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F1 Coverage - The Verdict: 2013 Season

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    BenFranklinBenFranklin Posts: 5,814
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    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/feb/06/disney-considers-espn-exit-uk-sports

    ESPN also runs a syndication business from the UK which sells rights to events such as the X Games and Indy Car racing to other broadcasters.
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    LesterForbesLesterForbes Posts: 1,244
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    I'm glad ESPN are thinking of slinging their hook! they've been a blight on british broadcasting, just ask any sports lover
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    cocarrollcocarroll Posts: 973
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    RE: ESPN, Looks to me like they will dump the UK channel and keep the ESPN America channel which would then become the home of Indycar ... and that does have a HD version. Although as above, it could be that the rights syndication part of ESPN has bought the Indycar rights with the intention of selling them on to a completely different channel, so it could still end up anywhere!!
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    stevvy1986stevvy1986 Posts: 7,088
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    cocarroll wrote: »
    RE: ESPN, Looks to me like they will dump the UK channel and keep the ESPN America channel which would then become the home of Indycar ... and that does have a HD version. Although as above, it could be that the rights syndication part of ESPN has bought the Indycar rights with the intention of selling them on to a completely different channel, so it could still end up anywhere!!

    Would still require a subscription though no doubt (which is ok if you're interested in other American sports, but if not, it wouldn't be worth it). Plus if they only had that 1 channel, what about clashes? They can't stick everything on ESPN Classic that clashes (as I'm sure it would at times).
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 120
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    I'm glad ESPN are thinking of slinging their hook! they've been a blight on british broadcasting, just ask any sports lover

    Alright:
    Hey, me, you love sports. What do you think of ESPN UK?

    They're alright, I guess.

    Are you sure they're not a blight on British broadcasting?

    Pretty sure, yes. That's remarkably strong language considering some of the junk broadcast in the UK.

    Don't project your opinion onto other people.
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    cocarrollcocarroll Posts: 973
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    Would still require a subscription though no doubt (which is ok if you're interested in other American sports, but if not, it wouldn't be worth it). Plus if they only had that 1 channel, what about clashes? They can't stick everything on ESPN Classic that clashes (as I'm sure it would at times).

    Not the best outcome by any means, that's for sure. The question is now do we want the rights sold on to another channel???!! If so, who is left :eek:
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    DanielFDanielF Posts: 2,006
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    I love sports and am mostly indifferent to ESPN - used to subscribe, but not enough content to keep me.

    But if they added live NASCAR too, with a properly-handled DTM (and, personally, UFC) I'd be very interested...
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    stevvy1986stevvy1986 Posts: 7,088
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    Premier Sports have live Nascar Sprint Cup, with Motors TV having live Nationwide Series, so no chance of that happening this season. The best they could do is the 1hr generic highlights package that every broadcaster is given by Nascar.
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    DanielFDanielF Posts: 2,006
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    Ah, but Premier Sports have been a blight on British Broadcasting so hopefully they could just drop the rights nicely ;)
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    Adam619Adam619 Posts: 193
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    I'm glad ESPN are thinking of slinging their hook! they've been a blight on british broadcasting, just ask any sports lover

    That's a bit harsh I think, competition has never hurt anybody.

    I'm pretty sure ESPN have held the international syndication rights to Indycar for a number of years now as well as Nascar which they sold to Premier for UK Coverage, Indycar could follow down the same path or it could boast up ESPN America depth which is pretty much an MLB channel through the summer.
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    jeffersbnljeffersbnl Posts: 4,721
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    I'm glad ESPN are thinking of slinging their hook! they've been a blight on british broadcasting, just ask any sports lover
    How exactly have they been a 'blight'?
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    stevvy1986stevvy1986 Posts: 7,088
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    Adam619 wrote: »
    That's a bit harsh I think, competition has never hurt anybody.

    Except the consumer who if they want to watch all of something, or various different sports (or motorsports) have to subscribe to more than 1 broadcaster.
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    stefmeisterstefmeister Posts: 8,396
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    If Indycar is going to ESPN I'll be stream hunting this year as im not subscribing to ESPN since with the exception of the bits of MotorSport they don't show anything else im interesting in watching.

    Still no UK WRC deal either with the 2nd round starting today :(


    2010 Spa qualifying OnBoard:
    http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xxc9ge_2010-spa-qualifying-onboard_auto#.URO2sfKaaGc
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    codename_47codename_47 Posts: 9,683
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    Randomly good news for me as it's a channel I have access to. Even better if they have the nascar show.
    Any word on how they're going to cover it? Anything more than just showing a bare bones us feed?

    Also I hope they got the memo that some races are double dips this year...races on Saturday and Sunday.

    Hmm, odd to be on the other side of the fence for once. ..
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    codename_47codename_47 Posts: 9,683
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    I'm glad ESPN are thinking of slinging their hook! they've been a blight on british broadcasting, just ask any sports lover

    Pretty sure sky are the blight with their effective monopoly on broadcasting.
    There does need to be more competition out there in the interests of fairness
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    F1-AddictF1-Addict Posts: 812
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    ESPN UK ‏@ESPNUK
    "Confirmed: We will have IndyCar action on @ESPNUK from the first race in St. Petersburg on March 24th."
    https://twitter.com/ESPNUK/status/299544102272372736

    So I guess Sky have taken the approach of 'We have F1, why show any other motorsport'. At the end of the day I reckon they had ample opportunity to renew the rights but decided against it. I can't imagine ESPN will show every race live & I suppose this means ESPN America which will stay on as a standalone channel after May.
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    stevvy1986stevvy1986 Posts: 7,088
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    Very disappointing news for me. That'll be 1 series I'll be giving a miss this season as I can't be bothered looking for streams of it, especially not when it's a late night race, and especially with it clashing with Nascar on numerous occasions (I'll be giving Nascar a miss too unless the highlights end up on Sky again, which sounds unlikely). Guess I'll have to find other stuff to watch on a Sunday night then.

    Sky will argue the ratings (likely for live Indycar but also Nascar highlights) are probably so pitiful that even paying a small amount isn't worth it.
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    HenryVIIIHenryVIII Posts: 800
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    stevvy1986 wrote: »
    Except the consumer who if they want to watch all of something, or various different sports (or motorsports) have to subscribe to more than 1 broadcaster.

    Agreed.

    Is there any example of where competition for sports rights has made it cheaper for the viewer?

    Isn't it the other way around? Competition for the rights increases the prices of the rights, which increases the cost to the viewer, and the consequence of rights going to different broadcasters is just to increase the costs yet again for the viewer who now has to subscribe to multiple broadcasters.
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    stevvy1986stevvy1986 Posts: 7,088
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    HenryVIII wrote: »
    Agreed.

    Is there any example of where competition for sports rights has made it cheaper for the viewer?

    Isn't it the other way around? Competition for the rights increases the prices of the rights, which increases the cost to the viewer, and the consequence of rights going to different broadcasters is just to increase the costs yet again for the viewer who now has to subscribe to multiple broadcasters.

    Yup. Imagine if like me, you enjoy watching pretty much any type of 4 wheeled motorsport (except rallying). Now, if I wanted to watch them all, I'd need Sky (SSF1, Eurosport and Motors TV for F1 and stuff like V8's, WSR, WTCC etc), ESPN (DTM I think it is, now Indycar) and Premier Sports (Nascar, and they may end up with Nascar highlights too possibly).

    Ok, I don't watch all of them (as I don't subscribe to all of them, only Sky) but I'm sure you see my point.
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    mikwmikw Posts: 48,715
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    HenryVIII wrote: »
    Agreed.

    Is there any example of where competition for sports rights has made it cheaper for the viewer?

    Isn't it the other way around? Competition for the rights increases the prices of the rights, which increases the cost to the viewer, and the consequence of rights going to different broadcasters is just to increase the costs yet again for the viewer who now has to subscribe to multiple broadcasters.

    In theory competition should work. But, as seen with a variety of industries, it doesn't always.

    Possibly, having an indepedent platform where the viewer could choose what to programmes/sports to pay for, rather than bundling, might help.

    As would an independent platform. But how can the government possible take on financial might?
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    stevvy1986stevvy1986 Posts: 7,088
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    mikw wrote: »
    Possibly, having an indepedent platform where the viewer could choose what to programmes/sports to pay for, rather than bundling, might help.

    The only problem with that is if you said "£x per month for this/that sport" it could end up adding up to more in total depending on the cost per sport, eg football/F1 would be a higher cost per month than say speedway, and theroetically if you like football, F1, golf and cricket, depending on the cost you could end up paying more for those 4 sports (as I'd imagine they're the 4 most popular on Sky) than if you just had it as it is now.

    Alot would depend on pricing, but yeah, I can't think of any situation, whether to do with sport or anything else (in terms of broadcasting), where competition has actually benefitted the consumer thanks to reduced prices.

    A good example would be the next PL football deal, the rights have rocketed due to allowing competition, so the cost, even though it could still be just 2 broadcasters showing PL games, could still increase to the consumer because they've paid so much that they'll need to put the prices up to actually make it better for them financially.
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    stefmeisterstefmeister Posts: 8,396
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    derek500derek500 Posts: 24,892
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    mikw wrote: »

    Possibly, having an indepedent platform where the viewer could choose what to programmes/sports to pay for, rather than bundling, might help.

    Wouldn't work. Only 100% committed fans would subscribe and those who maybe switch on the start and end of a GP wouldn't bother.

    Bundling works in the interests of the majority whether it's the TVL, Council Tax, or a newspaper etc.
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    stefmeisterstefmeister Posts: 8,396
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    With Indycar no longer on Sky Sports im thinking about cancelling the sports pack as Indycar was pretty much the only thing I watched on Sky sports 1-4. Just have a few quick things I want to double check 1st though.

    Do sky have any other Motorsports signed up this year?
    With no Sports pack will I still get SSF1 with the HD pack?
    How about the SSF1 red button & online extra feeds?
    Would I still get EuroSport & MotorsTV?
    What about Sky Sports news?


    BTW i notice that ESPN haven't said anything about Indycar been Live.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 42
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    With Indycar no longer on Sky Sports im thinking about cancelling the sports pack as Indycar was pretty much the only thing I watched on Sky sports 1-4. Just have a few quick things I want to double check 1st though.

    Do sky have any other Motorsports signed up this year?
    With no Sports pack will I still get SSF1 with the HD pack?
    How about the SSF1 red button & online extra feeds?
    Would I still get EuroSport & MotorsTV?
    What about Sky Sports news?

    I did this a few months ago and don't regret it. In answer to your questions:

    Not sure, but there's little else left I could think of that they might acquire.
    Yes you do.
    Yes, I believe there was an issue for Melbourne practice last year where HD subscribers didn't get the red button, but this was resolved.
    Yes, if you get them now you'll keep them as they're part of a different pack.
    Yes Sky Sports News will stay.
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