I guess it's a fine line between starting from scratch and aping a successful format, or throwing everything out just to try to be seen as being different. I'd imagine it will come and the original ideas will filter in but perhaps not from day 1. It's probably safer to use the first few races to get the basics right before phasing in innovations and changes otherwise the danger is they'll be airing a complete mess. It's not as though they're following a broadcaster who was failing, the BBC's coverage is a strong act to have to follow.


How do you mis-spell 'Fleetwood Mac'? Don't tell me they put a 'k' on the end?

A nice surprise that they're keeping the theme, given that it's much more associated with BBC F1 than, say, many of the potential presenters are. I'm not complaining, I'm more than happy it's staying.

When ITV got the F1 rights they had over a year to commission a theme and have it ready. (They were also keener to differentiate themselves from what had gone before.) Channel 4 have had about 3 months, so they needed to go for something off the shelf. If you're going to do that you might as well go for the music everyone knows and associates with F1, a piece that (most) people love.

Yep, got it in one.

Quite like the fact they have "The Chain" for the title music. It's one of those things that doesn't feel right when watching F1 without it. A bit like watching Footie highlights without the MOTD tune, or watching the Champions League games with their theme music.
Wonder if they'll switch the music up a bit? Maybe remix it a bit, freshen it up. Others have tried! https://vimeo.com/42546909

Any truth to this Guy Martin rumor?

If he is involved with Channel 4s coverage then I'll be watching Sky instead, i just can't stand Guy Martin.

Talking theme tunes, I think it'd be nice if Sky gave "Just Drive" a rest.

Yeah, it's getting a bit old already. Many better tunes they could have.

Completely agree - and I'll go so far as to say I can't stand 'Just Drive' (but that mute button comes in terribly handy over the opening credits!).

Oh yes the stock car season is finally upon us, which means it's also time to start the 2016 NASCAR Season and SPEEDWEEKS!!

Like last year the FOX family of the networks in the US will be showing every moment of on-track action live leading up to #DaytonaDay on FOX on Sunday 21st Feb. There is a few changes with Jeff Gordon joining the booth and Larry Mac now providing in-race analysis, but as usual NASCAR Race Hub returning for 7 days a week to review the action.

Here in the UK Premier Sports will continue to provide live coverage of all 36 races and in HD, 6 Truck races will also be shown this year as well although sadly it looks like there will be no XFINITY coverage in the UK again this year. As far as I'm aware there is no live coverage of the Daytona 500 Qualifying or Can-Am Duels again this year.

Below is the schedule you need for UK coverage:

Premier Sports:
14/2/16: Sprint Unlimited Live (1:00am-3:00am)
21/2/16: Daytona 500 Live (5:00pm-10:00pm)

If anything changes I will update this post

I tend to think having the familiar music that people associate with the generally very good coverage the BBC produced is probably a good thing for Channel 4. It reminds the regular fans of those times, and it's probably a tune people with even a passing familiarity with the sport would recognise if it starts playing.

I do hope Channel 4 do other things that are distinctive, especially as I think they could really push Sky to up their game, but this is fine with me.

I wonder if any money was paid to the BBC in order to use this tune - could it be considered a "trademark" of the BBC's time with F1?

I see the tweet indicating "The Chain" would be used by C4 has been removed.

Presuming it was an accidental leak rather than a mistake, it's going to be a bit odd for BBC Radio 5 Live and Channel 4 to use the same theme music for the same sport.

So glad im not the only one who has been thinking that.
I mute when live or skip past it if im chasing play back. It Just Drives me insane....

(I'll get my coat )

You're right. That's a bit strange. Although the tweet still remains on the Channel 4 Press account.

https://twitter.com/c4press/status/698144861472583680

I think it was probably intended to go on the Press account and not the C4 main account (probably should have been RT'd by the latter) but once they saw the attention the main account was getting, they rolled with it for a few hours.

Bit of an odd one, but the news is categorically true.

There is a nice behind the scenes form Sky for their new Sky Q fluid viewing advert that has just started airing

Not really F1, but its sky, there is a Porsche and its broadcasting and Sky F1 will use it
I know many of you love all the behind the scenes in broadcasting;

https://youtu.be/2_wVR3BVMGA

SkyQ IMO is more about the ablity to stream content around your house, the 4k stuff is just a bonus for the future really.

Thanks for that, used to love watching the Nascar, both series, but as last year not paying for that Premiere channel just to watch it.
No Xfinity anywhere either in UK.
No delayed/highlights on any other channel.
Will have to wait a few weeks and watch the full races on the nascar youtube.

I found it tolerable at first, but then they butchered it.

Why would it be? it's a song that isn't owned by BBC and can be licensed by anyone if they pay for the rights, unless BBC paid extra for some kind of exclusivity. If they wanted to, Channel 4 could get Lift Me Up by Moby as the theme as it's nothing to do with ITV, just a song they used as a theme tune, unlike the specially commissioned Jamiroquai dross.

I don't mind Just Drive as the Sky F1 theme, but using it on almost every programme on the channel has made it massively played-out after just a few seasons, while The Chain remains almost as popular as ever. Hopefully Sky drop the self-indulgent soundbites from the intro this year whether they change the song or not.

Because even generic things (e.g. fonts, colours etc) can be considered trademarks if there's a strong enough association and the organisation has taken the trouble to trademark it.

I know the song itself isn't theirs and they license it, was just curious if the association might have been strong enough for C4 to need to come to an agreement before they used it in the exact same context.

Anyone know if the f1 app will allow you to buy once £19.99 and use the same ID on iOS and Android. It was promised last year, but not sure it ever happened..
Looked on the f1 site and it seems much the same app.
Really only use the timing screens that are free and did not really think the extra video content was worth it.
Perhaps its getting an update nearer the time?

Lee McKenzie is working on BBC 6 Nations coverage so not sure if she will be on C4 F1's coverage unless she is freelance of course.

If Channel 4 has to keep The Chain, then they should keep the vocals at the end of the theme.

Highly doubt they would pay the BBC for someone else's song. It was a music track before BBC used it for their coverage. It would be very wrong if they had to.

I also hope that no broadcasters are allowed to trademark any released songs in the future.

I'm not talking about trademarking the song, I'm talking about trademarking the use of that song in the context of F1 coverage, particularly as the intro music. I'm very well aware that it's not the BBC's song!

If you think that scenario is not trademarkable, just imagine the reaction if Clarkson, Hammond and May's new show on Amazon uses Jessica as the intro music.

Anyway... March 18th can't get here soon enough.