26 replies to this topic

[lustigson]

With the BBC losing their part-time broadcasting deal to Channel 4, British viewers aren’t affected much, regarding access to free-to-air programming. Dutch viewers are, though, because from 2016 there is no longer a free-to-air, commercial-free alternative to cable subscription or pay-per-view via Dutch Sport 1.

 

Over the past few years, I, for one, have not been ready to pay-up for Sport 1 either via cable subscription or online pay-per-view, for as long as there was a free-to-air alternative. So I regularly watched the BBC’s live broadcasts, and, when the BBC did not show races live, reverted to German RTL. Those broadcasts, however, were interrupted by commercials, while I also found the German commentary team to be… eh, less than stellar.

 

While my interest in Formula 1 dropped a bit during the latter three to four seasons, I started recording many races on the BBC to watch them in the evenings, or just watched the BBC’s highlights shows, and subsequently all but stopped watching live races. This has been beneficial to my time spent with my family, too. ;-)

 

But for 2016 I’m not sure what to do. And I’m sure that there are more F1 fans in The Netherlands that struggle to make a decision. 

 

There are several options:

1. Quit watching F1 altogether — which, to me personally, may actually be an option. I’ll just make do with Autosport.com and other digital media.
2. Put-up with commercial breaks during live broadcasts on German RTL, or record the races for later viewing and skip the ads.
3. Fork out € 15,50 per month to watch the races on Sport 1, totalling € 139,50 from March through November.
4. Opt for online pay-per-view via Ziggo Sport Totaal Go (a new sister brand to Sport 1) at € 3,99 per Grand Prix, for a maximum of € 83,79 for all 21 races in 2016, but be prepared to miss a number of races when not being able to watch the live broadcasts.
5. Go for a Ziggo Sport Totaal Go monthly online subscription at € 9,99 from March through November: either 9 months for all GPs, totalling € 89,91, or 8 months plus one online pay-per-view race, totalling € 83,91; with view-later options during the subscription period, which is important to me.
6. Or, when you have a Ziggo cable subscription, watch a still unknown number of races on their free-for-subscribers Ziggo Sport channel. (This option is not available to KPN or Delta subscribers.)

 

Are there any other alternatives that I missed?

 

To my fellow-Dutch fans, what will you do for 2016?

[JdB]

Well, i used to have Sport1, that was easy. I cancelled that, because i missed to many races due to other stuff i had to do. Then i watched RTL, which was ok. Now i moved to a different city, and have a very limited cable subscription, so no RTL anymore, which leads to .... illegal streams. Works good enough for me, the only other option is to quit watching all together, and i wasn't planning on doing that.

[Pingguest]

As I only have analog television, I am used not to watch races live. I download them afterwards. As the BBC have lost coverage, I will have to download even more races.

Edited by Pingguest, 11 January 2016 - 12:39.

[JeePee]

Sport 1 subscription.

It also allows you to watch online via site or app (< which is really good and has perfect video quality) so when I'm at work I can turn on the free practice sessions in the background as well.

Edited by JeePee, 11 January 2016 - 11:38.

[SenorSjon]

I'm in a Ziggo area. I had free Sport 1 for 6 months due to quality issues and complaints. But I think shelling 15/month is too much. I'll miss IndyCar tough. I guess Veronica still has 3 FTA races with commercial breaks? So you could skip those on the ppv costs.

 

RTL Germany is hopeless with a race hampering the ad breaks, some of them lasting 3 laps and are usually after a 15 minute SC without ads..

[isport]

If you can receive BBC on satellite, then you will be able to watch on Channel 4 on satellite as well

[TheRacingElf]

Personally I don't mind paying €15 a month for Ziggo Sport Totaal, while it might not be a BBC quality broadcast it's still worth the money in my opinion. You'll not only get F1(incl. all practices) but also Indycar, Nascar, DTM, European F3, GP2, GP3 and several other classes and all of them live.

[lustigson]

Personally I don't mind paying €15 a month for Ziggo Sport Totaal, while it might not be a BBC quality broadcast it's still worth the money in my opinion. You'll not only get F1(incl. all practices) but also Indycar, Nascar, DTM, European F3, GP2, GP3 and several other classes and all of them live.

 

That's a good point. Especially IndyCar would be interesting to me.

[SenorSjon]

Unfortunately, you get a few other channels barely watchable if you don't like that particular sport. Soccer from Spain and Italy, golf (dedicated channel) and tennis. I would only want 1-2 racing channels in HD for 7,50 tops.

[stewie]

Put up a sat dish and get Channel 4 fta off Astra 28.2?

[ElJefe]

Olav Mol works on my nerves, so I definitely won't pay for Sport 1. My interest for in F1 has been waning anyway and I expect 2016 to be dominated again by the Mercs, so I won't be following F1 that closely anymore. It's a shame, but it also underlines the dire state the sport is in. 

[Otaku]

Torrent download. 

[Nemo1965]

Here's a suggestion: get a VPN-membership. A Virtual Private Network costs about 10 Euro per month, and with some smart internet-moves (like deleting your browsing history every time you don't use it), you can 'fake' your IP-address to about anywhere in the world. Which means, for example, if you are Dutch, you can live virtually anywhere...  I have such a VPN-membership for about a year and I can watch most British channels AND American ones.

[babbel]

I have a "Sport1" subscription and also a Ziggo user. I regularly watch F3/Gp2/Gp3/Nascar/Indycar when I have the time so paying a small fee is not really a problem.

[Nemo1965]

You know, I would have no problems at all paying a modest amount per view... Since I have an iPad I buy about a book a week. Especially with Paypal, it is just click and read.

 

J.

[Nonesuch]

Are there any other alternatives that I missed?

 

RTBF, with the inestimable Gaëtan Vigneron and frequent guest-hosts Charles Pic or Stoffel van Doorne Vandoorne.

 

Between the various non-Dutch options, the last couple of years I most often watch F1 together with our southern neighbours.

 

The Belgians have barely any commercials, the broadcasts are always free, and Vigneron often has some great - and current, not people who were last relevant 20 years ago - guests.

 

 

Personally I don't mind paying €15 a month for Ziggo Sport Totaal, while it might not be a BBC quality broadcast it's still worth the money in my opinion. You'll not only get F1(incl. all practices) but also Indycar, Nascar, DTM, European F3, GP2, GP3 and several other classes and all of them live.

 

A fair point; RTL has highlights of most of these series but is often weeks behind the times.

 

Since I am not too bothered about anything other than the F1 races - not the qualifying or trainings - such a subscription doesn't have quite the same appeal for me.

Edited by Nonesuch, 12 January 2016 - 09:13.

[lustigson]

RTBF, with the inestimable Gaëtan Vigneron and frequent guest-hosts Charles Pic or Stoffel van Doorne Vandoorne.

 

Between the various non-Dutch options, the last couple of years I most often watch F1 together with our southern neighbours.

 

The Belgians have barely any commercials, the broadcasts are always free, and Vigneron often has some great guests.

 

 

Wow, does RTBF still exist? I seem to remember that is was replaced by (Flemish-spoken) Canvas/Ketnet on our cable subscription a number of years ago, so I'm pretty sure I don't have it, anymore. 

[Nonesuch]

Wow, does RTBF still exist?

 

Most definitely. I think there'd be riots in Brussel if the French Walloons lost their public television.

 

I'm not sure if Canvas still has F1. I don't think it does.

Edited by Nonesuch, 12 January 2016 - 09:16.

[SenorSjon]

RTBF, with the inestimable Gaëtan Vigneron and frequent guest-hosts Charles Pic or Stoffel van Doorne Vandoorne.

 

Between the various non-Dutch options, the last couple of years I most often watch F1 together with our southern neighbours.

 

The Belgians have barely any commercials, the broadcasts are always free, and Vigneron often has some great - and current, not people who were last relevant 20 years ago - guests.

 

 

 

A fair point; RTL has highlights of most of these series but is often weeks behind the times.

 

Since I am not too bothered about anything other than the F1 races - not the qualifying or trainings - such a subscription doesn't have quite the same appeal for me.

 

 

Too bad they speak the wrong language. Odd that the don't have the dual language version? It is one country after all.

[lustigson]

Too bad they speak the wrong language. Odd that the don't have the dual language version? It is one country after all.

 

Well, RTBF does mean Radio-Télévision belge de la Communauté française.

 

It's not like Canvas and Ketnet have French speakers on their roster.

[statman]

I can't imagine Ziggo sport (the 'free channel') not broadcasting all the races. They basically promoted it. And now with Verstappen, they would be foolish not to go ahead with the broadcasting. Didn't they show the last 3 or 4 races of last season? I remember seeing an infographic tweeted by someone which showed the 'verstappen effect' on the viewing figures.

[Tony Mandara]

I have no idea as yet, as to how/if I'll be watching live.

I vote we all go bowling around to Curbpainter's house to watch!

[taz]

It's been a long time already since Belgium/Flanders had the F1 rights (it used to be on Canvas and Vier a few years ago)

Last year i mostly watched on BBC and the other half of the races on RTBF(La Une & La Deux)

 

I'm Flemish but i perfectly understand French.. although i'd rather watch BBC..

 

isn't there any English website/stream i can watch ? of course i'm perfectly happy to pay for a decent HD stream

Edited by taz, 12 January 2016 - 17:38.

[TomNokoe]

15 euros a month - that's bugger all!

[Lipp]

I can't imagine Ziggo sport (the 'free channel') not broadcasting all the races. They basically promoted it. And now with Verstappen, they would be foolish not to go ahead with the broadcasting. Didn't they show the last 3 or 4 races of last season? I remember seeing an infographic tweeted by someone which showed the 'verstappen effect' on the viewing figures.

I can actually, since Football is still a bigger sport than F1 in the Netherlands, so if a race coïncides with a big match at the same time, then I do think they will run the Football match.

[Vitesse2]

https://www.filmon.c...roup/uk-live-tv

 

Android app - Chromecast compatible - also available.

 

[Nonesuch]

It's been a long time already since Belgium/Flanders had the F1 rights (it used to be on Canvas and Vier a few years ago)

That explains it, thanks.

I gave up trying Canvas when they kept broadcasting cycling events - as you'd expect - instead of the F1 races, but I never bothered to check if they had indeed stopped altogether.

15 euros a month - that's bugger all!

 
That's not the point. It's on top of the existing subscription. The amount doesn't matter. These things are a matter of principle for the Dutch.
 
At least until the peace within the household starts to suffer, or any other of a dozen reasons.

Edited by Nonesuch, 12 January 2016 - 19:33.