What F1 TV coverage do you prefer?

[oyster]

Crafty_ said:

oyster said:

How are BSkyB shares doing at the moment?

Sorry, bit cryptic for me, explain ?

First off you listed what was wrong with the BBC coverage, then said you haven't watched it this year!

Secondly, it's customary to have pros and cons of things you like - even things you really like. I mean I prefer the BBC coverage, but I'm not suggesting everything about the Sky coverage is rubbish. I like some of it.
Your entire post contained no negatives of the Sky coverage at all, and no positives of the BBC coverage. Is your opinion really that strong?

Oh P.S. Did you see the winky on my post?

[Crafty_]

oyster said:

First off you listed what was wrong with the BBC coverage, then said you haven't watched it this year!

Secondly, it's customary to have pros and cons of things you like - even things you really like. I mean I prefer the BBC coverage, but I'm not suggesting everything about the Sky coverage is rubbish. I like some of it.
Your entire post contained no negatives of the Sky coverage at all, and no positives of the BBC coverage. Is your opinion really that strong?

Oh P.S. Did you see the winky on my post?

I said what was wrong last year, which combined with their utterly stty attitude and the fact that key staff on the F1 team went to Sky was reason enough not to even bother watching this year.

I'd like to think I'm fairly easy going, I know people dislike Lazenby but he honestly doesn't annoy me too much.. If you want a criticism maybe all presenters could be a bit slicker when they switch between themselves.
I would also like to see more critique from Brundle after the show, he normally does a bit and them buggers off, fair enough because he'll of been talking for something like 2.5 hours (or more) by that time but meh, he gets paid enough

Not an issue for Sky but it would make life much easier for the viewer if they showed the tyres each car is on - displayed with the deltas/placings and on live timing. All it'd need is an RFID tag in each tyre (attached to the wheel rim?) that is read when the car leaves the pits by a widget on the end of the pitwall or similar.

Oh and FOM need to sort out live timing, it craps itself waay too often

I just hope Sky don't start charging extra for the channel because that'll piss me off

[TerzoNeil]

i heard somewhere that sky will be charging extra nex year fopr this f1 channel to recover costs and due to low numbers watching

[TheHeretic]

Where did you hear that?

[TerzoNeil]

sure it was in the sky complex centre in dumfrermline last time i was there and ask about it as was doing a job in there

[Teppic]

TerzoNeil said:

i heard somewhere that sky will be charging extra nex year fopr this f1 channel to recover costs and due to low numbers watching

Many people have speculated that they will be charging for the channel next year, but this speculation only ever seems to be on internet forums.

They may decide to charge for the channel.

They may decdide to put it in a Sky Sports pack so that you have to purchase channels that you don't need/want.

They may decide to rename it to Sky Motorsports and put Indycar and NASCAR on the channel.

They may decide to leave everything as it is.

The point is that at the moment no-one outside of Sky knows, and I doubt we'll hear anything until the season is over, if at all.

[Daz68]

Gaz. said:

TerzoNeil said:

i heard somewhere that sky will be charging extra nex year fopr this f1 channel to recover costs and due to low numbers watching

You heard that from an utter twonk then as SSF1 one of the highest viewers/£ spend on the entire sports sub section. Only SS1 fares better.

It sounds like the guff that PeacockAnthony has been spewing here and on Digital Spy despite every single prediction of his being wrong at every turn since last July. If he's come out with the above then the chances are it'll stay as it is for the next 5 years.

Am very interested to see what Sky decide for next year. My hunch is it will become part of the Sky Sports package.

[Peacockantony]

R0nin said:

Haven't watched the BBC since Sky have been showing F1 this year. Agree the quality isn't quite there (however during the race itself, no problems at all), but I prefer watching everything live as it unfolds. Plus, Sky got up to speed very quickly and do have strength and depth in the driver department, especially liked JV as guest contributor during the Canadian GP weekend too. I also watch FP when I can and all adds to the build up of each GP. Not sure I'd feel so immersed in F1 with the BBC offering.

I also believe that Lazenby is the weakest link. I don't miss smug Jake either and relieved he's gone to BT (not really an F1 fan are you Jake). Lazenby is awkward, unfunny, lacks any insight into F1 and as someone else put, just has no soul. Fortunately for Sky (and Damon), Johnny is a hit and has been a regular fixture ever since.

I also like the Race Centre, with the various feeds and additonal info it adds another dimension to the coverage.

Finally, with Sky Go I can watch every F1 race wherever I am on my laptop or tablet etc, another benefit of Sky coverage (in fact will be watching Jap GP live on iPad this morning & as you can see quality isn't shabby).

[IMAGE REMOVED TO SHORTEN POST]

i think Sky is doing a good job.

Edited by R0nin on Sunday 7th October 05:42

You do realise that you could do that with the BBC. Maybe not on an iPad (but then that is really your fault for buying a crApple device, they made the choice not to support flash).
But Sky Go is not providing something that was not already available.

AJS- said:

Can't fault the Sky coverage really, I just wish they'd make it available to stream outside the UK as it is so much better than the ad laden Star Sports we get here.

They are not allowed. Sky Sports only have broadcasting rights in the UK only. They do not have the right to show any FOM footage in other countries.

Crafty_ said:

Sky. Brundle, Davidson, Herbert, Hill - all pure racers and winners of some sort of another, other than Damon they've spent over half their lives racing and just can't get enough - these are the guys I want to see and hear from.
Topped off by Ted the ubergeek who gives us some good information.

BBC. DC "next year is my year", Jake "smug git", EJ.. well.. just EJ really.

They picked up Anderson somewhere along the line as an "expert", who hasn't been in the industry for 10 years? maybe more.

I haven't watched BBC this year after the BBC Forums turned in to a complete shambles last year - seemed to be more about Jake showing off and DC / EJ bickering whilst they wandered about aimlessly than actually telling us something.

Never really liked Edwards as a commentator and find it amusing that when Crofty was on the beeb he was the best bloke ever, now on Sky he's awful ?

Sky do some nifty graphics stuff - like the visualisation of the Alonso incident. Their features are better too.

Frankly given the arrogant way that the BBC handled the sharing deal and the subsequent outcry from fans they don't deserve any viewers.

Anderson, even though he has not been doing it for 10 years is still better than Ted, because he has the knowledge to understand what things mean and explain it, where as Ted just repeats what he was told.

And of course there was the BBC bash at the end. Totally disregarding that the government (with help from their friends the Murdochs) forced the BBC into this by making them take on extra costs whilst not increasing the amount of money that they receive to pay for these things.

Oakey said:

Have I totally misunderstood Sky Go? Can I not watch the full race on demand?

Not it just allows you to watch the channels live. But it is useless. Even on a 20Mb line, it was dropping down to poor quality, and there was nothing else using my internet at that time of the morning.

[Peacockantony]

Gaz. said:

As I understand it Sky have additional (outsourced) cameras but I think Crafty was talking about the 'Virtual Eye' when they take a FOM camera angle and manipulate the angle so you can have a clearer picture of what happened - the Alonso/Vettel overtakes in Monza 2011 & 2012 were superb examples of this in use.

What I find interesting is that sky are listening to their viewers via various internet forums and acting on that feedback, sometimes in real time while a show is on air.

Sky Sports DO NOT have any cameras track side themselves. They just use the camera feeds that FOM provide to all broadcasters if they want them.

Crafty_ said:

I said what was wrong last year, which combined with their utterly stty attitude and the fact that key staff on the F1 team went to Sky was reason enough not to even bother watching this year.

I'd like to think I'm fairly easy going, I know people dislike Lazenby but he honestly doesn't annoy me too much.. If you want a criticism maybe all presenters could be a bit slicker when they switch between themselves.
I would also like to see more critique from Brundle after the show, he normally does a bit and them buggers off, fair enough because he'll of been talking for something like 2.5 hours (or more) by that time but meh, he gets paid enough

Not an issue for Sky but it would make life much easier for the viewer if they showed the tyres each car is on - displayed with the deltas/placings and on live timing. All it'd need is an RFID tag in each tyre (attached to the wheel rim?) that is read when the car leaves the pits by a widget on the end of the pitwall or similar.

Oh and FOM need to sort out live timing, it craps itself waay too often

I just hope Sky don't start charging extra for the channel because that'll piss me off

Of course they will start charging more, maybe not next year but it won't be long.
Sky Sports F1 will be a Sky Sports pack exclusive. The HD pack option was only to get more customers to take out subscriptions/up their sub. Putting it on a the Sky Sports would not get them these extra customers.
Be prepared to be pissed off, Sky do not care about what their customers want, just the customer's money.

Gaz. said:

You heard that from an utter twonk then as SSF1 one of the highest viewers/£ spend on the entire sports sub section. Only SS1 fares better.

It sounds like the guff that PeacockAnthony has been spewing here and on Digital Spy despite every single prediction of his being wrong at every turn since last July. If he's come out with the above then the chances are it'll stay as it is for the next 5 years.

Thanks for the mention. Just a shame that I am the only one who can see past the Sky bullst.
Funny how you say all of my predictions have been wrong, yet people said that Sky would be filming the races themselves and they would get access that no other broadcaster could get, I stated that this would not be true, and guess what I was right.
The HD pack availability was only announced long after the public made it obvious that they were not wailling to pay for the Sky Sport pack to get it. Had they not made it available via the HD pack they would not have had the uptake they have had, and this uptake wasn't very high either.

[London424]

That is a hell of chip on your shoulder there chap...must make walking in a straight line difficult.

Don't really see what your problem is...go complain to the BBC for deciding to dump it.

[Crafty_]

Peacockantony said:

And of course there was the BBC bash at the end. Totally disregarding that the government (with help from their friends the Murdochs) forced the BBC into this by making them take on extra costs whilst not increasing the amount of money that they receive to pay for these things.

Wondered when you'd pop up again.

Oh and pull the other one on the "government caused this" line, BBC could of easily afforded to keep F1, they simply chose not to.

Meantime they were perfectly happy to continue with the plan to spend a billion quid moving sport and news to Salford, which was a plan initiated under Labour rule.

[hairyben]

Regarding sky starting to charge, it's quite probably as they'll want/need to fund it somehow, I think they've been very clever in how they've played it.

Remember when sky got the rights, most f1 fans, including me, were adamant they wouldn't pay any, or too much extra. Sky obviously have some understanding of the psychology of F1 fans who've had F1 for free, for ever, and also that F1 fans often aren't typical sports fans and won't have sky sports, and that chucking F1 into the sky sports package and asking for £300+ odd for it would likely be an abject failure.

I guess this is what people who watch more sport than me mean when they say that sky understand sports fans... unlike say the beeb/itv, who don't consider F1 important enough to put on a consistent channel, then insist on at least one commentator of the celebrity dancing factor 5 second attention span mold.. because to the beeb/itv it's "just another programme for the masses"

I wonder how many people who've watched the sky coverage (but only cos it didn't cost more money, right?) for the last year would now be more receptive to parting with some dosh... and yes, I might have fallen into that trap (although it depends largely on how much and how easy alternate sources are). Might make for an interesting poll.

[Rugbyman]

hairyben said:

I wonder how many people who've watched the sky coverage (but only cos it didn't cost more money, right?) for the last year would now be more receptive to parting with some dosh...

This will be the acid test.... Sky will have to play this very carefully to ensure whatever ( if any ) charges are applied to the exisiting F1 viewers as losing something that was free isnt really losing anything.... many who are not hardcore F1 fans but watched because it was free ( I wonder how many ) will just say thanks but no thanks if ANY charges are applied.

I guess we wont know until during the closed season and then we will see whos hunch was correct.... I for one fall into the camp that thinks some charge will come ( however cleverly disguised ).

[Marf]

Gaz. said:

I'd be very surprised if they change anything, the F1 is chicken feed compared to the EPL rights and SSF1 has a very good audiance share vs expenditure compared to Sky's other channels. BT Vision receives SSF1 from next season and it'll be interesting to see if they get it FOC or £10pcm.

The only reason they got as many customers to convert was that they didn't roll it into the Sports Package. As such I doubt they'll change anything else they'll lose customers.

I for one will cancel if it does move to the SS package.

[rallycross]

Sky F1 was good this weekend (for a dull race), good to see Anthony Davidson contributing more, also good to see Blundell (aka DI Blundell) back on the screen.

Highlight for me was pre-race when Hamilton was being interviewed walking down behind the pits (no one else following them) and to the right of screen there was chaos as dozens of press/tv/cameras chased Mr Gangnam Style' across the paddock! (ie in Korea its a case of Lewis who? rather than Lewis Hamilton!).

[Redlake27]

I boycotted Sky due to phone-hacking, but now the Beeb have Jim-groping. I'm going to have to go to F1 races in person now.

[Pwig]

Sky all the way for me.

Gotta love Teds Note Book

[MGJohn]

Pwig said:

Sky all the way for me.

Gotta love Teds Note Book
.

Almost as good as Gary Anderson's fag packet sketches...

[hairyben]

Rugbyman said:

This will be the acid test.... Sky will have to play this very carefully to ensure whatever ( if any ) charges are applied to the exisiting F1 viewers as losing something that was free isnt really losing anything.... many who are not hardcore F1 fans but watched because it was free ( I wonder how many ) will just say thanks but no thanks if ANY charges are applied.

I guess we wont know until during the closed season and then we will see whos hunch was correct.... I for one fall into the camp that thinks some charge will come ( however cleverly disguised ).

Am I right in thinking there is already a charge as you need either sports or HD sub to get SSF1?

[Rugbyman]

hairyben said:

Rugbyman said:

This will be the acid test.... Sky will have to play this very carefully to ensure whatever ( if any ) charges are applied to the exisiting F1 viewers as losing something that was free isnt really losing anything.... many who are not hardcore F1 fans but watched because it was free ( I wonder how many ) will just say thanks but no thanks if ANY charges are applied.

I guess we wont know until during the closed season and then we will see whos hunch was correct.... I for one fall into the camp that thinks some charge will come ( however cleverly disguised ).

Am I right in thinking there is already a charge as you need either sports or HD sub to get SSF1?

Well yes .... but if you already had HD or SS it was free ? So no extra charge ......

So no extra income for Rupe and Co. from those customers whom I expect make up the majority of SF1 viewers, after all I would expect very few non-sky customers would sign up for the whole Sky bundle just to get SF1 ? per haps a few hardcore F1 fans ......

So Sky will have to offset their expenditure some how .... Yes they can charge Virgin et al customers but Im not sure how much income that would really bring in .....

Hence my hunch that an extra charge for existing customers may be forth coming

But as I said only time will tell whos hunch is right

Edited by Rugbyman on Tuesday 16th October 11:14