition, I think that Murdoch is an anti democratic, pernicious, and evil blight on this country. The major interest Murdoch and Sky have is an unprincipled drive to increase their own profit margins at all and any cost. Milly Dowler's family and others know this too well. It is one thing to have market forces, but the unscrupulous way that company goes about its business is wrong. I can't ignore that Sky Sports is part of a company that has intimidated, corrupted and bullied governments to get its commercial way. The company needs to fix its corporate governance. Until then, they will not be getting a subscription out of me.
If F1 (or cricket) want to sup with the devil then they go to hell just don't expect me to pay to join them there.
My main question to the "Murdoch haters" (I wouldn't defend him, I just think it's nuts to judge Sky as an entertainment option on his existence in the upper echelons of News Corp) is, do you apply this level of judgement for all corporations? Can you even name the heads of every company you interact with every day? Are you that confident that your clothing wasn't made by slaves? That Coca Cola have given lots of money to charity before you opened the can? The hypocrisy is inevitable. And the vitriol, in my eyes, idiotic. Murdoch's influence in the day to day running of Sky is so minimal, but you don't want to hear that - it's easier to think of them as money-grabbing bstrds who ruined your sporting viewership.
Go back to 1987, check out the quality of football back then, especially the coverage back when the Beeb and ITV had a pally 'let's not outbid each other and keep this thing cheap' relationship, not to mention calibre of player, and tell yourself it was a thousand times better! Meanwhile, I've got the CAFC game recorded on Sky+ in HD, so I'm gonna go watch it back, and send Murdoch a thank you card. Cos, you know, he invented Sky+. He's a frikkin technical scientist and is responsible for all Sky innovation!