F1 now evaluating elimination qualifying tweaks for Bahrain

A lot can happen in 3 years .

Streaming for one thing will be far more mainstream by then than it is now.

The U-turns are happening so quickly and frequently now the sport is doing doughnuts

If you click on the #QualifyingQrisis link then you can find out for yourself.

But anyway it appears that the elimination format will still remain for Q1/Q2 but now will use the 2015 format for Q3. Dear Dear...

When will Bernie wake up & realize the main issue with F1 is HIM?

Well that will be the end of F1 for me then once that happens. I can't stand Sky's coverage of F1.

Highlights of all the races bar one, no thanks. The current deal generally turns out all right for most part with many of the highlight races being of the less thrilling races (Monaco, Singapore and the like), nice long highlights of early morning races I can't be bothered to get up for any more and just a few I'd rather watch live.

There is no way I could justify paying £30 extra a month at todays prices to watch one sport and a few European rugby cup matches.

I've no problem paying for sports channels as I do in the form of BT sports. The difference is that it is packaged with a load of other channels I like to watch at a rather reasonable total price.

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-...o-air-coverage

Ah sorry... I hadn't realised the hashtag was a link

Talking about Sky, they have created a behind the scenes thingy from the AUS GP.

Crazy decision by FOM, and a cash grab to lock in the rights this early.

The deal may have made sense with the exciting races of a few seasons ago, but now it just looks like suicide. Sky coverage is off the boil, and whilst most viewers don't mind highlights (cutting the dull parts of the races and moving them to prime time is no bad thing) people aren't going to pop along to Pick TV on the offchance of something good to watch.

Bonkers.

Another problem is that Pick tv if it is used, is not available from all Freeview transmitters.

Would be extraordinary if they did put adverts in, can't see it happening.

Guardian is reporting its exclusive.

F1 will be an irrelevance within 10 years.

Rugby union has replaced cricket as the UK's no2 sport as its available free to air - cricket is dying a slow death behind its paywall.

The point though is that casual viewers (like me!) don't watch every race at present - we dip in and out at random. I go through some periods where I watch every race, and others where I'll go a few months without seeing any at all. How much F1 I watch each year depends on (a) how much of it I can get at easily on my TV, and (b) how compelling that time with the sport proves to be. If I'm limited to watching highlights only, I can already predict that both of those factors are going to decrease.

I'd also doubt if the new highlights deal will be anything like as generous as the existing one. The current arrangement is probably the most liberal "highlights" agreement for any sport I can think of. I suggest it's far more likely the new package will be far more traditional, truncated, fixed evening slot stuff.

I wasn't going to dredge up old information but....

Jp
(safely home from Bruxelles btw)

F1 will go the way of MotoGP.

move towards pay TV, which is at the centre of declining audiences

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/35882820

Even drivers know it's going down the shit.

Is it?

The club my kids are involved with have the highest number of junior players on its books since they opened a kids section in the late 1980s - the U9s, U11s and U13s are all no longer accepting new members. Other clubs in our area are also reporting huge interest, and several clubs have since opened up to younger members. Very healthy indeed.

I don't think it's anything to do with telly as most of them do not have Sky Sports.

Anyone thinking the F1 Channel will close in 2019 too so that all people who signed up to Sky in 2012 (and got F1 free) will have to get the full sports package? The press release is worded in a particular way which makes me believe this is what they will do.

I am not happy with this decision at all. This decision came as a shock as I do love sport especially F1 and still a young man passing my mid 20's.

I think Sky right now are too well influenced in greed & money for very little quality coverage for their customers. It is also bad news for Irish viewers as it may mean the only way to receive live F1 races from 2019 is to watch it on a Sky platform.

If the online streaming service was offered to Sky subscribers and was restricted to those with a specific Sky subscription; it can sound less attractive than when it should be. If a worldwide stream was available to fans from an independent provider instead; than that would be OK for casual viewers if they have good standard internet connection at home.

I think Channel 4 will equally be miffed by Sky's taking of the rights. I was happy with their first race highlights from Australia from last Sunday as I thought it was very enjoyable.

I'm hoping that Channel 4's 1st live race from Bahrain will be a great success in nearly two weeks time.

I can't say this comes as a surprise. I believe the current 50/50 split deal for live races came about at the BBC's request (as they were looking to cut costs). Once pay tv had got it's foot in the door it was always going to want exclusivity the next time round.

Arguably the most significant aspect of the news is that Sky have retained the rights ahead of BT - locking BT out of F1 for at least the next 8 years.

One assumes (going by the example of WRC+, The WEC streaming Service and the MotoGP video pass) that these things are done on a country-by-country basis. I.e. you pay whoever the stream is coming from (for example as part of an F1 access account on formula1.com) and you get access to the streams. I highly doubt that it'd be available only to people who already pay for Sky anyway (i.e. though a Sky ID).

The only FTA will be the British Grand Prix and the highlights, the other two races will be on the newly announced Sky Sports Mix, which I believe will be included as part of Sky TV subs but won't be FTA.


Likely additional subscription cost rises, there are 3 years until it happens, plenty of time to extort more money out of people.

Indeed, to me it is significant that they decide to upgrade their contract at a time when there is no danger from BT, if they waited until the current contract ended, BT could scoop it up from underneath them.

Let's pretend that the Sky Sports F1 Channel never existed... What SS channels would F1 be on then this year? This is where the problem begins as there is so much clashes to put up with:

Australia: Sky Sports 1 (No direct clash)
Bahrain: Sky Sports 3 (Clashes with Football and T20 final)
China: Sky Sports 1 (No direct clash)
Russia: Sky Sports 2 (Clashes with Football)
Spain: Sky Sports 3/4 (Clashes with final day of PL)

And the going to the final half of the season:
Belgium: Sky Sports 2 (Clashes with Football)
Italy: Sky Sports 3 (Clashes with Football and England V Pakistan ODI)
Singapore: Sky Sports 2 (Clashes with Football)

And you might want to include stuff like Rugby, Tennis, Boxing as well so F1 would be changing channels all the time. And don't forget that some providers only provide SS1/2......