223 replies to this topic

[Tombstone]

... the only things I watch on council telly are Match of the Day and snooker.

 

I see a far greater proportion of satellite dishes on council estates than where I live. Probably because of the wall-to-wall football.

[Sterzo]

Indeed. Hence subscribers should get a partial refund.

Far be it from me to speak well of anyone, but as a non-subscriber I can see your point. Basically you've paid for a race believing you couldn't watch it otherwise, when in fact it's available free to all.

[Amphicar]

I remember when we all got together at a bar to watch the finale.
Jp

Me too!

Edited by Amphicar, 09 December 2021 - 18:08.

[cpbell]

I don't believe so. Well, not live, anyway.

Cheers.

[Rodaknee]

Indeed, the BBC have been televising Wimbledon since the 1930s and know a thing or two about how to best present it. I think it's also two weeks, not four as the other poster alleged. If you don't like it...watch "the other side", as we used to refer to the commercial channels

 

The BBC were, indeed still are, expert at making a great variety of sports watchable and entertaining. But what they can't compete with is the money that the likes of Sky have. The Beeb didn't sell anything, it had nothing to sell....what it couldn't do was compete with the vast sums offered by Sky and later BT. Even competing with ITV is difficult. And the attitude of the rights owners is usually "We will sell to the highest bidder". Can't exactly blame them though often this is short sighted thinking. As we are seeing not only in motor racing but cricket and elsewhere....the pay wall brings in money short term but total viewership goes down, future revenue and future participation by young people reduces...onto the next sport to ruin with pay TV....

CVC have got involved in rugby and now that game is likely to disappear over the pay wall.  Not that I care, but I'm surrounded by thousands who do.

[Rodaknee]

Why? 

 

I really must be totally missing something here. Are the subscribers not getting the material they paid for?

 

Why this jealousy that someone else gets one "free sample" ?

A couple of years ago, Sky put the first 2 or 3 races on their own free channel.  That's what commercial companies do when they need to increase subscribers.

[absinthedude]

Yep. I remember it well. Many wanted him gone during the ITV years. 

 

It wasn't always the anoraks though....I am certainly an F1 anorak. Murray was great. Sure, he made mistakes....but he'd also been there and done it....he'd seen Nuvolari, Fangio, Clark, Stewart, Senna, Schumacher, Hamilton all race in the flesh. Nobody else could say that. I got the impression that it wasn't the anoraks who criticised Murray but the people who were regular watchers but not scholars. 

[absinthedude]

A couple of years ago, Sky put the first 2 or 3 races on their own free channel.  That's what commercial companies do when they need to increase subscribers.

 

Yup. I agree. What I don't understand is the posters who seem angry that they're doing that again. 

[pdac]

I see a far greater proportion of satellite dishes on council estates than where I live. Probably because of the wall-to-wall football.

 

Ah, when I move into the house where I now live, I looked at the surrounding houses and decided to put my Sky dish up at the back of the property, where it's not seen.

[pdac]

A couple of years ago, Sky put the first 2 or 3 races on their own free channel.  That's what commercial companies do when they need to increase subscribers.

 

Indeed. It's pretty much the same as if you buy something from a store and then find the next week they have it on sale for considerably less than you paid for it. Nothing too unusual about that.

[bongofury]

Great news it's on C4. With family commitments I was expecting a media blackout from 1pm until I could sit down at 9pm and watch the highlights. Now, I should be able to watch up to 2.40 pm, which assuming there are no red flags, will let me the see the whole race.

[pdac]

Just seen the updates on the Sky planner ...

 

Both quali and the race are being shown live on Sky Showcase

Just the race is being shown live on C4

[pRy]

Can someone help me out. I've managed to double book myself on Sunday. What's the best way for me to watch the race later in the day/evening? I have access to both Channel 4 and Now TV. Are there any options to replay events on Now? I fear the race won't be on C4 catch up due to the Sky deal but I could be wrong. Thanks.

[pdac]

Can someone help me out. I've managed to double book myself on Sunday. What's the best way for me to watch the race later in the day/evening? I have access to both Channel 4 and Now TV. Are there any options to replay events on Now? I fear the race won't be on C4 catch up due to the Sky deal but I could be wrong. Thanks.

 

Do you not have access to any equipment that could record the C4 coverage? Don't forget, though, that it will be on the C4 plus one channel an hour later, so if you can make it to a TV by 13:55, you'll be okay.

Edited by pdac, 10 December 2021 - 18:38.

[pRy]

Do you not have access to any equipment that could record the C4 coverage? Don't forget, though, that it will be on the C4 plus one channel an hour later, so if you can make it to a TV by 13:55, you'll be okay.

 

Alas no recording device and I'll still be out at that point.

[mcjohnson]

Yes, there is an element of competition in the bidding process. Nevertheless, F1 sold a six year monopoly to Sky, and on the face of it they can determine what they charge, without restraint and with no competitive influence on their pricing. It may be that the contract included restrictions on pricing but I'm not aware of that.

There's another side to this. Sport is sport and historically was free to watch on TV. Why should we have to pay to watch it? Why do people have to pay currently? Answer: because commercially-minded people are exploiting an opportunity to line their pockets, in return for which the paying public gets nothing it didn't already have.

1 - their pricing structure is gated by the market, ie what people are willing to pay; it is not uncapped.

2 - to reverse your question; why should 40m taxpayers pay for the commercial rights to a sport regularly watched by <5% of them? Do all sports with higher viewing figures than F1 then become free to air - at what cost to the taxpayer?

[azza200]

the build up is Sky so its all sky coverage on CH4 pre and post race 

[ExFlagMan]

First thoughts on the sky coverage - what have these guys been taking - 40 mins to go and they seem totally hyped up already. 

[balmybaldwin]

I know there are some non regular fans watching today, but do we really need to dumb down all the coverage to the level they are?  I'm half expecting them to describe what tyres are next

[azza200]

First thoughts on the sky coverage - what have these guys been taking - 40 mins to go and they seem totally hyped up already. 

 

cocaine or lots of caffeine 

[FirstnameLastname]

Ad breaks on CH4 during the race?

[FirstnameLastname]

Feels strange that the CH4 guys will presumably be doing their own pre-race stuff but it’ll only get shown in the highlights later on.

Would have been neat if they mashed the teams together and sold it under the ‘race as one’ banner

[pdac]

Ad breaks on CH4 during the race?

 

I'll switch to Sky Showcase if there is.

[FirstnameLastname]

Worth switching to showcase regardless… UHD looks awesome