Autosport carried a brief story about it on Wednesday [aside: "the sport in not for sale" - Autosport's errors are becoming annoyingly common] explaining that initial reports about News Corp's interest came from Sky News, with Ecclestone's initial response being made to The Telegraph. As Ecclestone says, "the offer would not have to be right - it would have to be ridiculous" [motorsport.com, quoting The Express]. I take that to mean big enough for the teams to operate without sponsorship. Yesterday Andrew Benson joined the discussion and explained the complexities around it [aside: some excellent comments here, such as #12 - "Sky monotonises sport coverage and shouldnt be allowed to continue with its domination." ], although he avoids mentioning the BBC's financial constraints. The only thing that casts a shadow of doubt in my mind is when Ecclestone says things like "it's rubbish" and "the sport is not for sale."
If Sky get F1, it will be a very very sad day indeed. We must make every effort to protest about such an awful possibility. Leave it where it really belongs: on the BBC!
You're up early. With the BBC cutbacks I think it's a given that they'll be looking to drop F1 after the current contract runs out (if not earlier). Let's hope they can come to some kind of arrangement that makes it affordable.
Yes, I agree Genji but if Sky get F1, I'll throw in my subscription for good. (No joke Rupert: leave F1 where it belongs).
I have been thinking what it would be like to not watch the races live and instead download them from bittorrent sites... no live timing, no twitter, no live discussion threads. It would free up quite a lot of time on a Sunday with no race build-up or post-race F1 Forum to indulge in. Hmm...
Ha! Well, as it is, I've been making a special effort to organise things so that I can always see it live. But I have to say it's sometimes rather difficult (and occasionally impossible). If Sky get it, I will turn my back on making the considerable effort I have become used to over the past 12 years or so. (Prior to that, there was no conflict of interests).
I agree the BBC must be considering dropping F1. But I hope instead of dropping it, they trim it down. Why not do the flyaway races in the studio, do they need to fly the whole team out? Do they need the whole pre show hour? They spend a lot of money on pre show features like Jake going racing etc. They could stop all of that. I love the BBC F1 show, I honestly think it's one of the best made sport programmes ever. I hope it could stay just as it is. Sky can **** off.
Im from Suffolk so there are a few depressed Ipswich boys around here, well done. As for Pay per view F1 its not logical. Sponsers wont like it, teams wont like it, and the fans wont like it. A free view F1 channel would be nice though
For some strange reason there arn't any Murdoch supporters on here, why the hell is that, I wonder. Is it because he is a greedy insignificant, little dishonest tosser, or is that just my opinion.
Ernie 'he is a greedy insignificant, little dishonest tosser'. Stop sitting on the fence. I think you admire him like the rest of us, don't you?
I'd like to think the BBC wouldn't drop F1 given that it is their flagship sport now, but given the way that they cut great services like 606 at the drop of the hat then it wouldn't surprise me.
'he is a greedy insignificant, little dishonest tosser'. I think that's an insult to greedy insignificant little dishonest tossers. What he is is a war mongering, blackmailing meglomaniac. Do you think Cameron and his 'privacy laws' are anything other than Murdoch leaning on his PM lap-dog so the sun can continue to hypocritically besmirch anyone they feel fit to?
Berg, Miggins, well at least I did attempt to be a tad subtle, you well, indescribably biased, but cannily accurate.
To try to drag this thread back into the realms of relevance, Joe Saward wrote a very interesting article about this and in the comments there is some discussion about who the mysterious team is that supports Turdoch's bid. Most seem to think it's Ferrari but I seem to remember Red Bull running a big fat Sky logo on their barge boards last season.
