Liberty. Doing a decent job?
Liberty. Doing a decent job?
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Discussion

StevieBee

Original Poster:

14,723 posts

277 months

Thursday 14th November 2019
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My general feeling is that they're a safe pair of hands for F1. Not perfect but they seem to respond to things that don't work well (such as the over-hyped driver entrance at the US GP the other year).

Nice to be able to see F1 stuff on 'official' social media. Logo has bedded in well.

So far, so good.

Better than the Bernie days? Or just 'different'?


ChocolateFrog

34,706 posts

195 months

Thursday 14th November 2019
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US companies seem to do well when they stay in the background, when it comes to running sporting businesses anyway. The only time I've thought they were screwing it up was anytime they try to Americanise the front of house bits.

The ridiculously contrived fanfare and the idiotic tyre graphic spring to mind.

TheDeuce

30,852 posts

88 months

Thursday 14th November 2019
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They've done an awesome job imo. I figured they'd make it into a USA type sport but they've clearly taken stock of what makes our sport tick and built upon it. The changes this year have already transformed the spectacle (best season for a decade) and they have also opened it up via the podcast and the Netflix series to ensure casual observers get dragged into the core of the sport. Very, very good work.

They even appointed the best man to oversee the 2021 transition. There isn't much else we could ask for.

I'll pre-empt those that ask for cheaper viewing in the UK. That deal was signed ahead of liberty control and as soon as it expires we will all have affordable F1TV.

Deesee

8,509 posts

105 months

Friday 15th November 2019
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Good job IMO

Oh F1 TV in the UK,

This just popped up on my App Store under subscriptions. So might be good for next year.


n3il123

2,760 posts

235 months

Friday 15th November 2019
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How many different options?!

Deesee

8,509 posts

105 months

Friday 15th November 2019
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n3il123 said:
How many different options?!
Monthly

Annual

Or live timing

sc0tt

18,226 posts

223 months

Friday 15th November 2019
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n3il123 said:
How many different options?!
6

Deesee

8,509 posts

105 months

Friday 15th November 2019
quotequote all
3 options as above

FT is free trial (30 days)

TheDeuce

30,852 posts

88 months

Friday 15th November 2019
quotequote all
Deesee said:
Good job IMO

Oh F1 TV in the UK,

This just popped up on my App Store under subscriptions. So might be good for next year.

That'll get you access to the 'vault' part of F1TV, which is all the historic races upto the previous year. It's not the live content or current season recordings though. Not until the sky deal expires.

I do have F1TV for the past races and I'd say it's worth it.

Deesee

8,509 posts

105 months

Friday 15th November 2019
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TheDeuce said:
That'll get you access to the 'vault' part of F1TV, which is all the historic races upto the previous year. It's not the live content or current season recordings though. Not until the sky deal expires.

I do have F1TV for the past races and I'd say it's worth it.
I’ve got f1 tv (access not pro), so live timing and past races, as well as the 30 min highlight (all racing) of the race (quali Fp1/2/3 highlights) for this season.

I do like the past races and being able to watch the race ‘live’ and flick between the live onboards.

But as per my post it’s priced on the Apple store in GBP, and would not surprise me if launched next year/season.

& at 59.99 would be super value for money.

TheDeuce

30,852 posts

88 months

Friday 15th November 2019
quotequote all
Deesee said:
TheDeuce said:
That'll get you access to the 'vault' part of F1TV, which is all the historic races upto the previous year. It's not the live content or current season recordings though. Not until the sky deal expires.

I do have F1TV for the past races and I'd say it's worth it.
I’ve got f1 tv (access not pro), so live timing and past races, as well as the 30 min highlight (all racing) of the race (quali Fp1/2/3 highlights) for this season.

I do like the past races and being able to watch the race ‘live’ and flick between the live onboards.

But as per my post it’s priced on the Apple store in GBP, and would not surprise me if launched next year/season.

& at 59.99 would be super value for money.
It would be epic value for money I agree. I thought the sky exclusivity deal made showing the current races (live) impossible though.

Jasandjules

71,860 posts

251 months

Friday 15th November 2019
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Deesee said:
At 59.99 would be super value for money.
Yup, I pay rather a lot more than that for Sky F1....

n3il123

2,760 posts

235 months

Friday 15th November 2019
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Deesee said:
3 options as above

FT is free trial (30 days)
Thanks I was more confused by the different options, not exactly clear what each was. I was under the impression that the pay TV option was just one off and you chose how long for, not that there was different levels of access.


Deesee

8,509 posts

105 months

Friday 15th November 2019
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Jasandjules said:
Deesee said:
At 59.99 would be super value for money.
Yup, I pay rather a lot more than that for Sky F1....
We we got all Sky Sport channels for £18 pcm last yr, this year after I gave notice they put it down to £12, but im board of having to ring them up to negotiate every 12 months, so I said no thanks, Id much rather press a button on App Store and renew for 12 months.

Deesee

8,509 posts

105 months

Friday 15th November 2019
quotequote all
n3il123 said:
Deesee said:
3 options as above

FT is free trial (30 days)
Thanks I was more confused by the different options, not exactly clear what each was. I was under the impression that the pay TV option was just one off and you chose how long for, not that there was different levels of access.
No probs, quite a fair offering IMO.

Deesee

8,509 posts

105 months

Friday 15th November 2019
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TheDeuce said:
It would be epic value for money I agree. I thought the sky exclusivity deal made showing the current races (live) impossible though.
Im pretty sure that takes us up to 2024, however, they have been putting a number of races on Sky One, which (tin foil hat on), makes me wonder if sky actually have a say 18 race deal, which really make me wonder about going to 25 races, and this reverse grid race thing, would/could liberty deliver these direct?

(tin foil hat back on), Sky and F1 have both got new owners since the deal, and Liberty have lost Bratches (commercial director) since the takeover, I think they need to reassess how they deliver programming over the next few years.

If you look at WWE for example who deliver there programming direct over the internet now, rather than Pay TV (although alongside), the share price quadrupled, and the subscriptions paid by the end user is less, as the TV company is not taking a large cut, interestingly they had an exclusive deal with SKY of which was renegotiated.

TheDeuce

30,852 posts

88 months

Friday 15th November 2019
quotequote all
Deesee said:
Im pretty sure that takes us up to 2024, however, they have been putting a number of races on Sky One, which (tin foil hat on), makes me wonder if sky actually have a say 18 race deal, which really make me wonder about going to 25 races, and this reverse grid race thing, would/could liberty deliver these direct?

(tin foil hat back on), Sky and F1 have both got new owners since the deal, and Liberty have lost Bratches (commercial director) since the takeover, I think they need to reassess how they deliver programming over the next few years.

If you look at WWE for example who deliver there programming direct over the internet now, rather than Pay TV (although alongside), the share price quadrupled, and the subscriptions paid by the end user is less, as the TV company is not taking a large cut, interestingly they had an exclusive deal with SKY of which was renegotiated.
I'd love to believe they would/could take more races from behind the stupidly expensive Sky paywall. As I understand it though Sky have complete exclusivity over all F1 viewing in the UK. They even control what C4 can show - essentially sub-leasing the rights to C4 under strict conditions, including forever reminding people that they can view the full races/season live on Sky.

With such control I imagine Sky would have double checked FOM couldn't simply add new races that would be free from that agreement.

~Yes I think the agreement stands until the end of 2024 season, then it's up for grabs again. At that time I very much hope Liberty are confident enough in their own platform and revenue model to not need to sell exclusivity to anyone in the UK. If Sky still want to buy rights to air the races then fine, but that should be an alternative to F1TV, not an instead of.

DanielSan

19,747 posts

189 months

Friday 15th November 2019
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Going slightly back on topic, I personally believe Liberty still don't really know what they've actually bought. There's been nothing but endless tweaking with meaningless bits like the the graphics to try and make it look more American, especially this new tyre life graphic that even Pirelli have stated has nothing to do with them.

The endless push to try and get 25 races on the calendar while also trying to cut budgets for the teams suggests Liberty and the FIA have 2 very different agendas and Liberty's isn't one that's good for the sport, it's just there to make them more cash. The fact that to achieve this their main idea is to have a shorter weekend will only result in ticket prices going up for races even further as to cover the loss of an extra days revenue earnt, so fans get shafted more money for less of a product.

Trying to claim they've improved the show this year with better racing is also a nonsense as the rules are set by the FIA. The main people to thank are Ross Brawn and his team for finding at least a decent temporary fix to the aero issue until 2021.

They have no interest in improving the product imo just making more money out of it at the expense of everything else. So fk them.

Megaflow

10,897 posts

247 months

Friday 15th November 2019
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DanielSan said:
Going slightly back on topic, I personally believe Liberty still don't really know what they've actually bought. There's been nothing but endless tweaking with meaningless bits like the the graphics to try and make it look more American, especially this new tyre life graphic that even Pirelli have stated has nothing to do with them.

The endless push to try and get 25 races on the calendar while also trying to cut budgets for the teams suggests Liberty and the FIA have 2 very different agendas and Liberty's isn't one that's good for the sport, it's just there to make them more cash. The fact that to achieve this their main idea is to have a shorter weekend will only result in ticket prices going up for races even further as to cover the loss of an extra days revenue earnt, so fans get shafted more money for less of a product.

Trying to claim they've improved the show this year with better racing is also a nonsense as the rules are set by the FIA. The main people to thank are Ross Brawn and his team for finding at least a decent temporary fix to the aero issue until 2021.

They have no interest in improving the product imo just making more money out of it at the expense of everything else. So fk them.
I think that is a little unfair on Liberty. As far as I can tell, they have a lot of interest in improving the product, but they can’t actually do anything until the currently ludicrously complicated Concorde agreement comes to an end at the end of next year, hence all the focus on entirely new technical, sporting and financial regulations after that.

Deesee

8,509 posts

105 months

Friday 15th November 2019
quotequote all
Deesee said:
Good job IMO

Oh F1 TV in the UK,

This just popped up on my App Store under subscriptions. So might be good for next year.

Back to my horrifically off topic post, I’ve managed to get a free trial on a VPN, and have pressed the button on F1 tv pro via the uk App Store.

I know have fully functioning F1 TV in the UK.