F1 only pay for view (not free to air)

[rallycross]

Vaud said:

Some details of the new service

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/134555/first-det...

Sounds like UK not getting any streaming, no doubt thanks to that greedy little dwarf BCE and those horrible deals he did before they got rid of him. In the UK the sport is locked away from its main fan base behind Sky's paywall.

Bratches said a new marketing campaign, website, eSports platform and "four fan festivals" would complement upgraded luxury initiatives like hot laps and the Paddock Club.

He also revealed F1 had settled on the countries that would get access to F1's new streaming service that was being made available.

"We are going to launch in China, USA, Latin America other than Brazil, Germany, France and a number of other Nordic countries," he said.

"It's been a very complicated proposition. With the media rights agreements we had this year, previously none of them would have permitted us to do that.

[CedricN]

F1 is slowly strangling itself to death, really sad. Here in sweden its been behind a very expensive '' paywall'' for a long time, hence killing the interest for all but the nerdiest.

[Derek Smith]

CedricN said:

F1 is slowly strangling itself to death, really sad. Here in sweden its been behind a very expensive '' paywall'' for a long time, hence killing the interest for all but the nerdiest.

That's good, surely. If only the nerds watch it then it will be geared towards nerds.

If the popularity of F1 drops and drops then the price will follow and terrestrial TV might get a look in. You never know.

[Gillett66]

Derek Smith said:

That's good, surely. If only the nerds watch it then it will be geared towards nerds.

If the popularity of F1 drops and drops then the price will follow and terrestrial TV might get a look in. You never know.

Here’s a guy that doesn’t pay attention to current trends in media rights.

[NM62]

F1 published a tweet on a new TV service - still looks nothing for UK unless it’s Sky or CH4

Article Here

[MissChief]

NM62 said:

F1 published a tweet on a new TV service - still looks nothing for UK unless it’s Sky or CH4

Article Here

Of course, the Sky deal is fully exclusive, no streaming allowed. That's what now TV is for.

[budgie smuggler]

MissChief said:

Of course, the Sky deal is fully exclusive, no streaming allowed. That's what now TV is for.

Shame though, seems like this new offering is a lot more fully featured than Now and seemingly much cheaper to boot.

[Vaud]

budgie smuggler said:

Shame though, seems like this new offering is a lot more fully featured than Now and seemingly much cheaper to boot.

Sure, but they are tied to a contract.

[r11co]

Gillett66 said:

Derek Smith said:

That's good, surely. If only the nerds watch it then it will be geared towards nerds.

If the popularity of F1 drops and drops then the price will follow and terrestrial TV might get a look in. You never know.

Here’s a guy that doesn’t pay attention to current trends in media rights.

There is a good reason why the streaming service is only available in certain European countries - they happen to co-incide with areas where F1 is FTA because there isn't the demand or will to pay for a satellite based subscription service. This is the model Liberty want - free-to-air basic coverage enhanced by on-line streaming with the satellite broadcasters cut out of the loop as Liberty are in direct competition with them and don't see the point of handing an advantage to them,

Sky's impending hold on F1 in the UK (and existing hold in Italy) will be broken when their contracts come to an end. Liberty is a rival broadcaster (which only recently ended a dispute with Sky over carriage rights for their content) and it makes zero sense for the deals to continue.

Edited by r11co on Wednesday 28th February 11:18

[CraigyMc]

r11co said:

Gillett66 said:

Derek Smith said:

That's good, surely. If only the nerds watch it then it will be geared towards nerds.

If the popularity of F1 drops and drops then the price will follow and terrestrial TV might get a look in. You never know.

Here’s a guy that doesn’t pay attention to current trends in media rights.

There is a good reason why the streaming service is only available in certain European countries - they happen to co-incide with areas where F1 is FTA because there isn't the demand or will to pay for a satellite based subscription service. This is the model Liberty want - free-to-air basic coverage enhanced by on-line streaming with the satellite broadcasters cut out of the loop as Liberty are in direct competition with them and don't see the point of handing an advantage to them,

Sky's impending hold on F1 in the UK (and existing hold in Italy) will be broken when their contracts come to an end. Liberty is a rival broadcaster (which only recently ended a dispute with Sky over carriage rights for their content) and it makes zero sense for the deals to continue.

...in 2025.

[Chuggaboom]

CraigyMc said:

...in 2025.

...by which time, F1 in the UK will most probably be not a happy place.

I forsee a gown up conversation behind closed doors between Liberty and Sky about their depth of strangle hold in the UK....no I don't expect sky to relinquish anything on the live front front, but would anticipate Liberty saying to Sky something along the lines of that "they would look far more favourably on their bid for post 2025 if they could help Liberty out with a highlights package on FTA as soon as a deal could be arranged."

[Andy S15]

Interestingly, Chase Carey is on the Sky board of directors. Not sure if that means anything, but is there a chance of Liberty buying them out maybe? I don't believe the new sky deal starts until next year so between now and then maybe there is a chance to terminate...

Personally I think the on demand service sounds great. Access to archival footage, camera choice on any car in the race, quite a cheap monthly that I'd happily pay. There's no way I'm going to be giving Sky my money, let alone the ludicrous amount they require just to get an F1 package.

[CraigyMc]

Andy S15 said:

Interestingly, Chase Carey is on the Sky board of directors. Not sure if that means anything, but is there a chance of Liberty buying them out maybe? I don't believe the new sky deal starts until next year so between now and then maybe there is a chance to terminate...

Personally I think the on demand service sounds great. Access to archival footage, camera choice on any car in the race, quite a cheap monthly that I'd happily pay. There's no way I'm going to be giving Sky my money, let alone the ludicrous amount they require just to get an F1 package.

Sky is currently being sold. It'll be to Disney, or comcast.

[r11co]

Andy S15 said:

Interestingly, Chase Carey is on the Sky board of directors. Not sure if that means anything, but is there a chance of Liberty buying them out maybe? I don't believe the new sky deal starts until next year so between now and then maybe there is a chance to terminate.

Anything is possible. There's been rumblings about Sky being broken-up, with the content generation part (Fox etc.) being bought by Disney and the news section becoming independent. Murdoch isn't getting any younger and satellite broadcasting is becoming less and less cost effective and restrictive in the age of fast broadband and direct-to-home on-demand video. A sell-off of Sky Sports to Liberty Global would make sense.

[2fast748]

I've just set wheels in motion to cancel my Sky TV subscription, was thinking about it for a while but the email this week saying it's going up £2.50 was the final straw. I love Formula 1 but costs have to be made in my house and pay TV is the easiest big saving. I have a NowTV capable box so will just use that for any live races I have the time to watch.

[Mr Pointy]

Anyone know what Liberty's relationship with Comcast is like?

[Vaud]

Mr Pointy said:

Anyone know what Liberty's relationship with Comcast is like?

I wonder if they are looking more widely - Amazon, Apple

[F1GTRUeno]

Said it before but hopefully they'll have a service a bit like the WWE network.

Have all the old race weekends available on demand so you can watch practice, qualifying and race if you want.

Have season reviews available too taken from the old VHS and DVD's if need be for people that just want to catch up on history.

Have organic content like documentaries on teams, drivers, cars, tracks and special races both current and from the past. Include extra stuff explaining technical and safety aspects (they could do with one for HALO so people can stop bhing about it).

Then finally have the current races available as part of a subscription. Make it £9.99 or something a month and voila - modern stuff for modern people.

Only problem is the various broadcasting rights would have to be re-negotiated but like the WWE, they still broadcast on Sky every Monday/Tuesday so surely something could be arranged.

Do Liberty have access to the old archives that Bernie had at Biggin Hill? Can't be that hard to put all the old races together surely? Sky and BBC have and used to give us a classic race either on the channel or on the website/iPlayer every now and then.

They could definitely have more stuff on their Youtube channel including a full race or two to entice people to buy into the streaming service.

[r11co]

F1GTRUeno said:

Make it £9.99 or something a month.

Circa £6 (going by today's exchange rate). They've already done it, just that Sky says we can't have it (yet).

It's the way to go I agree - the latest content for the price of a magazine subscription (when they were in their heyday), adjusted for inflation. The rest in volumes that you can access from the library via your existing membership.

Edited by r11co on Wednesday 28th February 19:53

[Macboy]

I'm not surprised that SKY, which has paid handsomely for F1 rights, won't allow the streaming service in the UK but it remains an appallingly short-sited deal and getting on board with some co-branded streaming service seems the only way to save F1 viewing in the next six years. I don't need or want SKY and never will. Am I going to wait five years to start watching F1 again? Is anyone? NO. As another poster said, once SKY is sold there's clearly a conversation needed about loosening the rights.