FTA isn't paying anything based on the viewing figures, absolutely no chance.

And if Formula E goes to pay-TV, then the series is dead in this country.

The holding company has got massive financial issues in France and have entered into a protection order but they have ended their English-language feed as a way to try and drastically reduce costs and survive.
In the UK, its dead

I may be barking up the wrong tree, but I get the feeling that the Formula E races would be better off shown in a regular 5-6PM early evening ITV 1 slot to attract casual viewers with a slight interest in car racing to help build up the audience, and leave live coverage to ITV4 or online for the few committed fans.

Max Mosley in an interview with the BBC a few years ago said what helped grow the popularity of F1 was having a regular start time (2.00PM CET) for every race in Europe.

In some respects Formula E would fare better on BBC 1 or 2, due to the sheer number of casual viewers.

Will Channel 4 be hoping Murray doesn't get to the Wimbledon final on Sunday so there isn't an impact on their ratings for the British GP?

If there is one at all or will both events attract a different type of viewer?

I think I remember someone saying that the tennis match won't actually start properly until around 2.30pm, ie roughly the same sort of time that the F1 race should finish. Obviously tennis pre match clashes with the F1 and F1 post race clashes with the tennis, but there should be a minimal clash when both events are 'properly' taking place (subject to rain, red flags etc in the F1)

I can't imagine Murray will be going to Wimbledon rather than Silverstone. The doyen of F1 broadcasting! Surely not?

It's out! Wait, it was in!

I think that’s far from confirmed.
Formula E has already given London’s traditional end of season double header to New York next year, and Battersea Park aren’t allowing the race to ever be held there again. Admittedly there are 2 dates that are ‘TBC’ in next year’s schedule which could be used for a London (or UK) event but with nothing planned yet it’s starting to look a bit unlikely. And to be honest, only the June date could seriously be considered due to the weather...

As for the broadcasting rights, I agree that it’s vital Formula E remains as accessible as possible while it builds its fan base. Hopefully the Formula E management acknowledge this, and place more value in accessibility than actual money.

If Formula E does end up on PayTV it won't be because the FE management went after extra revenue (I doubt any of the PayTV broadcasters would be willing to pay that much for the rights anyway), It will purely be down to lack of interest from FTA broadcasters.

I don't think anybody pays to show Formula E anyway. The fact that there are highlights shows on Eurosport and BT, and the free worldwide stream for countries that don't have somebody showing it on telly (like A1, Superleague, Blancpain etc.) means it'll end up somewhere if ITV decide they don't want it anymore.

Dave are going after live sport now, could it end up in there perhaps?

Discovery have live rights outside of UK so my bet will be the FTA channel Quest, natural progression from the Rally X.

I'll remind you all that when the Mexican race couldn't be shown live on ITV 4 because of snooker, the geo blocks were lifted on the HD youtube stream of the world feed. Should ITV not pick up season 3, I imagine that YouTube and daily motion will remain free to air.

Alejandro Agag said that there will be a UK race when he was interviewed on ITV at the weekend.

That's about as close as you are going to get to being confirmed.


Not yet they don't, however they have bought into Formula E, and are expected to take over when the current worldwide distribution deal with Fox Sports ends.

...and that probably means Eurosport rather than Quest.

True, but this is the dude who has played fast and loose with the attendance figures for Battersea and Formula E have also provided false evidence to the local council (about sending local residents information) so I am more hesitant than I would normally be about believing such a thing.

Seen this a few times on sky over the last few days
Very interesting interview from Ross Brawn with Martin Brundle talking about his career, F1 today and Brawn F1.

https://youtu.be/QsC0X2fx1wc
or
http://www.skysports.com/watch/video...brawn-identity

Just watched the trackside f1 show from last night, not that great really.
But Johnny playing about on a hoverboard fell off onto the track, his head came ever so close to hitting it too, could have been bad.
They all seemed to joke about it and Simon did mention they would get him a helmet...

It’s an utterly dreadful show every year they do it. I just find the whole Lazenby and the drivers pandering to ‘the best fans in the world’ and ‘isn’t Britain great’ shebang a bit cringey.

Herbert being a complete donkey farting about on a hoverboard (which has no relevance to anything) just proves to me what a waste of space he is. He's just a joker who's not very funny, doesn't add anything, and talks a load of twaddle (Hamilton on the Monaco track parade, his nonsense saying Alonso should retire etc). The sooner they get rid of him, the better. Let's just say I'd have struggled to feel sorry for him if he'd fallen off that idiotic device and hurt himself. If memory serves it's illegal to use them in most places anyway, sure I remember seeing something about you can only use them on private land with the land owners permission. They're for lazy people anyway.

My car would fail it's mot if i had something in my eyeline on the windscreen, yet they can have this "abomination" in front of them at 200mph, yet is for safety??
How come nobody (not even the commentators) have asked what happens when the car is upside down and they need to get out ie Alonso?
The day this is implemented is the day after decades i say bye to F1 i am already leaning more towards touring and gt because of these stupid restrictions.
If it's too dangerous go play with the soft kids in the sandpit and don't become an F1 driver.

Ferrari have made the central strut of the Halo thinner, although I still hold some slender hope for the Aeroscreen being used for 2018.

Bit of poor observation from Ben. Twice we've had shots from FOM showing Markus Ericsson in civvies and his car stripped apart and then with 20 minutes to go Ben wonders why he hadn't put in a lap.

Halo from the OnBoard on the side of the car:
https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7716/2...bc88ea9a_o.jpg

And the T-Cam:
https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7619/2...e0f29db0_o.jpg

And it case you missed it MotorsTV is back on 447 on sky

Perhaps they could move the on-board to actually sit on / in the halo?