A change on the way in the future?
Discussion
https://www.racefans.net/2019/05/25/f1-admits-uk-s...
Sean Bratches admitting Bernie's money-grabbing is "sub-optimal", and they (Liberty) want FTA.
Sean Bratches admitting Bernie's money-grabbing is "sub-optimal", and they (Liberty) want FTA.
JonChalk said:
https://www.racefans.net/2019/05/25/f1-admits-uk-s...
Sean Bratches admitting Bernie's money-grabbing is "sub-optimal", and they (Liberty) want FTA.
Yet they still push the PTV F1TV app/service...Sean Bratches admitting Bernie's money-grabbing is "sub-optimal", and they (Liberty) want FTA.
Which to be fair, I'm fine with. It's about £50 a year (in the regions that are allowed it) for all live content, replays, timings and the past races going back decades. It's a good deal.
The best balance would be 5-10 FTA live races per year to keep new generations tempted to the sport, and those that get hooked, pay a reasonable price for full season live access via F1TV.
Who can't afford £2 per race, along with all the other content. Better than £200++ for Sky + Sky F1, when you also still have to put up with adverts!!
TheDeuce said:
Who can't afford £2 per race, along with all the other content. Better than £200++ for Sky + Sky F1, when you also still have to put up with adverts!!
While I can afford it, can I be bothered? I have watched 1 highlight on Channel 4 this year and can't be bothered watching the rest of them, they are sitting on the digi box un-watched.This is the first year since the 1960s that I really cannot be bothered watching F1 at all, my son gave up watching F1 2 years ago.
I put up a satellite dish to get the BBC1 HD broadcast on Freesat here in Belgium and routed it to my home cinema only for it to move to Channel 4 and part live part highlights.
Too much hassle trying to avoid the results before you get to see the highlight program in the evening and that C4 is in SD on Freesat and not HD, it shows on the big screen that the quality is not there.
Alicatt1 said:
While I can afford it, can I be bothered? I have watched 1 highlight on Channel 4 this year and can't be bothered watching the rest of them, they are sitting on the digi box un-watched.
This is the first year since the 1960s that I really cannot be bothered watching F1 at all, my son gave up watching F1 2 years ago.
I put up a satellite dish to get the BBC1 HD broadcast on Freesat here in Belgium and routed it to my home cinema only for it to move to Channel 4 and part live part highlights.
Too much hassle trying to avoid the results before you get to see the highlight program in the evening and that C4 is in SD on Freesat and not HD, it shows on the big screen that the quality is not there.
You can be bothered to read and reply to an F1 thread, so I imagine you could just about struggle through a race - even if just as background noise pending any drama or excitement.This is the first year since the 1960s that I really cannot be bothered watching F1 at all, my son gave up watching F1 2 years ago.
I put up a satellite dish to get the BBC1 HD broadcast on Freesat here in Belgium and routed it to my home cinema only for it to move to Channel 4 and part live part highlights.
Too much hassle trying to avoid the results before you get to see the highlight program in the evening and that C4 is in SD on Freesat and not HD, it shows on the big screen that the quality is not there.
JonChalk said:
https://www.racefans.net/2019/05/25/f1-admits-uk-s...
Sean Bratches admitting Bernie's money-grabbing is "sub-optimal", and they (Liberty) want FTA.
Bernie's deals sub-optimal? For whom? Sean Bratches admitting Bernie's money-grabbing is "sub-optimal", and they (Liberty) want FTA.
There seems to be a series of prospective moves from an established circuit to another one in the same country, or, at least, the threat of it. I thought, without evidence, that this might be to bring down the price. And now we have the suggestion of FTA, presumably once the current deal expires.
There are very short highlights on YT, which is great, unless you are Ch4 of course. I can't see them being too happy with the move. I doubt they will want to pay the same sum for any new contract of highlights. So the value of an asset - highlights programmes - drops but they get higher viewing figures from YT.
I reckon they are considering putting F1 up for sale, or spreading the financial risk. The figures from FTA will help both.
Alicatt1 said:
Too much hassle trying to avoid the results before you get to see the highlight program in the evening
What with radio, TV , the internet and social media it takes a determined effort not to see the results before the highlights show and I'm rarely successful!
Couple this with Mercedes dominance this year it's not difficult to see why viewing figures are well down on last year.
eccles said:
This is the biggest thing for me. Last year the highlights were usually on within a couple of hours of the live race, now they are on in the evening, several hours after the race has finished.
What with radio, TV , the internet and social media it takes a determined effort not to see the results before the highlights show and I'm rarely successful!
Couple this with Mercedes dominance this year it's not difficult to see why viewing figures are well down on last year.
The viewing figures are down on C4 because many have gone to sky pay. The overall UK viewing figures are down because it's no longer possible (in a worthwhile way) to watch for free.What with radio, TV , the internet and social media it takes a determined effort not to see the results before the highlights show and I'm rarely successful!
Couple this with Mercedes dominance this year it's not difficult to see why viewing figures are well down on last year.
It has nothing to do with Mercedes dominance. Unless the former millions used to tune in simply to hope the best team wouldn't win.
TheDeuce said:
Yet they still push the PTV F1TV app/service...
Which to be fair, I'm fine with. It's about £50 a year (in the regions that are allowed it) for all live content, replays, timings and the past races going back decades. It's a good deal.
The best balance would be 5-10 FTA live races per year to keep new generations tempted to the sport, and those that get hooked, pay a reasonable price for full season live access via F1TV.
Who can't afford £2 per race, along with all the other content. Better than £200++ for Sky + Sky F1, when you also still have to put up with adverts!!
It's anything from €50 to €190, depending on the country.Which to be fair, I'm fine with. It's about £50 a year (in the regions that are allowed it) for all live content, replays, timings and the past races going back decades. It's a good deal.
The best balance would be 5-10 FTA live races per year to keep new generations tempted to the sport, and those that get hooked, pay a reasonable price for full season live access via F1TV.
Who can't afford £2 per race, along with all the other content. Better than £200++ for Sky + Sky F1, when you also still have to put up with adverts!!
TheDeuce said:
eccles said:
This is the biggest thing for me. Last year the highlights were usually on within a couple of hours of the live race, now they are on in the evening, several hours after the race has finished.
What with radio, TV , the internet and social media it takes a determined effort not to see the results before the highlights show and I'm rarely successful!
Couple this with Mercedes dominance this year it's not difficult to see why viewing figures are well down on last year.
The viewing figures are down on C4 because many have gone to sky pay. The overall UK viewing figures are down because it's no longer possible (in a worthwhile way) to watch for free.What with radio, TV , the internet and social media it takes a determined effort not to see the results before the highlights show and I'm rarely successful!
Couple this with Mercedes dominance this year it's not difficult to see why viewing figures are well down on last year.
It has nothing to do with Mercedes dominance. Unless the former millions used to tune in simply to hope the best team wouldn't win.
So that's a small straw poll of about 15 people , amongst mates in work. Just imagine that multiplied across the country. Even some of the die hard fans are saying they've taped the highlights on C4, but don't get around to watching it until a week later instead of straight away.
I’ve switched to BBC 5L radio live coverage. It gives the added benefit that I can get on with whatever needs doing for the 3-4hrs over a weekend.
I remember being enraged at the time when Bernie first moved to remove live FTA coverage, but now I really don’t care. It’s F1’s loss in my view as retaining/prospecting sponsorship deals must be getting harder.
I remember being enraged at the time when Bernie first moved to remove live FTA coverage, but now I really don’t care. It’s F1’s loss in my view as retaining/prospecting sponsorship deals must be getting harder.
Alicatt1 said:
TheDeuce said:
Who can't afford £2 per race, along with all the other content. Better than £200++ for Sky + Sky F1, when you also still have to put up with adverts!!
While I can afford it, can I be bothered? I have watched 1 highlight on Channel 4 this year and can't be bothered watching the rest of them, they are sitting on the digi box un-watched.This is the first year since the 1960s that I really cannot be bothered watching F1 at all, my son gave up watching F1 2 years ago.
I put up a satellite dish to get the BBC1 HD broadcast on Freesat here in Belgium and routed it to my home cinema only for it to move to Channel 4 and part live part highlights.
Too much hassle trying to avoid the results before you get to see the highlight program in the evening and that C4 is in SD on Freesat and not HD, it shows on the big screen that the quality is not there.
Plenty of guides on Google on how to do it.
No recording option, but at least it's not the 1 bit per second SD transmission.
Although it may be a generational thing, I prefer to watch the highlights on YouTube, unless I'm told it's a particularly interesting race. It's free, cuts down on the parts of the race where there's no action, and I can usually catch the interviews and podium stuff on there anyway.
By the time the highlights are on C4 I've probably already caught the ones on the F1 YouTube channel.
By the time the highlights are on C4 I've probably already caught the ones on the F1 YouTube channel.
Good that they focus on F1s biggest problem for the future. Hopefully they can make it more easily accessible to get new viewers in instead of pumping the current ones on money until they quit. Here In Sweden it was 40quid every month before f1tv appeared, that won't draw in new watchers. When i was kid i was lured into BTCC, f1 and motogp while it was still on regular tele like eurosport etc, otherwise i wouldn't have started watching.
rscott said:
Annoyingly you need a credit/debit card registered in whatever country you want to buy the subscription from. IE, I cannot use a UK debit card to buy a F1TV subscription from elsewhere in Europe, and then simply stream it here. Which I had thought was totally against all the EU rules on single market, being able to buy products from across the EU etc etc. Apparently there is a different set of rules for subscription services.
As has been said £50 a year for full access is good value, and a lot of casual fans would pay it. £200 for sky is a complete joke, god knows why or who thought that was an acceptable price point to appeal to the widest possible audience.
Condi said:
Annoyingly you need a credit/debit card registered in whatever country you want to buy the subscription from. IE, I cannot use a UK debit card to buy a F1TV subscription from elsewhere in Europe, and then simply stream it here.
Which I had thought was totally against all the EU rules on single market, being able to buy products from across the EU etc etc. Apparently there is a different set of rules for subscription services.
As has been said £50 a year for full access is good value, and a lot of casual fans would pay it. £200 for sky is a complete joke, god knows why or who thought that was an acceptable price point to appeal to the widest possible audience.
In case anyone is really bothered, I imagine it would be simple enough to either buy a pre-paid credit card for a country that has the service, or perhaps ask an overseas friend/relative to make the payment and transfer them the money back. I recall there were quite a few work-around type stories in the early days, although there were also stories of people being found out and having their viewing stopped, with the money paid lost. So do so at your peril...Which I had thought was totally against all the EU rules on single market, being able to buy products from across the EU etc etc. Apparently there is a different set of rules for subscription services.
As has been said £50 a year for full access is good value, and a lot of casual fans would pay it. £200 for sky is a complete joke, god knows why or who thought that was an acceptable price point to appeal to the widest possible audience.
For those such as myself that just want a hassle free life, Sky is the only option right now. I do believe that Liberty want nothing more than to bring F1TV to the UK, but the Sky agreement prevents that for the next 5 years.
TheDeuce said:
I do believe that Liberty want nothing more than to bring F1TV to the UK, but the Sky agreement prevents that for the next 5 years.
I sensed (from written tone only) that Sean Bratches was equally frustrated with that particular contractual stitch up.Whatever they want to do in the rest of the world, the UK (some would say, the technical heart of F1) is going to be way behind improvements they make elsewhere.
JonChalk said:
I sensed (from written tone only) that Sean Bratches was equally frustrated with that particular contractual stitch up.
Whatever they want to do in the rest of the world, the UK (some would say, the technical heart of F1) is going to be way behind improvements they make elsewhere.
They have openly criticised the sky deal. It was an agreement signed ahead of them taking control sadly. It's a 6 year agreement so for thos of us paying for Sky as opposed to F1TV, it will cost us each around £900 extra over these 6 years!!!! Whatever they want to do in the rest of the world, the UK (some would say, the technical heart of F1) is going to be way behind improvements they make elsewhere.
I think Sky will end up selling a F1-only season pass. The value offered by NowTV vs full-fat F1 PPV is laughable.
I paid £195 for this year's F1 season offer, but the first three races were free to watch and I've only managed to catch Monaco live, real life being rather busy at the moment. It's also not possible to watch the races on catch-up (please educate me if I've missed how) - so you have to wait until they are repeated. Day passes will be fine for me next season.
I paid £195 for this year's F1 season offer, but the first three races were free to watch and I've only managed to catch Monaco live, real life being rather busy at the moment. It's also not possible to watch the races on catch-up (please educate me if I've missed how) - so you have to wait until they are repeated. Day passes will be fine for me next season.
Gassing Station | Formula 1 | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff