Yes, FOTA's a good one. Whitmarsh, Kolles et al must be feeling a bit sheepish after publicly voicing their assurances that the BBC will be showing each race delayed but in full, when in fact it will only be highlights. I wonder how they feel about being lied to.
RTL is looking like the best bet to watch the other half or the season. Just look around the web etc...
http://saveformula1.com/ Looks very professional whereas the "has the bbc lost f1" link minds myself and others of something out of the former soviet block LOL, no offence intended as the spirit of the site is to be commended, but perception is key. The Saveformula1 site looks slick and full marks for whoever is responsible, I have mentioned boycotting the Indian GP on the site, and also have asked teams to support our boycott when we decide which one it is going to be. The Indian GP is odds on favourite IMHO as it may very well be short of actual bums on seats and gives us plenty of time to lobby the teams to join us, imagine the free publicity it would give us if we can persuade just one or more teams to boycott. My friend cancelled his sky subscription over the phone hacking scandal and do you know what the Sky rep said? it went along the lines that he will not be able to watch any sport worth watching without having to pay Murdoch!!!!! Their arrogance is astounding, I cancelled my film channel last month after a half price offer, I was met with a similar arrogance but firmly put the person from sky in place by telling them to just take the effing movie channel off and stop talking sh*t to me LOL.
and what were the typical viewing figures per hour of the rest of the BBC coverage on Sunday? miniscule would be my bet. Surely BBC can see that F1 is/was their flagship - the Crown jewels if you like? They sold the smallish family silver service for piles of tarnished crap and plastic knives and forks.... yuck. Have they no taste?
It seems like plenty of F1 fans seem happy to go along with the deal, i noticed a thread on here about the sky presenters for next year, pretty shocked really at this, none of my friends are going to get Sky just because of this deal, in fact we are all appalled, and won't be lining the pockets of the Murdochs. Its a shame we have such a culture of pussies that can just put up with anything, hope that petition gets up to a million.
I've just taken the time to read all the posts on here, my eyes are bleeding, and I have to agree with all the comments, including those from the guys that will pay Sky. If you enjoy something that much, you will do what you feel right to to continue to enjoy it, whether that is abstaining (which I will be from next year) or paying the (extra) money to continue to watch it. As I watched the pre-race yesterday, I was suprised to see Ted (I think his name is) doing the grid walk, was Martin warned off from doing it in case he bumped into Bernie? I'm curious because Ted bumped into Bernie and asked him if he was 'alright'! What about asking why he has sold out the fans, asking about all the double dealing, his rheotric about it having to remain free to air (which technically he has, albeit delayed and shortened). I suppose the best question would have been 'Bernie, when it comes to dealing with the fans of this sport, why are you such a massive liar?' I voted No, I will be streaming, I have been looking on the net to see if I can legally stop paying the licence fee as my telly is only there for F1 and TG and I won't be needing it from next year. And as Columbo used to say, 'just one more thing'....it has never been free to air from the BBC, most of us have paid the licence fee then left it up to some out of touch ****wit to choose what they spend the money on in our name, then they don't listen to us when we tell them that what they are producing is utter ****e! Communism anyone?
I just wonder what I'm paying my license fee now for as I probably only watch the F1 on BBC, hardly watch any TV apart from that and the odd football match. I don't begrudge fans paying for Sky but its a bit much reading threads about their presenter line-ups and so on. I will be trying to use RTL for live feeds but I have a feeling they will put a stop to that before next year.
The BBC Trust concluded that Formula 1 is not just a huge ratings winner but also the BBC's most cost-effective sport, passing all criteria, unlike the Olympics which failed. With this in mind, doesn't this deal constitute at best an act of negligence with the public's money on the part of the execs who brokered it and the corporation as a whole? The problem now is that MPs and F1 people alike are on holiday but we should complain to the BBC Trust, Ofcom, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and the Culture, Media and Sport Parliamentary Select Committee and demand an inquiry into how and why this has been allowed to happen.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/review_report_research/vfm/sports_rights.pdf The relevant stuff is towards the end, p33 onwards.
I should add that this appears even more negligent if you factor in these figures: £900m to move to Salford; £13m per year on taxis; and £22m on a new reality show, 'The Voice', as yet unproven on a British audience. The cost of 'The Voice' alone covers the cost of maintaining F1 as it was. 'The Voice' is, as I said, unproven, i.e. a risk. F1 is already proven to get a regular 6 million viewers and an audience which is actively expanding. Doesn't this make the deal look negligent?
Thanks again. Actually, I missed this bit from page 4 which sums it up really: "The performance of individual rights is more mixed: ⢠Formula 1 has been a significant success in 2009/10, exceeding all of its reach, average audience and cost per viewer hour targets ⢠In contrast, Euro 2008 was the least successful of those reviewed, missing its CPVH target by a significant margin (largely driven by no home nation making it into the European Championship) ⢠Whilst the other key rights reviewed all hit their cost per hour targets, performance against cost per viewer hour targets was more mixed (five of nine targets hit)."
