I do not have Sky and hate it how they get everything good. However in this case I do not really blame them much, it is the BBC who let the rights go even before their contract ended, and it was the BBC who blocked Channel 4 from trying to get the rights.
Since when did the BBC ever show live Premiership Football, championship & league football, live Rugby Legue, Live Indycars, Live NASCAR, etc etc etc. The BBC never showed all that becuase at most they only ever had two channels so couldn't. Sky are bringing more sport than ever, okay so we have to pay for it, but since when did everything ever come free in life? The BBC is not free. We have to pay for that, so is it not already a subscription channel that we have no control over?
Sky isn't the only group on my radar, BBC, Bernie and F1 teams have spat in our faces for the decades of cash we supplied them and their sponsers. "Companies" and sports dont exsist without fans and F1 fans over here are being kicked in the balls badly because they have decided they dont need us anymore and want to go big time on the global stage towards the far east $$$ Simple enough, lets say I'm a drug addict... I pay the same amount of money every month to get my fix for years... The supplier gets taken over by a bigger company and tells me I have to pay more or go without... I can't afford it like 80% of the drug addicts so I'm ****ed... But yes I can still get another "weaker" drug but it still isn't the same... You would say that was manipulation on their side, but since it's sports its ok. Though it's the same senario and both happen in the world. (P.S I'm not a pill popper, let alone a dealer I have never touched the stuff in my life.) So in a natural way, this is the same for us when involving sport. You release adrenaline through your body because you enjoy it, your heart beats faster and the main reason why you and me keep watching it, because it's a fix. It's now being taken away from "us" and so we natrually get worried and angry because of it and blame everything in the "Sky" for pissing over a course of life you are used to, it's a defense mechanism against change that you personally don't like. If your not angry it's mostly because you will be lucky enough to afford it in the current climate so you are part of the "sky group", so mentally you feel superior and make a pop here and there as some of you regressed back into a 13 year old child bragging about the new Transformer you got for Christmas that the poor boy couldn't get since his daddy doesn't have a company car. Basically I'm saying Sky Sports is a massive (natural) drug ring AND! a social constructor for the world (since sport is very involved in child development and over the adult course of life, "being part of a group").... and they have us by the balls, dicatating how much to spend or go without this "drug" (adrenaline) how is that right taking advantage of a human instinct? You might laugh but just think about it for a while. Though I could just take up bungie jumping....hmmmmmm! Anyway if you got Sky and are able to watch full F1 next year, why are you ****ing here? It's like me walking into an anti Seb website and expected something else.
On another note, i've seen a rumour on twitter that Ben Edwards is set to be BBC lead commentator next year. Thank god it's not the alien.
fair shout silver -- i suppose you do have a point and i can see why shelling out for something that baring the licence fee everybody has allways recieved for free can put a bug up peoples anatomy , but end of the day sky just see it as another money making opportunity and are doing nothing wrong , since when has any buisness no matter what it is cared about anything else but profit and a balance sheet , maybe you should direct your anger elsewhere , if the bbc and itv were not obsessed by ratings and pandering to the bulk of there viewers who only want to watch mindless twollope like soap and game shows maybe they would have a little more in there budget for the formula 1 fan , but clearly they are only interested in viewer ratings so something had to go when the licence fee was frozen - its not the end of the world as you will still be able to see the highlights after the race on bbc 1 -
Maybe if the BBC had a phone-in vote thing going on with F1 they could make money out of the calls and therefore coudl afford to pay for F1? What do we reckon? 0845 123 456 to have Vettel's finger cut off 0845 123 457 to have bigger mirrors fitted to Massa's car 0845 123 458 to have Lewis & Jenson fight it out in comedy sumo suits 0845 123 459 to have Alonso's eyebrows shaved off. Calls cost 25p, mobile networks may charge more.
It's Bernie's fault. End of. He priced the BBC out of carrying the coverage in the same way that's he's priced Spa out of holding a grand prix every year. He's a cancer on the sport and continues bleeding it dry.
Of course the BBC got an award - they've enabled Ecclestone to make even more money! The issue with Sky is not whether Sky buy up coverage rights. I guess that's the world we live in and their coverage is superb, as anyone who's ever watched Sky cricket will know - the technology deployed there from HawkEye to sound and infra-red detection for edged catches & LBW's is out of this world. The problem is the way they use those monopoly rights to force their technology platform onto us all. It isn't in the country's interest - never mind the F1 fan's interest - if major events are ONLY available by satellite. Sky should be made to also make them available - at a price - via cable and terrestrial digital to ensure availability to all and a good spread of technologies.
Oh I really hope so! It's bad enough Sky getting their grubby hands on exclusivity of coverage, but Ecclescake's decision to stop the BBC from showing complete delayed replays of the non-live races is just plain disgusting.
Enough about the phone-hacking, police-influencing anti-*****philes who spent weeks counting down the days until Charlotte Church's sixteenth birthday. The BBC team currently stands at: Jake, Eddie, DC and Lee carrying on doing what they currently do (the only question is whether McKenzie or Coulthard will do the pit walk). Unconfirmed TV commentator, most widely rumoured to be Ben Edwards. Unconfirmed radio commentator who I suspect could well be Legard. In the name of cost cutting I think it's a safe bet that only one person will be recruited to replace Ted Kravitz and Nicola Pinkham. Don't really have any thoughts as to who's likely to co-commentate on radio.
Well, it's all about the racing rather than the commentators... but actually that team doesn't look *too* shabby if I might say so! Wouldn't be surprised if Ted's replacement is whoever does it on MotoGP. (someone here points out who that is cause I have no bloody idea)
Pick a name from here I guess! Whoever does the gridwalk will need some sort of F1 influence to get teams/drivers to actually give them a decent interview. I've always noticed with foreign coverage that if an interview is conducted by a bimbo, the answers are rubbish, but if they're actually respected within F1, they get a decent conversation. I'd like to think DC would do it, as he's got some good contacts with Red Bull and Mclaren, but he can be too polite, and I can see EJ relishing the opportunity to barge past people to get interviews. I think Ted could be the biggest loss though, definitely the most tricky to replace. I think the best person for the job might be to get someone with an F1 technical background to do it, like a race engineer who has left the sport. That way we'd continue to get the in depth detail Ted gives. Going for someone from outside of media will present some issues, but DC, EJ and MB all managed it well (even if through their previous lives they were very used to being interviewed.)
If she's a bimbo who knows hardly anything about F1, it's going to be a problem. Jake Humphrey's general arrogance and love for everything British got frustrating at times, but at least he was an F1 fan who knew what he was talking about. If you really want to see "little dollies pushing there threepenny bits out", there are millions of videos available on the Internet
