I believe that it's the FOM that are providing poorer coverage rather than the BBC. A few years ago; FOM took the coverage in-house because of the varying standards of coverage from the national broadcasters of each country. I believe the BBC gets a feed of the race; there isn't too much they can do about it!
Correct, As soon as there's an F1 logo in the Bottom Left (Sort of, we'll get to that in a second) of your screen, the BBC do not control the pictures or the graphics. Those are provided by FOM TV, what's called the "World Feed". It's something of a mixed bag. The Graphics are fairly good, and the camerawork is some of the best in the world, but the direction and the adoption of modern technology is lacking.
The World Feed has only relatively recently moved to 16:9, and the pictures are still not shot in HD (Many SD Broadcasts shoot in HD as it is considered best practice in video production to always shoot better video than you need. F1 shoots in 16:9 Standard Definition, and plays out in either 16:9 Standard Def or 4:3 Standard Def).
Now, onto that "not quite in the bottom left" logo. The World Feed is played out in either 16:9 or 4:3 (For lower-paying broadcasters or those in territories with low Widescreen adoption, as well as as an option for countries with a mixed install base) as we discussed. But, in another of the many things dodgy about FOM TV, they are, in fact, the same feed. So in order to make the 4:3 playout work, all the graphics must be kept within the 4:3 frame and the 16:9 pictures merely add content (What the camera is pointing at) to either edge, which is pillarboxed out of the 4:3 feed.
Why they refuse to create a graphics package for 16:9 Feeds or shoot HD is quite beyond me. I suspect it has a lot to do with money, and Bernie/CVC's love thereof.
The Frome Flyer: Smoother, Smarter, Calmer,
Winner.
Jenson Button: Professor, Chauffeur, World Champion Racing Driver.
