Formula 1 2011 season official topic

[The Somalian]

sky will show practice sessions also?

[The King]

Sky will have sick coverage but the ads are gonna be a killer. & the pundits aren't gonna be as good.

[Sinister]

f*ck SKY

f*ck SKY

f*ck SKY

f*ck SKY

f*ck SKY

f*ck SKY

f*ck SKY

f*ck SKY

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f*ck SKY

f*ck SKY

[Lenny]

"Some F1 teams told deferred BBC races will be showed in their entirety later the same day."

Byron Young

[MrJibbles]

Sky won't be showing no ads during the races. They'll show everything from practise to post-race, talk is they might share on-screen talent.

BBC will have 6 races. The biggest races, Silverstone, Monaco, the last race.

This was always going to happen when interest sparked about them being interested in buying Formula 1.

One thing Sky will do is give it the best production and publicity push possible

The BBC has defended its decision to renegotiate its Formula One contract and share coverage with Sky in a deal expected to save the corporation at least £25m a year, claiming it would have otherwise been forced to ditch the sport altogether.

The corporation has given up the final two years of its exclusive five-year deal, which cost around £50m a year, and reinvested the proceeds in a new shared deal with Sky that runs until 2018 but will mean the BBC shows only half of the races live.

The BBC's director of sport, Barbara Slater, would only say that the savings were "genuinely significant", but it is understood that the corporation is saving between £25m and £30m a year. The total deal is believed to be worth around £65m.

The decision has already been criticised by some of the BBC's on-air presenters, including Martin Brundle, and fans who will have to subscribe to Sky Sports to follow every race live. But Slater said: "This deal strikes a really good balance between continuing to make Formula One available and operating in tough financial times."

Some of the teams gathering for this weekend's grand prix in Hungary were quick to point out that their approval for the deal would be needed in the new Concorde agreement that governs the sport, the current one due to run out in 2012.

But while some may lament the loss of free-to-air coverage, they will also be aware that Bernie Ecclestone has again negotiated a significant increase in the total flowing into the sport.

Ecclestone, the Formula One supremo, hailed the deal as "super", saying: "There will be highlights as well as live coverage on two different networks now, so we get the best of both worlds."

The deal is modelled on a similar arrangement with the Masters golf, of which the BBC now shows the final two days live and Sky shows the entire event.

Slater told the Guardian: "Any loss is a shame. But in a very tough financial climate, both of those deals make real sense and deliver real value and continued access for the audience. It may well have been we would have had to have lost these rights simply because of our ability to manage our portfolio going forward."

Giving up on exclusive grand prix rights is likely to help the BBC when it comes to retaining the rights to other flagship sports properties such as Wimbledon, the current deal for which runs until 2014.

"There will always be events we would want to acquire exclusively. In each individual sport, it's possible to take different approaches," Slater said.

The BBC will show the qualifying and the race from half the grands prix, including Silverstone, Monaco and the final race of the season. Sky will show all the races live, plus extensive coverage of the build-up and qualifying, and Slater said there was a possibility that they could share production resources and even on‑screen talent. "We will seek to share production resources where appropriate, that is something we are working through."

Sky Sports has said it will not run adverts during its coverage and will instead limit them to the pre- and post-race show. They proved highly unpopular when on ITV and a spokesman said: "We won't have adverts while the races are running. We know they were very unpopular in the past and we don't have to go down that route."

It is understood that the deal was signed at 5.05am in order to enable Sky to unveil it before announcing its results to the City. The new deal will give added impetus to ongoing attempts by News Corp, which owns 39% of BSkyB, to put together a consortium to buy Formula One from the venture capital group CVC. Brundle, the former driver who is one of the faces of the BBC's Formula One coverage, tweeted: "Found out last night, no idea how it will work yet – I'm out of contract, will calmly work through options. Not impressed."

The sport has not been a regular ratings winner for the BBC because many of the races are broadcast outside of peak time. The flagship races remain a big draw, however, and the sport reaches audiences that the BBC otherwise finds hard to attract.

This year's British Grand Prix peaked with 6.6m viewers on 10 July. The race, won by Fernando Alonso, averaged 4.9m viewers across three hours of coverage on BBC1. It was substantially up on the 3.6 million average audience who watched the British Grand Prix – on ITV – in 2001.

The BBC was the traditional home of Formula One for many years until the rights were snatched by ITV in 1997. Formula One remained on the commercial broadcaster until 2009, when it returned to the BBC. ITV exercised a break clause to ditch the sport with two years of its deal remaining, to free up cash for Champions League football.

Jeremy Darroch, the BSkyB chief executive, said that the satellite broadcaster became involved in the negotiations for Formula One very late in the process.

Channel 4 expressed an interest in buying the rights, while ITV rejected the idea of making a bid. "Formula One is in the top tier of sports properties," Darroch said. "It is very much a blue-riband event."

The BBC has been under pressure to cut costs since last year's hastily agreed licence fee settlement with the government. The Formula One tyre manufacturer, Pirelli, expressed concerns at the decision and has warned that any decrease in viewing figures would lead to difficulties.

"Is this the future TV model in Europe?" said Phil Hembery, the company's motorsport director. "If that's the case then we know from being involved in other sports that can create problems. Because you do end up with having less visibility, so it is a concern."

Formula One's team chiefs also sought clarification. The McLaren team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, said he wanted an explanation from Ecclestone, as he feared the sport would lose viewers if it was no longer on free-to-air television. "It's interesting. I don't think anyone should be immediately reacting to say this is good, bad, or indifferent," he told Autosport.com.

The Williams chairman, Adam Parr, added his concerns, though suggested that what the teams lost in viewing figures could be matched by increased investment from Sky. "In principle, I have no issue with optimising the balance between the revenues that we need, and getting a good reach in the audience," he said. "The devil is in the detail".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jul/29/formula-one-coverage-bbc-sky-share

[Lenny]

Did i read correctly? Sky will show ALL races and the BBC will show only six

[The King]

The worst thing about this for me will be the races not being on iplayer.

[Captain Planet]

that pisses me off to even though i got ss now

[Trim]

f*ck SKY

f*ck SKY

f*ck SKY

f*ck SKY

f*ck SKY

f*ck SKY

f*ck SKY

f*ck SKY

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f*ck SKY

f*ck SKY

[Sinister]

Bump

Hungaroing quali now

/

Is it me or does Lee McKenzie have some serious hips?

[Sinister]

1 Sebastian Vettel GER Red Bull 1'19.815

2 Lewis Hamilton GBR McLaren 1'19.978

3 Jenson Button GBR McLaren 1'20.024

4 Felipe Massa BRA Ferrari 1'20.350

5 Fernando Alonso ESP Ferrari 1'20.365

6 Mark Webber AUS Red Bull 1'20.474

7 Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes 1'21.098

8 Adrian Sutil GER Force India 1'21.445

9 Michael Schumacher GER Mercedes 1'21.907

10 Sergio Perez MEX Sauber No Time

11 Paul di Resta GBR Force India 1'22.256

12 Vitaly Petrov RUS Renault 1'22.284

13 Kamui Kobayashi JAP Sauber 1'22.435

14 Nick Heidfeld GER Renault 1'22.470

15 Rubens Barrichello BRA Williams 1'22.684

16 Jaime Alguersuari ESP Toro Rosso 1'22.979

17 Pastor Maldonado VEN Williams No Time

18 Sébastien Buemi SUI Toro Rosso 1'24.070*

19 Heikki Kovalainen FIN Lotus 1'26.205

20 Jarno Trulli ITA Lotus 1'24.534

21 Timo Glock GER Virgin 1'26.294

22 Vitantonio Liuzzi ITA Hispania 1'26.323

23 Daniel Ricciardo AUS Hispania 1'26.479

24 Jerome d'Ambrosio BEL Virgin 1'26.510

[Sinister]

Bump.

Looks like rain, should be interesting

[The King]

One of my fave races of the season.

[Lenny]

Looking forward to the race as always

[The Somalian]

yes about to get into this now

[GoldCoast]

its on

[Lenny]

Cautious yet exciting start

[MrJibbles]

Lewis leading

*Punches air*

[GoldCoast]

typical vettle,

little pressure and he cracks

[Lenny]

Butttton

[Da Luv Doc]

typical vettle,

little pressure and he cracks

[MrJibbles]

Button breezing passed Vettel

Exciting race

[Afroman]

woah...

lukcy he got out quick..

[MrJibbles]

Now this is getting nuts, both Mclaren's stay out, Button leading