Did I read that he hadn't gone to the Australian GP?
Maybe he sat at home, watched ITV and thought "Jesus Christ, something has to be done."

(I didn't get up to watch any of the pre-race, or watch the post-race analysis, so don't know how bad it really was, but I thought the race was covered well)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/for...icle3588588.ece

I bet this guy was reading the board

John Watson in the pits !

More from the Beeb:

BBC sports news correspondent Adam Parsons said: "ITV are saying it was a straightforward commercial decision. A lot of people I have spoken to today have queried that.

"Within ITV, what they are saying is that even though Lewis Hamilton is great, even though the Brazilian Grand Prix [at the end of last year] got a huge viewing figures, that actually over the course of a year viewing figures are not that impressive, they're not that great.

"A lot of races are happening at night, they're not happening at peak time. That it is not particularly good value for money.

"The other side of that is the BBC is saying, Lewis Hamilton and the ripple effect of that is wonderful, millions of people tune in and the Brazilian GP was the most-watched sports event of last year.

"You might say ITV would rather bad-mouth it because they've just lost the rights but on the one hand they're saying straightforward commercial decision.

"But on the other plenty of people are saying that having spent a decade broadcasting when a German, a Finn and a Spaniard were winning world titles, it seems a bit curious [for ITV] to pull out when a Brit is on the verge of winning it."

Oooh, bitchy...

1) Their MotoGP coverage has lots of pre and post-race coverage. I'd have no worries here.

2) Considering ITV dropped F1 and the BBC are the only game in town, I don't think the FIA have much choice in the matter.

3) As it should be. I don't pay my licence fee so that those who don't can leach off it.

Good. Maybe I'll go back to watching TSN if they buy BBC's coverage!

I still don't understand why people are wary of the BBC becuase the coverage back in the 80s wasn't all that great.

Firstly, it wasn't as if the BBC were doing an awful job and everyone else had brilliant coverage back then. I remember trying to watch some races in France during the late 80s and even the early 90s and finding it just as infrequent and inconsistent as the Beeb.

Secondly, times have moved on. In the same way the BBC were improving their coverage year-on-year, ITV took the baton and ran with it when they got the rights, F1 now compared to F1 even as little as a decade ago is a much bigger beast, and I am sure the sport bods at the BBC know this. They've seen what ITV have done, they know what areas other countries' broadcasts cover too and I am sure these are all part of the 'ideas' Bernie was talking about.

Lastly, it's not as if Bernie is going to give the Beeb back the rights if they were faffing around without any reasonably set idea of how they would present it. More-than-likely is that the BBC already have their plan in place and are going to announce more of it as they make the relevant signings/schedule changes.

The sport has changed a lot since 1996, but the BBC and the media in gerneral has too. I'm convinced they've got people there who know what the public expects from Formula One coverage these days.

Yes! Ben Edwards and Martin Brundle get my vote - have just emailed the bbc!

To those that are concerned because of the relatively poor coverage when BBC last had F1, you need to realise that times have changed completely in terms of TV broadcasting. In the mid 90's the BBC only had two channels available to them, no interactive service, no streaming from the web (not reliable / watchable anyway), no additional digital channels etc.

With only 2 channels and a commitment to having a programme like Grandstand to cover all sport on the channel, you can see why F1 ended up being slotted in and around other things back in the day, and it has to be said that ITV's coverage (adverts excepted) was an improvement overall when it arrived.

Im sure this time it will be completely different, there's no Grandstand in that timeslot and generally not so much sporting coverage competing for the Sat/Sun afternoon timeslot any more either. The Beeb also have a pretty good interactive service that can be used to give fringe coverage to the entusiast (practice, extended post race coverage etc) without impacting on their obligations to show a diverse programme selection.

Chris

I bet itv did this cos of complaints they got for putting coronation street back at the end of the brasilian grand prix.

good news, hoping for some things from itv to stay - grid walk, brundle, track guide, fairly good relationship with the paddock and teams. Bye bye Allan and Brundle (poor sniff petrol is gonna be out of a job....)

I think one of the really exciting prospects is that, although not confirmed, we may eventually see F1 in glorious HD on the BBC. They currently have some of the best quality HD broadcasts around!!

'And now the Australian Grand Prix from Melbourne'

The Chain by Fleetwood mac plays for 30 seconds

Cars already on grid 10 mins to go, quick grid walk from Brundle

Cover the race

Podium ceremony

End credits with the Chain again for 30 seconds with highlights of the race weve just had, finishing with race winner taking chequered flag

End



Cut all the bullshit out, and just show the race. Suits me fine BBC.

I live outside the UK too and my broadcaster purchases F1 coverage from ITV - but only the minimum they can get away with. Sorry I don't pay the UK licence fee - I would if it allowed me coverage. Point being that some of us outside the UK have no other way of getting decent coverage but getting it on-line! What about us???

^this^

It's a simple equation:

(F1 - ads) > ((F1 + ads) + anything else)

would have no complaints with that

Brundles insight features are often quite good and the news features voiced over by Ted Kravitz are usually informative and to the point.

Little tip for those who don't like the additional features covered by ITV (and possibly BBC) : Television sets can be switched on even up to just seconds before a race is due to start!

And if you have a situation like Indianapolis 2005 or Monza 2006, how are you going to explain what's going on that weekend while Martin is doing his gridwalk?

Q: How do you know blundell is talking shit?


A: His lips move.


Total waste of time and oxygen.

Theres a lot of propaganda being thrown around by the BBC and ITV.

Lets face some facts. In spite of Lewis Mania the viewing figures for F1 wern't that great for ITV.

Many races taking place at nice didn't even make the top30
Most of European races pulled in 3 to 4 million.
The BBC claim the Brazilian GP was the UK's most watched sporting broadcast. Thats utter bolloxs, It got 7.44million. The RWC and various international football matches outdid that. The figures are on BARB in black & white, so why the "spokesperson/PR wanker" came up with that I dont know.

Bottom line appears that the BBC got it for less than ITV because Bernie was unhappy at viewing figures (not really ITV's fault) and the BBC could offer a better HD/Interactive service.

I think ITV aren't really that unhappy as they were overpaying for F1(they are a ratings driven commercial station after all) and are under pressure to keep ECL football.

Sounds like everyones happy. The Fans, BBC, ITV and even Bernie.

And to the earlier poster who couldn't care about Moto GP, bolloxs. I'll be unhappy if they drop it and i'm sure i'm not the only one. Unlikely in view of JT's performance anyway.

I would suspect the BBC coverage wont be as long or as Lewis based as ITV's.

Heres to a brighter future (WITH MARTIN)

Andy

Kimimania in Finland -> F1 goes to PayTV

Lewismania in Britain -> F1 goes to public service

:\

Well, I don't complain. I pay, so I get to see every single second of all sessions live and lots of other F1 stuff too. Those who are not so interested can watch something else on free channels.

What do you mean goes to - it's always been on public TV.

Ben

Isn't ITV a private commercial company with ad breaks, not public service like BBC?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_services

still a free service tho

Ross - I don't think any amount of TV coverage could have adequately explained the situation on the day.

I was actually in luxembourg that weekend and don't speak German so all I had was a single text from a friend saying Michelin teams had withdrawn for safety reasons - gave me enough info at the time.

Hours of talking heads doesn't add much for me it just wastes time.

Ben

One great thing is the iPlayer, we'll all be able to rewatch the race if we want. I know many have Sky+ but it's still nice to grab it off the web.

I seriously doubt this. BE isnt worried about the viewing figures as long as he is getting his fee. I suspect ITV wanted out.

Yeah but other people will have questions, you'll want to show interviews, etc. You couldn't just rock up and say "uh...dont be surprised if the Michelin teams pull in soon"

Granted I don't think you need the agony of the 60 minutes that ITV gives you, most of which is repeated from the qualifying broadcast.

As I said in my origional post:-

Even if BBC drop MotoGP i'd be fairly sure that Eurosport will still have the rights. Very hard to beat the 3 commentators on Eurosport.

There is nothing to stop your broadcaster trying to do the same sort of deal with the BBC. But the bottom line is that if you have a problem, then you should be getting on to your local broadcaster, it's not a BBC problem.

THe reports cite an 'undisclosed sum'. iirc, given the unique way in which the BBC is funded, that sum will have to be disclosed as the BBC's books are in the public interest.

Doug

It was the same with RTE when they were on their second contract. Jordan was in the dumps and Ferrari were winning everything in sight. RTE lost all interest in the coverage - so much so that TV3 (Ireland's ITV-lite channel) gave you more F1-related news between races, car launches etc. Once RTE's contract was up, they dropped all reference to F1 - even going so far as not mentioning the race results in the evening news.

Do Premiere in Germany still run the onboards as a separate feed? If so, we could get that now too, a trip back to F1 Digital+ days...

This is great news. No advert breaks, and the BBC are really keen on using the interactive element of their broadcasts...

Although James Hunt was a mega talented driver it always struck he didn't have a clue about F1 or anything else to do with cars,?
If he had actually had the slightest technical bent he might have been the greatest driver of all time.

Any confirmation that some or all of the races will not only be uniterupted, but live?

It's not a given until they say so.

James Hunt used to infuriate Murray Walker because he used to pop out randomly and go for a smoke leaving Murray on his own.

And when my local broadcaster completely ignores the F1 fans as insignificant - what is my recourse??

I agree that it's not BBC's problem and trust me I will be letting my broadcaster know how I feel, but I think all of you in the UK saying who cares about the international audience, they didn't pay for it, should have some sympathy for fellow fans who have no other options!

I pay for the BBC as well as ITV, through my local cable company. TBH though the geographical restriction isn't down to a "you aren't paying a TV license", it is down to copyright laws that prevent broadcast worldwide without restriction. Of course it can be simply gotten around by using a British proxy. There are hundreds to choose from that are free.

Berie wouldn't have signed the contract unless they agreed to show every race live (regardless of circumstances) on terrestrial tv,so in this case BBC1 or BBC2,i'd imagine if they failed to show even 1 race live bernie would be onto them and threatening to tear up the contract,so they don't have a choice

You have my sympathies if you can't watch F1, but sorry I have no sympathy for you not being able to recieve a transmission you have not paid for.

The bottom line is that neither the BBC or ITV are primarily international broadcasters. They are there for the home market, but do resell the service. It's your home broadcaster and/or the FIA you need to complain about.

Ha ha ha classic !!

I'm not conceding the point though, that stands!

Andy, you need to understand the distinction between viewing figures dependant on what day of the week it is and what time of any particular day it is.

3 - 4 million viewers on a Sunday lunchtime in the UK is absolutely amazing viewing figures.

Most flagship primetime TV shows are lucky to pull anywhere near 3/4's of those figures. The only standard/regular shows that can beat those sort of figures are the two top soap-operas at a peak point when a major storyline is happening.

I imagine you are speaking as a hardcore viewer though, same as I am.

In other words you watch the full qualifying show which invariably has interviews and features that are then repeated in the Sunday show pre-race. We have to remember that the majority of viewers only watch the race broadcast. I frequently find myself disappearing from the living room during the pre-race show to make a coffee etc as they repeat features. But having said that, if I find myself missing a qualifying broadcast (which a couple of years ago I was forced to miss quite a few whilst on the road) then I want to see a long pre-race show with lots of features even if repeats from the previous day.

Again, the whole forum needs to remember we already have a huge amount of F1 knowledge and follow every bloody second of the sport. Most F1 race day viewers don't follow the sport like we forumers do, so the features that some of us may found repetitive or boring are actually essential for capturing the casual fan.

And without the millions of casual fans, the few thousands of us who are hardcore fans wouldn't have a free F1 show to watch at all...

I have every single BBC F1 highlights show (from Grandstand) spanning 1984 to 1994 and can assure people that James Hunt's reputation for being some uncontrollable wild man in the commentary booth is complete nonsense.

He was actually very serious as a commentator and not particularly interesting to be honest.

What I don't understand is I read a comment from Ecclestone years ago where he said that there will always be a guarantee that every territory would have access to free-to-air F1 on terrestrial channels but may be able to choose to go to a pay-station to watch instead if they wanted to.

Yet here are people who state they have no choice but to pay.

It's disgusting and I seriously feel for anyone who has to pay because I know I would go fucking insane if I had to pay out more money as well as my Virgin cable fees just to watch F1.

Ah now, I wouldn't go that far. 6-1 was giving results of the Aus GP anyways.

I'd say RTE's big problem was that who ever had it was watching ITV. I was anyways.

Cool - which email address did you use there?

Didn't Ben Edwards already decline the opportunity to fly around the world and commentate on F1 a few years ago? I wouldn't be surprised if he was approached before Allen, although I know very little about the whole thing.

Not sure if it's been mentioned before, but supposedly Croft and Legard are the BBC's first choices, alongside Brundle, obviously.

They might be good for sun aft/lunchtime but 3-4million is NOT an amazing ammount. Also you seem to be saying that only corrie and eastenders get more viewers which isnt true. Check BARB for yourself and see how many sun lunchtime races make ITV's top 30. Corrie is not on 30 a week, it just feels like it:)

You have to bear in mind what ITV paid for F1. They arer't exactly crying about losing F1. I dont think its a coincidence that they now have the Eng int / FA cup rights. Cup games on a sun lunchtime, I wonder?