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Sky Sports to be the EXCLUSIVE home of F1 from 2019

Split from The Sport Thread (March 2016)

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CI
cityprod
VMPhil posted:
cityprod posted:
VMPhil posted:
People always mention ratings but if we're talking purely about Sky or BT's position, surely it's the subscription numbers that are more important, regardless of whether it's good for the sport


Absolutely, but that position isn't going to help the sport. Is Rugby League any higher up the scale of national sports since the Super League came in and was exclusive to Sky? No, it's still behind Soccer, Rugby Union, Cricket and Horse Racing for that matter. Is F1 gonna actually significantly raise or improve their public profile by being exclusive on Sky? I seriously doubt it, and for the sports themselves, money isn't the only issue. The profile the sport has with the public, is very important too.

That's what I was trying to say - I completely agree that in terms of visibility and the general public, being exclusively on Sky is a hindrance. But people bring up ratings as though Sky/BT care about them,


No, we bring them up, because that what the sports themselves should actually care a little more about, but apparently if the money's good enough, the lack of exposure doesn't seem to matter.
CW
Charlie Wells Moderator
dvboy posted:
•Free to air: The FORMULA 1 BRITISH GRAND PRIX, together with highlights of all other races and Qualifying sessions, will be shown on a ‘free-to-air’ basis.

Just to throw it out there what are the realistic chances of Sky sub-licensing the highlights rights to Channel 4 or another broadcaster? (Similar to what's set to happen with the Olympics.)
MI
Mike516
Charlie Wells posted:
dvboy posted:
•Free to air: The FORMULA 1 BRITISH GRAND PRIX, together with highlights of all other races and Qualifying sessions, will be shown on a ‘free-to-air’ basis.

Just to throw it out there what are the realistic chances of Sky sub-licensing the highlights rights to Channel 4 or another broadcaster? (Similar to what's set to happen with the Olympics.)

Sky's got Pick as its free-to-air outlet, so it wouldn't make sense to sub-licence if they could use their own channel, and boost their own ad-revenue and use the coverage to plug the pay TV elements of coverage.

In the case of the Olympics, sub-licensing allowed Discovery to fulfil its legal obligations due to the event being on the protected list of sports rights.
IN
Interceptor
http://f1broadcasting.co/2016/03/24/f1-teams-blocked-sky-uk-exclusivity-for-2016-to-2018/

If true, this implies that C4 were probably aware it would go this way.

I think a 3rd party highlights deal is possible, unlike Cricket there is considerable value in the highlights themselves.
MI
Mike516
BBC News reporting that Sky will broadcast the British Grand Prix on a new free-to-air channel (not mentioned in the Sky Corporate email alert/press release yesterday). Wonder if this will be Sky's equivalent of BT Showcase?
DV
dvboy
a516 posted:
BBC News reporting that Sky will broadcast the British Grand Prix on a new free-to-air channel (not mentioned in the Sky Corporate email alert/press release yesterday). Wonder if this will be Sky's equivalent of BT Showcase?


Or they are confusing it with Sky Sports Mix.
RD
rdd Founding member
That was my first thought, but Sky are clear that it will be free to air (which Sky Sports Mix won't be, it will be basic tier).

Pick is the first thing that comes to mind - I wonder if Sky are planning to bring it back into the Sky branding at some future point (it was previously Sky Three, and Sky Two was once Sky One Mix which is perhaps an even more apt name).
ST
steveboswell
They've used Pick/Sky Three for "Free Pass" weekends in the past, usually when up against some other big event. I can't see why they wouldn't do that again and turn it all into a big promotional push.
HC
Hatton Cross
Unless of course, Pick is going to be retooled as a kind of 'Sky Mix' channel, and the British GP (and therefore any delayed highlights) ends up on that channel.

Bit of Sky 1, bit of Sky Living, bit of Sky Atlantic, hour of Sky News, Hour of Sky Sports News, Sky Sports output (both live and pre-recorded or delayed) the odd film at the end of the rights from Sky Movies - that sort of thing.
PA
PATV Scunthorpe
steveboswell posted:
They've used Pick/Sky Three for "Free Pass" weekends in the past, usually when up against some other big event. I can't see why they wouldn't do that again and turn it all into a big promotional push.

DV
dvboy
I think whoever wrote the BBC article has added two (FTA rights) and two (Sky Sports Mix) together and made five (new FTA channel).

Anyway, it's not necessarily a given that Pick will show the British GP and highlights of the others - they could go to another broadcaster still.

Quote:
Asked by Autosport whether C4 would wish to continue as a highlights-only provider from 2019, the channel's head of F1 Stephen Lyle said: "It's a bit early for that because we've only just picked up the news.

"As far as I'm concerned the news that broke yesterday doesn't affect our contract we have at the moment, so nothing has really changed on that score in terms of how we are approaching it.

"We'll obviously look at it and then look at what to do from 2019 onwards."

As to whether C4 was aware of Sky's announcement, Lyle added: "As you can imagine we've been concentrating on delivering F1 for this season, and the next two seasons.

"It's been a job to get it altogether that quickly, so that is where our heads have been at.

"At the moment all I'm doing is concentrating on what we have. We've Bahrain coming up, and what we'll be doing for that programme and the coming season."
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/123442

I do think it unlikely that any of BBC, ITV or C4 will send their own commentary teams to all of the other races just for highlights unless they are also employed as world feed commentators or contracts are formed with foreign broadcasters. If that's the case you'll probably see a couple of presenters do the wraparound coverage of the British GP and present/voiceover highlights of the other races from a UK studio.

Of course, if no other broadcaster wants it and it ends up on Pick, that'll be produced by Sky.
NG
noggin Founding member
a516 posted:
Charlie Wells posted:
dvboy posted:
•Free to air: The FORMULA 1 BRITISH GRAND PRIX, together with highlights of all other races and Qualifying sessions, will be shown on a ‘free-to-air’ basis.

Just to throw it out there what are the realistic chances of Sky sub-licensing the highlights rights to Channel 4 or another broadcaster? (Similar to what's set to happen with the Olympics.)

Sky's got Pick as its free-to-air outlet, so it wouldn't make sense to sub-licence if they could use their own channel, and boost their own ad-revenue and use the coverage to plug the pay TV elements of coverage.

In the case of the Olympics, sub-licensing allowed Discovery to fulfil its legal obligations due to the event being on the protected list of sports rights.


Wonder if 'Crown Jewels' on a non-PSB Lite (i.e. not covering the UK to the same degree as the PSB muxes) FTA Freeview chanel are 'good enough'. Suspect these days they are. Also likely to be SD only.

Pick is on COM5 I think - so not available to as wide a population as BBC/ITV/C4/Five main channels (or the BBC/ITV/C4 HD channels *)

(*) Exclusing BBC Four/CBeebies HD and BBC News HD which are on COM7.

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