F1 on sky

[sark kayaker]

Just as I get settled to watch another fantastic gp on BBC , which I pay alicence fee to watch and also pay sky to watch BBC hd , I discover that as from next year I will only be able to watch half the seasons races on this set up , to watch all races I will have to subscribe to sky sports.

This sucks , they claim more people will be able to watch in H.D now , only if you pay 3 times over 1x bbc licence fee - 1 x sky hd package - 1xsky sports package , then I will have to watch loads of adverts instead of racing.

NOT HAPPY

[Denthúl]

Yeah, this is pretty crap.

Time to just switch to watching BTCC exclusively.

[Amanda]

I refuse to get Sky and, even if I wanted to, I couldn't as I live with the rents.

I guess I'll watch half the races with the Beeb and then find a sneaky place online that screens live racing. I couldn't give a damn about HD

I bloody hate Sky!

[Juliet P]

I think this might be the end of my watching F1. I don't think I can cope with only watching some races, and I'm not getting Sky (partly out of principle and partly because of cost).

Really, really upset actually.

[Wkay]

Really annoying how sky can take I've something as soon as it becomes popular, I will be able to watch on sky, but when it's on the BBC I will 100% watch it there.

I really hope non of the BBC pundits, EJ, DC and Especially Brundle decide to jump ship to sky. But I wouldn't blame them as it would be more money and more coverage. If sky don't get these people the show is just going to be terrible in the build up and commentary.

[LRW]

Its not often I post on here. But read it most days.

But this sucks balls, big time.

[Denthúl]

So it looks like it would cost around £480/year for Sky coverage, but you'd only need it for half the races, so it effectively costs you about £48/race (assuming, like me, the only thing you actually watch on TV is F1).

f*** off.

[Bulletproof]

Head in hands, BBC should have either kept the whole thing or just binned it. Having half the races is just ridiculous, what real F1 fan only wants to watch half the races. And where does that leave all the costs/people involved with production? A complete shambles

[Timekeeper]

In Australia we don't have that sort of barbaric pricing.. but we have a similar situation. We have two channels we can watch it on - Ten and One HD. They're basically the same because they're owned by the same company.. But Ten (regular programming) is free and One HD (sports channel) is subscription based. Formula One on Ten is shown delayed two hours after the completion of the race, which means staying up till about 3am in the morning just to watch a Grand Prix. Ten doesn't show qualifying either. One HD is live and includes qualifying and the race, which is nice - but costs an awful bit when nothing else on the channel is worth watching.. It's a complete joke and not to mention, regardless of which format you watch it in, you have to endure advertisements literally every 8 laps. SO much race action/incidents are missed.. It's beyond a joke and is so frustrating. I'm not sure about the situation in other countries but it's awfully frustrating. Thank god we get the BBC commentary..

[andrew]

Absolute disgrace!

This would never happen with Wimbledom, various golf championships and the football (which the BBC strangely manage to show on BBC1, BBC2, red button and on-line, often showing exactly the same thing at the sametime or on a continuous loop on the red button). So if I want to continue watching F1, I either have to watch edited highlights for half the races, fork out for Sky (no chance) or upgrade to unlimited broadband so I can watch the race live on-line. Either way, watching F1 how I want to watch it is going to cost me a small fortune. WTF do I currently waste £145 for the privlidge of watching my own TV in the privacy of my own home for?!

The BBC have got their priorities wrong. They have far too many presenters on nearly all programs who are paid far too much. They waste money on rubbish with Z-list "celebrities" which more often than not no-one has heard of poncing about in sequins, BBC3 and BBC4 which have very low viewing figures and bloody antiques programs! I can still remember the days of Grandstand on Saturday/Sunday when the BBC provided good sports coverage on a wide range of sports. Look at them now!

The BBC board of directors should be hung by their goolies. Their priorities are all completely screwed and the BBC is not worth watching. Makes me wonder why I waste £145 on a licence tax? Actually, hanging's far too good for that shower on the BBC board. It's a good kick up the arse they need.

I'm not happy about this!

[nellers2001]

This is absolute crap. I will not pay for sky sports and I'm not interested in watching half the season, so looks like f1 has lost another household of viewers!

Wasn't that long ago Bernie E said f1 would kill itself if bought by sky, and just as ratings were around the highest, rip f1

[Narcil]

Well that sucks for you guys in the UK. I hope that the current lot of commentators still do every race (for both sky and BBC) though as over here in Australia we get the BBC commentary. It is the best English speaking feed in the world and it would be shame for us to lose it for 50% of the races. If we do lose the commentary then we face the daunting prospect of having the Aussie hosts doing the commentary (which they used to do in the MotoGP and put me to sleep).

One HD (sports channel) is subscription based

Just a helpful tip, One HD is not subscription based, its a free to air High Definition digital channel. All you need is either a newish TV which would have a HD digital tuner, or failing that you need a HD digital set top box which you can now pick up quite cheaply from any electrical retailer.

also One now streams their coverage live on their website www.one.com.au

[Bulletproof]

I think it's the BBCs fault that full coverage has been allowed to go to Pay TV. If the Beeb had just pulled out completely then surely it COULD NOT have gone to sky as there has to be free to air coverage to keep the teams happy. So effectively by taking bits and pieces of the coverage they have allowed the full coverage to go to SKY. Arghhhhhhh

[racechick]

Crap Crap poo. Not getting rubbish sky. Have to watch those races at someone elses house. THIS IS SOOOO BAD.

[Flynn]

This is an outrage. I do not have access to Sky, how could they do this!? It will just go how the WRC has gone because no one can watch the sodding thing! Only thing left now is BTCC! Unbelievable!