In light of the recent announcement that BBC1 will only screen half of the races, this will tend to push viewers towards Sky and ultimatley forking out hundreds to obtain Sky Sports.

For those of us who do not have Sky or are not prepared to shell out hundreds of punds, how else can we watch?

I have heard that Eurovox can pick up Sky channels from satelitte, but presumably a hack is required?

Is this also possible via Humax and other satelitte decoders?

RTL Germany, 19.2e FTA

With R5 Live commentary.

Isnt it better to avoid the result and wait a few hours and watch it in uninterrupted HD than use a stream or watch a foreign channel that goes to ad breaks.

i assume the BBC will chose to avoid the 6am type races leaving people to watch a 1pm showing that a lot used to watch anyway,

Well it is going to cost me a lot as I am going to need

New dish (mine is slightly too small

New Astra 2 LNB mine doesn't have the fixings on the back

2 new LNBs for Hotbird ans Astra 1 so THREE new LNBs all Quad

At least 2 DiSeqc switches

As least my PVR will handle non Freesat

Does the Humax HDR work on TF1 HD?

It's encrypted so probably not without a lot of additional expense on CAMs, smart cards etc.

NOTE: RTL HD also seems to be encrypted so unless this is planned to change anyone hoping to get a 100% live free HD F1 will be disappointed.

Correct - RTL HD like nearly all the commercial German HD channels is part of the HD+ network operated by a subsidiary of SES Astra.You need an HD+ receiver/TV and card or a CI+ module and card as well as an annual subscription. None of these products are (meant) for sale outside of Germany, not even in other German speaking countries like Austria and Switzerland. They use Nagravision encoding. Only certain receivers can handle CI+ and in most cases require a special software upgrade. CI+ has (or can have) a lot of playback and recording restrictions which go a lot further than HDPC.
Easier to stick with SD.

No apparently BBC have the first 3 choices, then Sky have the next 3 for exclusivity, then the BBC etc.

Any such discussion of illegal theft of pay TV is not allowed on this forum - besides which I believe it is not possible with a hack.

I've recently read on this forum that Freesat is being allowed to add a small amount of (internet based?) pay-tv services to its existing channel line-up.

Perhaps (with OfCom's intervention?) Freesat might be permited to broadcast the Sky races on a pay-to-view basis through the course of the F1 season?

TF1 on TNTSAT at 19e with a dedicated FTV receiver or on Fransat at 5W again with a dedicated FTV Receiver with the audio from Radio5... even with the set up costs of approx £200 (to include a 2nd. dish and / or extra LNB/Bracket etc + the Decoder + Card) a lot cheaper than the +/- £35 a month for Sky Sports!!! Especially as i am not interested in anything else on Sky Sports.

If not very many people sign up for sky sports because of F1 it will soon go back to the BBC.

If they'd:

1. Put the F1 on a single sports channel as opposed to deliberately moving it around so that you have to subscribe to all sports channels.

and

2. Allow you to subscribe to the above sports channel without having to pay for all the other unwanted guff in the basic subscription.

and

3. Upgrade my telephone exchange so I could get the LLU broadband offering instead of the more expensive and inferior product they currently offer in our area.

and

4. Allow you to watch the HD version of the sports channel you are paying for without having to pay an extra £10/month

Then I might be tempted. Until that cold day in hell arrives, I'm resigned to either missing half the live races, or getting another dish and receiver to watch via RTL/Radio 5 Live.

You forgot

Supply a CAM and also provide EPG info via Freesat so we don't need an extra cripple box

I'm guessing this will allow me to connect an LNB pointing at Astra 1 to my HDR?

I'm a bit of a novice where things like this are concerned TBH. Do you know of any links that explain how this works?

If you have a computer connect it to your TV and watch via streaming i am sure there will be many people streaming. It is just a matter of finding a good stream. I am a keen speedway fan living in Spain and i manage to find a good stream for all the international and uk meetings.

You don't need a cam to do this just a diseqc switch

http://foxsat-hdr.wikispaces.com/DiSEqC

Now living in Spain we also go to those websites that stream live sports like F1 & Premier league football, although Spanish terrestrial digital TV channels show all the F1 races so far - i assume it will remain the same in 2012...

Not sure! Sky will, most likely be in it for the long term!

The BBC cannot afford it any longer so, unless Bernie drastically drops the prices, they won't want it back!

You need a CAM if you want TF1 HD and a TNT carte.

I tend to agree. I think this deal will set a precedent and as a result the concorde agreement will change meaning FTA live F1 will become a thing of the past around the globe over the next few years.

I take it TF1 is a subscription channel? If so, how much does it cost, and can UK residents subscribe?

No chance the pay-TV services allowed are NOT live broadcasts particularly those already being broadcast live.

Virtually all such streaming (except by the broadcasters themselves) is illegal.

Agreed, and probably best left alone as I do believe discussion of such activities isn't allow here, - I'd hate to see this thread get deleted, as I've found it very useful so far.