[goolen4you]

Well, I've just been passed the news that the country where I'm in now, the exclusive rights to broadcast F1 have been given to a channel which belongs to a cable company, and no other cable company can air that channel. So, this means that unless I have a contract with that cable company, I won't be able to watch live F1, which is quite amazing because a month ago I made a new contract with their rivals for a full year. What's even more amazing is that the exclusive broadcasting rights for MotoGP for 2011 also belong to this company, so effectively my MotoGP season is ruined as well. I think the FOM and Dorna have dropped the ball big time with this.

This is ridiculous. A similar thing happened when I was back home in India, where the WSBK rights were given to a channel which belonged to a cable company, and so people who didn't subscribe to that company, missed the whole 2007 season.

Shouldn't the FOM investigate, before giving away the rights, whether the channel is at least available to all cable providers in that country or not? What they have done here is force F1 fans to either jump ship or not watch F1 at all. This is the kind of douchebaggery that forces people to look for online live streaming websites or torrents, and then the FOM cries about that. Has anybody else had to go through the same problem? I know F1 is on BBC in UK and Speed TV in the states, and I'm guessing both of those channels are not exclusive to any cable company. In India it's on ESPN/Star Sports, which again is available to all cable TV providers. I have no idea about other countries.



P.S: BTW for those who care, I'm in Romania right now, and the exclusive rights to F1 have been stripped from TVR 1 and given to a channel called Digi Sport, which belongs to a company called RDS/RCS, and in December I made a one year contract with UPC for their HD channels. I thought heck, I'm gonna be here for one year at least, let's enjoy HD. I am guessing, and hoping that the Hungarian channel RTL Klub still has rights to broadcast F1, because I thankfully have that.

Apparently there were major complaints about the commentators on TVR 1, and probably some other issues as well, so it went to Digi Sport who now promise much better commentators.

[ivandiadser]

I am led to believe there are ways of watching the BBC coverage online from outside the UK, but couldn't possibly comment.

[Pateeffelty]

You are correct about Speed TV in the US. It is one of the FOX networks, and as such is carried by both the major satelitte TV companies (DirecTV and Dish) as well as most of the cable companies across the states. I orginally had Suddenlink Cable but switched to DirecTV specifcly because Suddenlink (at the time) refused to pick up Speed HD and most of Speeds's NASCAR programming was being shown in HD. Of course, it hadn't made a difference for F1 because Bernie and Co. refused to show us F1 in HD until the upcoming season.

As for FOM doing their homework, I belive they did. Bernie was angling to squeeze every last penny he could from your purse and by selling EXCLUSIVE rights to just one network in your country allows that company to charge more money for it, so more money into Bernie's coffers. He could care less that the people who have the other company can't see it if they aren't paying HIM for it. I won't be shocked to see something like that happen here in the US in 2012-2013 time frame, right about the time the US Grand Prix returns.

[ivandiadser]

It always used to be the case that F1 preferred to be on a free-to-air service, as the massive audience benefited it more than the subscription revenue. I guess Bernie wants the money in his pocket rather than being wasted on sponsors

[9mm_fan]

It always used to be the case that F1 preferred to be on a free-to-air service, as the massive audience benefited it more than the subscription revenue. I guess Bernie wants the money in his pocket rather than being wasted on sponsors

I'm sure this is still a consideration, they have to balance TV revenue against reaching the audience. If Bernie tried to switch UK F1 coverage to Sky Sports or ESPN the backlash would be massive. Sadly I suspect Romanian F1 fans are sufficiently far away and few in number for Bernie to feel he can ignore them

[AlistDakisa]

F1 in the UK has always been on terrestrial TV - i.e. that which is broadcast free to air over ordinary analogue TV signals. And by extension is also broadcast via digital terrestrian. ITV and BBC are also available (by law) on every cable and satellite TV setup.

The main sports channels here are Sky Sports and ESPN. I beileve (although I stand ready to be corrected) that Sky are legally required to provide their sports channels to the main cable provider (Virgin Media)

[janeloveslifenow]

As for FOM doing their homework, I belive they did. Bernie was angling to squeeze every last penny he could from your purse and by selling EXCLUSIVE rights to just one network in your country allows that company to charge more money for it, so more money into Bernie's coffers.

I certainly don't like the idea that sometime in the future F1 coverage may not be available on free-to-air tv here in the UK, but as the commercial rights holder isn't it Bernie's job to make money for FOM & CVC? That's what he's doing, and has done very well for many years.

[goolen4you]

F1 in the UK has always been on terrestrial TV - i.e. that which is broadcast free to air over ordinary analogue TV signals. And by extension is also broadcast via digital terrestrian. ITV and BBC are also available (by law) on every cable and satellite TV setup.

The main sports channels here are Sky Sports and ESPN. I beileve (although I stand ready to be corrected) that Sky are legally required to provide their sports channels to the main cable provider (Virgin Media)

I think that's how it should be. Live sports coverage shouldn't be exclusive to any cable company. Imagine if you can't watch the football World Cup in Europe because some cable company moghul paid up FIFA to acquire exclusive broadcasting rights, forcing everyone to switch to his company. Unfair for the fans and doesn't help the image a bit.

[goolen4you]

I certainly don't like the idea that sometime in the future F1 coverage may not be available on free-to-air tv here in the UK, but as the commercial rights holder isn't it Bernie's job to make money for FOM & CVC? That's what he's doing, and has done very well for many years.

Yeah, but this move is very bad for business and could even alienate the casual viewer if he has to pay or make a new contract just to be able to watch F1 live on a Sunday afternoon. Plus, this would be detrimental in getting new fans as well. How I became an F1 fan was just casually switching channels one Sunday afternoon and stumbling upon F1, and I'm sure many more got interested in a similar fashion. With F1 broadcasting exclusive to some cable company, the chances of that happening are reduced by a great deal IMO. Isn't the whole point to get more and more viewers to watch F1?

[AlistDakisa]

I bet it's particularly off putting as I'm sure you would subscribe to the F1 channel if you could, but you aren't even being given that choice.

[janeloveslifenow]

Isn't the whole point to get more and more viewers to watch F1?

It seems to be to get more and more money into F1. I agree it's likely to alienate the casual viewer, and even enthusiasts like yourself, but does that really matter to Bernie. By the time that happens the tv contract has been signed and the money is in the bank.

[timgillmoreeztf]

The same thing happened here in South Africa, the satalite channel got the exclusive live coverage and the free-to-air couldn't pay for it from 2007. So now you have to pay the R560 a month for live sport of basically anything.

[Gorlummm]

Well.. it seems RCS-RDS want to buy UPC so who knows. The cable market will be all but dead but hey...all romanian fans will be able to follow f1. All 10 of us

[CoenceLomneedtrue]

I certainly don't like the idea that sometime in the future F1 coverage may not be available on free-to-air tv here in the UK, but as the commercial rights holder isn't it Bernie's job to make money for FOM & CVC? That's what he's doing, and has done very well for many years.

I believe you are correct Arrows.
The majority owner of the FOM is the CVC group who is currently funding F1 media distribution via a $3B(?) loan secured a few years ago by, I believe, the Royal Bank of Scotland. Bernie, although a minority shareholder in the FOM, has been entrusted to manage the commercial F1 revenues on behalf of the FOM shareholders. He is thus obliged to do all he can to maximize revenues to help repay the loan.

[9mm_fan]

I believe you are correct Arrows.
The majority owner of the FOM is the CVC group who is currently funding F1 media distribution via a $3B(?) loan secured a few years ago by, I believe, the Royal Bank of Scotland. Bernie, although a minority shareholder in the FOM, has been entrusted to manage the commercial F1 revenues on behalf of the FOM shareholders. He is thus obliged to do all he can to maximize revenues to help repay the loan.

But he does need to consider long term as well as short term revenues. Taking the most lucrative deal now may not be in the best interests of the shareholders if it diminishes the customer base for the future.

[goolen4you]

I bet it's particularly off putting as I'm sure you would subscribe to the F1 channel if you could, but you aren't even being given that choice.

Nail - hit - head. I would happily make the call right now without worrying about how much that channel would cost, but yeah, I'm not even given that choice, and that's the frustrating part. I actually signed a contract with this said cable provider last year, so that I could watch MotoGP, and since F1 was still on the terrestrial channel, but they didn't come for over 6 months since they said they didn't have "adequate equipment", at which point I canceled the contract with them and went to their rivals, who installed everything that afternoon itself.

The same thing happened here in South Africa, the satalite channel got the exclusive live coverage and the free-to-air couldn't pay for it from 2007. So now you have to pay the R560 a month for live sport of basically anything.

The channel that airs F1 and MotoGP in India is not terrestrial either. It's broadcast on Star Sports or ESPN, depending on which channel they have live cricket on. And I guess that's pretty much the case in South Asia. The difference is that these two channels do not belong to any particular company, but are included in all of their basic sports packages, much like Eurosport in Europe.

Well.. it seems RCS-RDS want to buy UPC so who knows. The cable market will be all but dead but hey...all romanian fans will be able to follow f1. All 10 of us

How great would it be if they did buy UPC, hopefully before the first race! And I'm sure there are plenty of Romanian F1 fans, who if given the chance, would voice their concerns over this. And besides, as is the case with almost all European countries, the average person doesn't concern themselves with anything more than Football. Same in India, where cricket is the religion and the average fan could care less about F1. Probably the evil warlord Ecclestone understands this, and that's why forces the hand of F1 enthusiasts like us.

[Gorlummm]

How great would it be if they did buy UPC, hopefully before the first race! And I'm sure there are plenty of Romanian F1 fans, who if given the chance, would voice their concerns over this. And besides, as is the case with almost all European countries, the average person doesn't concern themselves with anything more than Football. Same in India, where cricket is the religion and the average fan could care less about F1. Probably the evil warlord Ecclestone understands this, and that's why forces the hand of F1 enthusiasts like us.

I can't say that I mind the change we have over here. DigiSport broadcasts the free practice sessions too (so far).... which is something no other channel ever did. A few years back they didn't even broadcast the qualis... so far it goes for the better with every change.

[Azzi_Kahlila]

I certainly don't like the idea that sometime in the future F1 coverage may not be available on free-to-air tv here in the UK, but as the commercial rights holder isn't it Bernie's job to make money for FOM & CVC? That's what he's doing, and has done very well for many years.

It would be a commercial suicide if F1 went to PPV in big countries like UK, USA or Germany. Considering the ridicolous artificial product they are giving us now, I can imagine the demand not being that high. I wouldnt pay for sure, just for principle. If they go back to real tracks and non-artificial rules, then no problems, I would cough out the money at once.

[Janarealiti]

It would be a commercial suicide if F1 went to PPV in big countries like UK, USA or Germany. Considering the ridicolous artificial product they are giving us now, I can imagine the demand not being that high. I wouldnt pay for sure, just for principle. If they go back to real tracks and non-artificial rules, then no problems, I would cough out the money at once.

I would presume that calculations have proved that there is more to lose from going pay-per-view in those sorts of countries than there is to gain. It would be a very unwise move — one only has to look at the viewing figures for even quite major football matches on Sky in the UK to see that the audience is still limited.

[ButKnillinoi]

It always used to be the case that F1 preferred to be on a free-to-air service, as the massive audience benefited it more than the subscription revenue. I guess Bernie wants the money in his pocket rather than being wasted on sponsors

Most free to air broadcasters can no longer afford the broadcast rights anymore, hence pay per view broadcasters are picking up the broadcast right, as happened over here.