How do you watch F1 & motorsport in general ?

With F1 and others motosport series moving to pay TV everywhere in Europe, how do you watch them today ?

I created separate polls for F1 and other motorsport series, because this being mainly a F1 forum I expect people to be more enclinded to pay to watch F1 on TV than for any other motorsport series.

Please don't ask where to find streams, it's not the purpose of this thread, and it's not allowed here anyway.

Personnaly : streaming only, for F1 and everything else (MotoGP, WSBK, Indycar, Le Mans ...).

Edited by GSiebert, 23 July 2014 - 12:18.

A combination - like many others I think, maybe you should amend your poll?

Free channel TV if possible - e.g. the F1 races that the BBC covers live, DTM, Le Mans, WSBR, occasionally WTTC

Otherwise streaming - e.g. the non-BBC F1 races, Indycar.

I expect there are huge differences based on country and on age as well. A lot of my older friends who are avid motorsport followers wouldn't even know what a stream is let alone how to watch one!

I watch F1 mainly by streaming SKY, I couldn't afford it but some very generous and kind person lets me use their account 

(I have watched two races on the BBC this year but only because I was having problems with the Sky stream and luckily those two races were one of the rare ones that the Beeb covered live)

as for other sport, I watch it online or on the BBC if and when they can be bothered to show it.

For both questions, free TV/streaming.

If there's racing I can watch on Freeview, I watch it, like BTCC. But more often if I want to watch something like IndyCar, MotoGP, I'll stream it. I watch TV very rarely in my free time anyway, so I've never viewed the expense of getting extra channels to really be worth it, even after every live F1 race went to Sky.

I think it's a shame what DTM has done this year. Last year it was streamed on YouTube, which was excellent, but this year it is geoblocked in this country because it is on BT Sport or something. Seems like a step back. Same deal with WEC, how you now have to pay to stream when last year it was free. Last year, I followed most the races, but other than Le Mans, I've hardly seen any of it this year because of that. The BT Sport MotoGP deal has meant I've only seen a couple of races as well. With it no longer on BBC, I often completely forget it is on at all.

I wish more forms of motorsport streamed races, for free, on their websites. For the issues it has, I like TUSCC, because they do just that (admittedly with a lot of adverts). Same deal with World Rallycross.

It'd surely be better to stream online for many championships than broadcasting on an obscure channel that only attracts half a dozen viewers.

Edited by JHSingo, 23 July 2014 - 11:26.

A combination - like many others I think, maybe you should amend your poll?

 

 

Free channel TV if possible - e.g. the F1 races that the BBC covers live, DTM, Le Mans, WSBR, occasionally WTTC

 

Otherwise streaming - e.g. the non-BBC F1 races, Indycar.

Well you can choose multiple options for both polls

Luckily I do have a peek at other motorsports once in a while - the two groups, "F1" and "Other motorsports", should really each have a "Don't watch this" option too, though.

Luckily I do have a peek at other motorsports once in a while - the two groups, "F1" and "Other motorsports", should really each have a "Don't watch this" option too, though.

Done !

I didn't think an answer was mandatory in both polls.

Streaming, but legal streaming. RTL has an online Stream for F1, it's however region locked and only to watch for Germany (and maybe Austria and Switzerland? Not sure)... and other series I won't watch unless there is a legal stream.... my TV is broken so I can't watch on it

Edited by Sin, 23 July 2014 - 12:25.

Streaming pretty much all of the time. If I'm lucky, then with some dudes and dudettes at the bar or over at my place on the PC.

Well you can choose multiple options for both polls

After some thinking I voted "other" in both polls - see my earlier response.

F! As I live in the UK I tend to stream the qualifying and practice sessions that aren't live on the BBC, I tend to watch the races live on sky at an F1 pub in Birmingham, unless I have work.

Other races: I generally tend to stream them unless they're available FTA. I'm very gutted about Moto gp heading to BT sport this season, I wasn't a big fan but it was nice having the races (along with Moto 2+3) on Iplayer and available to watch at my leisure.

Used to watch F1 on TV, but the US coverage is so poor (especially the myriad of commercial breaks during the race, which are an outrage), so these days I try to catch the stream whenever possible.

IndyCar, pretty much have to bite the bullet on TV, but I caught a stream a few times there as well.

Looking forward to how Formula E coverage will pan out...

torrent stream mostly

BBC if live, if not, Sky for F1, Sky for GP2/3

ITV4 for BTCC

I don't stream anything, I wouldn't know how to

It's easy purplehaired....

Just send us your account number and routing code....

Jp

It's easy purplehaired....

Just send us your account number and routing code....

Jp

Only $67.75! That's amazing, it's the same as my PIN number!

I know above is a joke

But be wary of admitting anything on a popular ish website!

Used to watch F1 on TV, but the US coverage is so poor (especially the myriad of commercial breaks during the race, which are an outrage), so these days I try to catch the stream whenever possible.

 

IndyCar, pretty much have to bite the bullet on TV, but I caught a stream a few times there as well.

 

Looking forward to how Formula E coverage will pan out...

It's pretty good in Canada, on TSN.  The commercial break duration is minimal and infrequent in comparison to most sports, and they do a split screen so you can still see what's happening while the commercials are going.  Though I usually DVR it, it's the only program on television that I could tolerate watching live, and I occasionally do.

The only other motorsport I watch regularly is MotoGP (including Moto2), on Speed Channel.  Yes, we still have that channel in Canada.  I DVR those.  I did watch most of the daylight hours of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on DVR delay this year as well.  It's the first time I've watched any significant amount of that race.

I wouldn't really call it free TV though, as there's a cable bill of around $750 a year.  If I wasn't sharing the cost with anyone I'd rather just pay that money directly for commercial-free versions of the few things on television that I watch.

f1 on sky - other stuff on free channels or streaming but apart from btcc i dont really go out my way to watch other series

Well I didn't think streaming was being used by so many, even for F1.

for f1 i watch live bbc on tv and on non live weekends i watch a sky f1 stream for fp1,2 and 3, and then watch quali and race highlights on bbc tv. usesd to watch moto 2,3 and moto gp but the bt move killed my interest from an avid follower in 2013 to not have watched anything from 2014 motogp.

for other motorsport i watch(gp2,formula renault 3.5,indylights,indycar,wrc,wec)them on youtube as they get uploaded.  

Edited by SR388, 24 July 2014 - 19:18.

downloading or torrenting should be an option different to streaming, maybe?

i used to stream but nowadays i download quali and the race (i'll stream practice if i'm awake/online).

reasons i download:

• better quality than a stream
• more reliable than a stream - doesn't pause
• don't have to wade through all the popup ads
• can watch when i want/can - am normally not in the right timezone
• can pause and rewind
• vastly better quality than local coverage - this is the key reason, it's why i started streaming in the first place
• that said, can skip through the 'presenters' that are rubbish

having to avoid the results and not being able to use live timing or autosport live anymore is a pain but outweighed by the postives.

there's a huge, huge gap between how fom/bernie are running tv/online content and how the real world is watching sports.  the more people that stream and download, the less interested the tv networks will be. 

f1 is a global brand.  the internet is the perfect platform for it.  bernie should be working on making watching f1 online a premium experience that's free to use - without a paywall or geo-blocking - but monetised in other ways.  until then, see you on the download sites.

Edited by djned, 24 July 2014 - 20:13.

F1: BBC for their live weekends. Otherwise, Sport1 for free practice and RTL for qualifying and the race, with BBC radio commentary.

Other series: Any way I can, but not pay TV. WEC via streaming and/or Eurosport Germany, WTCC & 3.5 litre Formula Renault World Series By Renault on Eurosport Germany, DTM on ARD Erste, ELMS and Blancpain Endurance on live streaming. Then for the non-European-based racing that comes on at times that aren't convenient for me I on-demand rather than live streaming, or even downloads, so for V8 Supercars I used to download full races from an unofficial website that the series organisers knew about but effectively condoned, until they decided this season that they wanted to start streaming their races on their own website and charging for it and requiring their customers to install software that isn't available on the Linux platform. So I don't watch.

It's a pity because you'd think categories outside F1 would realise that it's better to have people watching for free than not watching (which are the only two options I'm prepared to give them), because that's how you build an audience which can then be sold to sponsors. It's usually short-sighted series promoters who realise that if they get the audience to pay for the product directly, that money comes straight to the organisers, either directly if they're running their own paywall-protected stream, or via the broadcaster if they go to pay TV. Whereas if they get the audience to pay for the product indirectly by watching in much greater numbers, for free, and being advertised at, it's mainly the teams that benefit.

I downloaded torrents with F1 when it was.. faster..

Edited by MatsNorway, 25 July 2014 - 01:38.

Other = Live.

I watch F1 on free TV. I watch it, in order of preference, on German (RTL), English (BBC), or Belgian (RTBF) channels.

Watched Le Mans on free TV from the Netherlands itself (RTL), and the other WEC races online, as I gave in to my curiosity and bought a season-pass.

Edited by Nonesuch, 25 July 2014 - 12:04.

Motors TV is on freeview now and I watch that a lot along with a £2 a month subscription to Eurosport. That combination covers most things that aren't on BBC/ITV.

normally I watch on ORF1 (austrian channel) when Alex Wurz is co-commentating for F1. He really knows a lot of backround stuff, makes trackwalks and all that during FP and he is very relaxed in a lot of ways. You can get a good laugh too. Obviously their program is very limited due to budget being a free TV channel but it's a good atmosphere.

If he isn't there I most likely watch a Sky-stream from somehwere on the internet. I would pay for Sky UK but obviously it isn't available in other countries. Sky germany is not worth it tbh and RTL germany is abysmal.

Free and pay tv, then some events which are freely streamed i i use those.