Originally Posted by Ten_Ben:
“Oh, come on, not even you really believes that, surely? C4 isn't really in a position to say yes or no after one race and certainly wouldn't have expected to be looking at 2019 just yet anyway.
Locking yourself into a six-year deal that doesn't even start for three years smacks of desperation to me. Who knows what state the sport will be in by then? Especially with next year's regulation changes.
As much as I have loved F1 for 30+ years, my interest isn't what it was and I'm not that bothered enough to pay to watch it. Indeed, I half wonder whether C4's contract allows them to exit say after this year if the season turns out to be poor, either in race quality or viewer numbers.
It's difficult to see how putting the whole thing behind a paywall actually helps anyone apart from BE and CVC at all - Sky is paying more money and will get some extra viewers, for sure, but enough? A large proportion of people willing to pay to watch every race live will already have Sky. Whether the finances will add up without increasing subscription charges again must be very borderline.
With an ever-increasing amount of alternative entertainment options and calls on people's time, ease of accessibility is key. Few people get that - there are not the hundreds of thousands of people who will actively search out F1 (fans, semi-fans or casual viewers), as you seem to think. They'll simply find something else to fill the time, it's not difficult.”
I think it's likely that C4 agreed to see out the remaining 3 years of BT's contract, knowing full well that Sky had nabbed (or were planning to nab) exclusive rights for 2019 onwards... It's pretty likely that Sky wanted to ink a new deal with FOM sooner rather than later, in order to stop BT trying to nab the rights.
Any legal contract takes weeks & weeks of discussions - you don't think that FOM just popped round C4's HQ last Monday and said "Hey guys, nice job yesterday, do you want F1 exclusively for 2019 onwards?"...
I reckon that the bulk of these negotiations most likely took place over the winter.
Tbh if you're not bothered to watch the sport right now, then you have no place to comment on it. Given that last week's race was pretty exciting, If the season keeps up at that rate, viewing figures will slowly rise & I doubt Channel 4 will exit the contract mid-season.
I don't like this split we have in F1 between FTA and Pay - i'd rather it was just fully one or the other, naturally i'd prefer FTA but then I'm not wedded to it. F1 is & always has been a minority sport - the same with all motorsports. FTA coverage is not a god-given right anyway. We've seen this year that the Olympics won't be fully FTA from now on, and all sport is moving to Pay TV. Formula E is under the constant threat of going Pay TV as well it seems, the BTCC is the only holdout IMO for live, FTA coverage in the UK.