Cheers to you Brits. Lucky b#stards, no commercial breaks in F1 from 2009 on
At least another channel to switch to when RTL7 goes into commercial breaks...

Yes but...it's amazing for a Sunday afternoon and unfortunately (for any TV company) F1 races don't take place during peak viewing hours.

Considering almost the entire country at lunchtime on a Sunday is either:

* Having lunch
* Visiting relatives
* Outdoors somewhere
* At a football match
* Washing their car or mowing the lawn

3-4 million is all any TV show could possibly hope to wish for at that time.

As for ITV not crying about losing F1 - it's becoming pretty clear that ITV didn't want F1 anymore and thus Bernie approached the BBC to take it on instead.

It's obvious - ITV have confirmed they got out of showing F1 early for economic reasons, and BBC have admitted Ecclestone approached them and not the other way round.

Don't forget who recently took control of ITV. A man known for making big, quick and hard hitting decisions for TV companies.

Well he flies around the world to commentate on A1GP - what's the difference, other than A1GP being shit?

I haven't heard BBC's preferred choices but can tell you that they aren't excluding even trying to get Murray Walker back onboard, although the chances of that happening are slim. (This story as heard on BBC News 24 this morning when the top BBC Sport guy was interviewed live).

Complain to your broadcaster and Bernie! There's no reason why your broadcaster can't make use of BBC/ITV's technology without you stealing valuable bandwidth from licence paying UK viewers.

I saw this on the early morning BBC news and I was over the moon!

I can't believe it's been 12 years since ITV took over the F1 coverage, yet the BBC's un-interupted coverage from 1980s and '90s is still so fresh in my mind.

I have never, ever got used to the bloody advert breaks ITV have to show during their coverage, it is just the most annoying thing that could happen while an F1 race is taking place.

I really hope that the Beeb can secure the services of Martin Brundle. He really does add a great deal of knowledge to a broadcast, he's funny and he would be sorely missed if he were not taken on.

As for James Allen?

Let's just say that Brundle has needed a new sidekick for a very, very long time..

Here's to quality, un-interupted coverage from the BBC in 2009!!

No more cock-ups like Imola 2005 ever again!

YEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAA!!

Jokes aside, that would be awesome, we'd get real questions at least.

Flippin Out-flippin-rageous! Why should my licence fee pay for a minority overated so called sport that shows overpaid primadonnas driving round and round in oversized bumper cars?

signed

Disgruntled licence fee payer

Isle of Dogs.

Legends, we have something to celebrate.

BBC and Slick tyres

And why not bring back their old f1 tune. Kinda got a shockwave of the Senna/Mansell/Prost era when I saw the news today. 2009 is Back to the future a bit.

In my opinion F1 has come back home on the BBC. The only wish I have is that it isn't like the ITV coverage and isn't geared totally towards Lewis Hamilton. They could do wonders if they expand the format of the show a little.

I think that ITV has too long of a build up show and too little of an analysis and the build ups are getting really repetitive now with ITV outside Lewis's garage and much of the build up being centred around him and not the other drivers/teams in the paddock.

It wasn't great (assuming you're Welsh - woohoo!), but that's immaterial. They did it, and that was the point of contention.

ITV was also even worse during the RWC. Inverdale is a complete smarmy bastard, but he did actually play rugby. Rosenthal knows nothing about the sport, and just parrots the "England yeah!" talking points given to him by ITV.

Reading the BBC board and this one, it seems that the thing the Brits have mostly been missing the last 12 years is the Chain.

I can understand that, it's a great tune. I've been humming and drumming it all day today.

Interesting this nostaliga that I read about the BBC and the tune. We have exactly the same going on with the football rights which go back to the 'public' (non-commercial) broadcasters next season. The program was badly missed during the spell at the commercial channels Talpa and RTL.

Wonder how the British taxpayers feel about this seeing ITV said they are pulling out for commercial reasons?
Does that mean they are losing money or does it mean the profits are too small to continue? Sounds like Bernie's struck again.

If I'm wide of the mark, please set me straight.

Dunno what British Taxpayers have to do with ITVF1 decision.

Every household pays a 100/year 'tv license' which is used to fund the BBC. So they have a budget in the billions.

Well I'm sure the majority of F1 fans are celebrating, some non-F1 fans will complain, but then some of those would be the first to complain if Wimbledon, or some other event were not on the beeb. I'm sure the beeb will be selling the broadcast to other countries, and the cost to the license payer will actually be a lot less than the headline figure that we see.

I agree that the BBC is the natural home of F1. I am also confident that the BBC coverage will not just pander to the clamour for endless concentration on Lewis Hamilton. In its other sports coverage, the BBC has shown that it takes a wider view than just the populist one.

This news came to me by suprise this morning....i hadnt seen one iota about it in autosport or any where else? Was it that secretive or did i just miss it?

Bye James Allen though, hopefully Although he has been noticeable by his absence in the pre season build up stuff on itv-He wasnt on the special prior to the season kicking off, maybe he was down at the BBC....

dont even joke about that!someone commentating on it on the bbc said they wanted goodman,kravitz,brundle and allen at the bbc........no chance!just brundle please,the rest can go do something else,if they do give allen a job,get him in the pitlane,not commentating

Maybe he can go back to writing books. I hear he wrote that fabulous tome (or ghost wrote it, or copied down from somewhere or whatever) 'My Autobiography - Nigel Mansell-The peoples champion' or whatever. I liked nigel, but that book....well....yes he can go back writing books.

Does he commentate on anything else on ITV? did he do a bit of the gp2? maybe they will demand to keep him for that. Or somthing

If TSN doesn't, hopefully CBC or another Canadian TV network will. I'd hate to be totally dependent on SPEEDTV for my F1 coverage. It's been great having both F1 TV feeds to choose from.

How about Danica Patrick?

ITV don't show gp2 highlights anymore,but i THINK hes done some of the BTCC coverage along with louise goodman when F1 and BTCC havent clashed

Good. ITV will be desperate to keep him thus preventing him from going to the BBC. And if Louise stays with him, all the better. :\

No more ad breaks…Fecking Fab!
The BBC should use “The Chain” again…even if it’s only to launch the first show in 2009. Pure nostalgia…what bliss.
They need to secure Brundle – but please God not to work along side Simon Taylor, Jonathan Palmer or John Watson…I would just as easily put up with James Allen.

As to who could replace Louise Goodman??...would anyone be at all shocked to see one Tamara Ecclestone find full time employment with the BBC

The ditty she did on the pre season show on itv was utterly appalling..........

Im expecting Tim Wonacott as pitlane reporter (from bargain hunt) Christian Digby/Ed Hall/ Dominic something or other as commentators (from to buy or not to buy andother such daytime tv rubbish about buying houses) and Lorne Spicer as the bit of totty that follows the celeb side of the pitlane(and shes from cash in the attic, more dross)

Hopefully im massively wrong but the BBC is fascinated with these people and they appear to be on every afternoon show, evening show and guests on cook cant wont and dont know how to shows.... :\

Grab some reality pills guys

Look at this way is football any different on ITV from BBC, is horse racing any different on Channel 4 from BBC --- no ! the more things change the more they stay the same.

I just like to throw out the point that ITV pulled Louise Goodman from the obscurity of RTE's F1 coverage.

Anyone remember the ITV fanfare before the 97 Aussie GP. A whole night of motor racing stuff.

The presentation is nearly always superior on the BBC. If an event is shown on both channels I would always choose the beeb over ITV.

Yeah, they showed the film Grand Prix before the program started. I also remember how annoyed I was when the first adverts came on during the race, and I still get just as annoyed now.

Are you serious?

Well, I am delighted that F1 will be returning to the BBC after 12 long years. Just imagine, no more James Allen...no more adverts during races...and no more tickers during the US and Canadian Grands Prix assuring us that ITV's beloved "Corrie" will be on as soon as the pesky motor racing has finished...

If you remember, the BBC would just cut off the race if it overran.

Why people focus on the ITV ads I have no idea, at least they started showing most qualifying live, hopefully the BBC will do that this time.

I don't know why people bash the ITV coverage for ads. I was forced to watch the SPEED coverage for a couple of GPs and they had ads every freaking 5 minutes and they were really long ad breaks as well. Annoyed the shit out of me. They are constantly plugging in sponsers in the commentary as well. ITV on the other hand is not bad.

I REMEMBER THAT. I was 7 at the time... I seem to remember being unimpressed by the non-racing plot threads even then.

Pre-race coverage is laborious. The anticipation, the excitement are contained within those few seconds when the bold multi-coloured FIA Formula One logo circles on the TV set. "Hello everybody and welcome, it should be an interesting race this weekend.” James Allen splutters…

Don't know if Bernie was including the U.S. when he said that, but I don't recall F1 EVER being on regular free-to-air TV here. When I was growing up there was only ESPN coverage, which was at least included in most basic cable packages. Nowadays though you basically need a "premium" or "sports" cable package to see F1 (on SpeedTV), or a satellite hookup. :\ On top of that they have tons of ads, as is typical in America, but when you are paying for a premium channel you'd expect no ads, or at least less.

TheTimes has an article here:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/for...icle3593917.ece

Which is suggesting Richard Hammond is an option for the coverage and that the BBC seem to have plans to link up Top Gear and the F1 coverage in some way or other. They claim the Hamilton episode of Top Gear had more viewers than the Brazilian GP.

I'm not sure if the article is serious or not however. It's late and it just seems a little far fetched, but perhaps it's true.

What is clear to me is that the ITV appear to have decided to place their F1 eggs into their Football basket and are currently trying to grab the BBC football presenters.

clarkson would be a good presenter AND interviewer (I think he's possibly the best interviewer on TV at the moment, although given his greatest competition is Jonathan 'unless my guest is frail or smacked off their tits I'm in competition with them' Ross, that's not tooo difficult) - not commentator however, just as long as it wasn't top gear F1. They're 2 different sunday experiences.

Hammond would be good - not great, he's ever so slightly overrated now since the crash - , but he couldn't give a fuck about F1, he's said so in the past, and the same goes for May

however, they'll probably say no if it comes to it, half their year is already taken up by top gear.

Would be easier if they just had a new team althogether - that angus guy who did spa in 05 was good, and get tony jardine back

Are all these anti James Allen comments warranted or are people just jumping on the bandwagon and acting like sheep?

He seems alright to me for what he is paid to do.

Regards

Andy

Holy Cow Race Fans.....
Talk about a landslide of public opinion...


You can count on me to be throwing my TV Licence money at that chap with the earphones on sitting at the bottom of my road in that TV Detector van next year.
Jp

http://www.tvlicensing.biz/detection/index.htm

"...the old trick, eh? EAT the telly before i get a chance to nick ya!"
"mr bastard, mr bastard, wait! TV or toaster, the contents of my friend's stomach are private property and if they're damaged in any way, we sue..."

anyway ... it's not jumping on the bandwagon to condemn james allen, he really is the 'reedy-voiced berk' sniffpetrol complains about. actually, i must go see what they've reported about it. people keep talking about this edwards chap, i haven't heard or seen him but if he's good enough for beeb radio then he's certainly an improvement on the berk. hope they take up brundle, tho', he's too authentic to lose.

Wow, a bit of a shock there.

I just pray that 'Sir' Martin is kept on. Everyone else, especially Allen, is expendable. And I agree with those who want Ben Edwards in there as colour commentator. Croft and Mo Hamilton could be presenter and pundit, and have a couple of pit reporters in there - I don't care who they are, as long as they're good. I would love to see Tony Jardine back in the mix too.

I hope the BBC don't fuck around with F1 as they did before, schedules and all. All qualifying sessions and GPs should be shown live on BBC 1 or 2, with practice and extras being available on the website.

I also hope they ease up on the Hamilton bile, but that's wishful thinking. Hell, even just showing the qualifying/race, Martin's technical pieces and a good track guide would be an improvement over ITV's love-in.

Are Setanta definitely covering GP2 this year do you know? The only reason I ask is that they haven't picked up the GP2 Asia Series. Hopefully main GP2 Series coverage continues - it really adds a lot to a grand prix weekend.

And just to keep things on topic - yay BBC!

I've heard that Richard Hammond is slated to front the BBC's coverage. Oh dear, not good.

Pretty unlikely I would have thought. Hammond has no time for F1, he's made that point quite clear. Unless testing that Renault last year has converted him!



Didn't she also used to be a PR or something for Jordan in the early 90's?

It's in The Times today about Hammond.

Hammond would be awful. Has he actually commentated anything? It's far different than delivering pre-written lines in a taped studio with a silly haircut and oversized clothes. He's my least favourite Top Gear member.

I don't think anyone is actually discussing the possibility of the Hamster commentating, but that he may be called on to anchor the broadcast, a la Steve Rider. That's a job to which he'd be fairly well suited IMHO.

They'd leave the commentary to the pros - David Croft, Ben Edwards, whoever.

I thought Hammond didn't even like F1.