uk f1 tv coverage - sky, bbc and ch4

[ChrisA]

I don't have Sky, refuse to pay the exorbitant price, but are Ch4 cutting back? Yet another race covered by presenters in the UK. NO trackside interviews or post race interviews. A much shorter programme than usual. Considering Nando winning, his first, very disappointed. Come on Ch4 get your act together!!!!

[Derwent]

I suspect the shorter coverage was due to the broadcast time, likely lack of viewers and thus advertising revenue.

[ChrisA]

Originally Posted by Derwent

I suspect the shorter coverage was due to the broadcast time, likely lack of viewers and thus advertising revenue.

Yes, agree with you there, but today's morning broadcast would have had more viewings.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by ChrisA

I don't have Sky, refuse to pay the exorbitant price, but are Ch4 cutting back? Yet another race covered by presenters in the UK. NO trackside interviews or post race interviews. A much shorter programme than usual. Considering Nando winning, his first, very disappointed. Come on Ch4 get your act together!!!!

I was annoyed, I only got 20mins asleep instead of the usual hour!

[codename_47]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Being a decidedly old fart, I would say that most current radio DJs, certainly the ones I hear on a daily basis, are far, far better than they were in my youth. Back then, they would not only talk over the intros to music, but they would also talk over the outros as well. Well, that's my limited knowledge as I don't tend to listen to things like Radio 1.

As to the rest of your comments, I have no opinion as I gave up watching and/or listening to F1 since Mr E sold his and F1s' soul to Sky. Not that he or anyone cared, I also told him my views.

I thought it was well known it was a requirement that radio DJs talk over the start and end of songs to prevent the "home tapers" from getting a "clean" version of the song they could then either keep or sell on, thus denying the record labels of further millions

Back when tapes were a thing this was a big deal anyway.

And I don't mind channel 4 sitting in a studio in the UK for the flyaway races at poor UK times, not on the budget they have

When Sky Sports do it and claim it's some form of improvement to their coverage as a suscription based service, part of the Sky media empire, says they also have to cut costs (while increasing their subscription prices) the eyes start to start involuntarily rolling a tad...

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

Only David Croft would say something idiotic today

I suspect Mr Rosberg and Ms Patrick like to blow things up for entertainment.
Ms Schiff did too, in the beginning but got a lot better.

Mr Chandhok is incredibly opinionated despite never actually having raced for a top team.

That said… none of them would outright call a driver out of his depth or call someone’s loved racing chariot some variation of effluent-box so the politically correct polish is still there.

I wouldn’t mind having the same commentators every event, impossible I know..

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by codename_47

I thought it was well known it was a requirement that radio DJs talk over the start and end of songs to prevent the "home tapers" from getting a "clean" version of the song they could then either keep or sell on, thus denying the record labels of further millions

So it wasn’t just me home taping

They don’t tend to back announce who the artist and the name of the song too much these days either. Certainly on some of the Digital/DAB broadcasts here, it’s a continuous flow of music with short comments on the weather, maybe some news, then back into it. Must be cheap to run now.

[P38 in workshop]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

So it wasn’t just me home taping

They don’t tend to back announce who the artist and the name of the song too much these days either. Certainly on some of the Digital/DAB broadcasts here, it’s a continuous flow of music with short comments on the weather, maybe some news, then back into it. Must be cheap to run now.

Getting well off topic here but the figures the artists receive per play for online play are laughable.It takes tens of thousands of plays to earn a dollar.I believe Taylor Swift,for one,took action to keep her material off some platforms.The business model now means that those musicians who can actually perform their material live can make a lot more money from touring than from sales of recordings.High admission prices for the stadium shows are the reason and some now live stream to big screens globally.That at least is a common link with current Formula 1 practice.

[Alan52]

Originally Posted by P38 in workshop

Getting well off topic here but the figures the artists receive per play for online play are laughable.It takes tens of thousands of plays to earn a dollar.I believe Taylor Swift,for one,took action to keep her material off some platforms.The business model now means that those musicians who can actually perform their material live can make a lot more money from touring than from sales of recordings.High admission prices for the stadium shows are the reason and some now live stream to big screens globally.That at least is a common link with current Formula 1 practice.

Streaming is legalised theft from the artists.It is destroying the viability of much of the music industry once you move below the top tier acts.
The music companies and the streaming companies getting paid although not people who make the actual music.Back to F1.

[flatlandsman]

I think the issue with sports coverage is that the model now is ONLY based on paying, very little sport that is established or popular is NOT behind a paywall.

And the issue does not lie simply with tv companies like Sky or Amazon, the "blame" if there is any is twofold.

It lies largely with the rights holders, invariably the company that holds those rights, usually the main decision makers such as the IOC, FA or ECB but in some cases a separate body designed to rake in as much cash as possible as is the case with F1, they will obviously want to make as much money as possible, and they look at that fact ALONE, regardless of the dilution of the fanbase and the lack of exposure to the common man.

The other issue with this is that eventually people will drift away, as they have with things like WRC, rallycross etc, so then the price goes up and up and they start to try and make as much as possible of the remaining people who are so desperate to pay and watch an often far less interesting and in some terms dying sport. As profit HAS to happen and you MUST make more than last year or you get fired. It is a business after all. It then after time will come back to being free to watch. It has happened with some sports, not many admittedly.

Then the other aspect of blame is with fans themselves. FOMO is a huge deal here, people can seemingly not do without their sport, so are willing to pay, if they had said no from the start certain sports like F1 would never have been put behind a paywall.

It is a very mild form of addiction and the only way to cure addiction is to stop completely. What rights holders and tv firms are doing is feeding that addiction with tempting offers, endless advertising and the like. If you look at it in this very harsh way you can see why it becomes so profitable.

It is subtly different to music as the performers are not losing money, what is happening is that with certain sports you are starting to make it almost impossible to access certain sports for kids, and that is leading to less interest in certain sports. This long term is hugely damaging to those sports, but the people selling now will not care, they will asset strip it, sell it on and will have earned their money.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

I’m not a Crofty hater, but after the 3 free practice seasons, he hasn’t been missed …. Much credit Harry Benjamin

[S griffin]

It’s good to hear Ben Edwards on Five Live. He has certainly been missed

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

I’m not a Crofty hater, but after the 3 free practice seasons, he hasn’t been missed …. Much credit Harry Benjamin

I don’t think that I’m a full-bore Croft hater but he certainly annoys me often & I think spoils some special moments - so far, Harry Benjamin has been really good & in my view, a huge improvement over Croft.

[ChrisA]

Looking forward to next week's GP from Monaco. CH4 are doing a special on the "King of Monaco", Aryton Senna. Not sure whether it's Saturday or Sunday, but will keep an eye out for it.

[Derwent]

I see Lee is back doing the C4, a huge improvement over the Welsh guy who is too full of himself. Also now F1 has returned from the colonies, the coverage is at a watchable time.

[Alan52]

Originally Posted by Tourer

I don’t think that I’m a full-bore Croft hater but he certainly annoys me often & I think spoils some special moments - so far, Harry Benjamin has been really good & in my view, a huge improvement over Croft.

Harry is a night and day improvement over Croft.He hasn’t yelled even once for starters.He hasn’t resorted to cliches for seconds.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Alan52

Harry is a night and day improvement over Croft.He hasn’t yelled even once for starters.He hasn’t resorted to cliches for seconds.

What about the Mains and Desserts, then?

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Derwent

I see Lee is back doing the C4, a huge improvement over the Welsh guy who is too full of himself. Also now F1 has returned from the colonies, the coverage is at a watchable time.

She's a class act, which hopefully C4 have now finally realised.

[billy bleach]

Kravitz interrupted by Norris! His indignation is laughable. Great to have grown ups on Radio 5 now

[Quartermiler]

Can't agree with the Harry Benjamin comments, think his commentary is awful and lacks personality. Much prefer Crofty.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by Quartermiler

Can't agree with the Harry Benjamin comments, think his commentary is awful and lacks personality. Much prefer Crofty.

He has absolutely no idea what is exciting and what isn't. Crofty is criticised for shouting (and it's a fair criticism), but Harry is even worse because he doesn't know what he's shouting at. He raises his voice at random points and you look up at the screen and see nothing. At one point he was shouting about Tsunoda (I think) overtaking someone and I looked over at the screen and he was about 5 tenths back at the braking zone.

It's exactly the same as his F2/F3 stuff. He doesn't know why he's shouting.

[chunterer]

Benjamin sounds almost exactly like Jacques but still much better than the absent dullard chatter box!

How anyone couldn't see the improvement is baffling. Also Benjamin will only improve in time! Croft is Croft.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Benjamin sounds almost exactly like Jacques but still much better than the absent dullard chatter box!

How anyone couldn't see the improvement is baffling. Also Benjamin will only improve in time! Croft is Croft.

I'm not sure how anyone could see basic competency in Benjamin. He doesn't commentate - he's just a pre-set sound board. He has about 5 phrases he uses, and a random volume level.

Every pit stop was "X hits his marks". Sometimes before the car stopped. And did you know there is 100% chance of a safety car? There's 100% chance of a safety car. 100%.

[E.B]

I lost count of, but got irritated by, the number of times he mentioned Ferrari / Leclerc is inline to get / got the first Ferrari podium at Imola since Schumacher did it in 2006.... implying multiple failures to do so over nearly 20 years. As we all know before this weekend, since 2006 there were only races at Imola since 2020.

I guess be grateful he didnt repeatedly say Ferrari have only missed out on a podium at Imola three times since 2006 .

[steve_r]

He shouted less, which was a good thing.

The repeated claims that there is a 100% probability of a safety car annoyed me intensely.