I thought I would update my investigation into
post #1575 which is what Sky Sports channel F1 would be on if the F1 channel did not exist. I've use the BBC Sport website as a source of what F1 might or might not clash with. I thought I would update this list to include all 21 races.
Note: Events listed in Italic are events that are not shown by Sky Sports
First Half Of Season:
Australia: Sky Sports 1 (No direct clash)
Bahrain: Sky Sports 3 (Clashes with Football and World T20 Final)
China: Sky Sports 1 (No direct clash)
Russia: Sky Sports 2 (Clashes with Football)
Spain: Sky Sports 4 (Clashes with final day of PL)
Monaco: Sky Sports 2 (Clashes with FL Playoff final)
Canada: Sky Sports 1 (Clashes with
Euro 2016)
Azerbaijan: Sky Sports 1 (Clashes with
Queen's Club Tennis)
Austria: Sky Sports 1 (Clashes with
Tour De France)
Britain: Sky Sports 1 (Clashes with
Wimbledon Final, European Athletics Championship and Tour De France)
Hungary: Sky Sports 1 (Clashes with England V Pakistan Second Test and
London Anniversary Games)
Germany: Sky Sports 1 (Clashes with the
Woman's British Open Golf, although I don't think that will affect F1)
Second Half Of Season:
Belgium: Sky Sports 2 (Clashes with Football)
Italy: Sky Sports 1 (Clashes with
Start Of Premiership Rugby season, MotoGP Britain and Tour Of Britain)
Singapore: Sky Sports 2 (Clashes with Football,
Davis Cup Semi-Finals and Paralympic Games)
Malaysia: Sky Sports 1 (No direct clash)
Japan: Sky Sports 1 (No direct clash)
USA: Sky Sports 1 (No direct clash)
Mexico: Sky Sports 1 (Clashes with Football although not a direct clash)
Brazil: Sky Sports 1 (No direct clash)
Abu Dhabi: Sky Sports 2 (Clashes with Football and
Davis Cup Final)
Analyses:
I have not included practice/qualifying clashes above, just clashes with the race so stuff like the Royal Ascot is not included. If we did include qualifying clashes then races like Bahrain, Russia, Belgium, Singapore and Singapore would clash with Football and would have to moved to Sky Sports 2. You would also have to include La Liga in there as possibly some big matches would clash with F1 and therefore F1 would also have to move channels.
Going to the race clashes though... If you at the above then 14 races would be on Sky Sports 1 which would be a surprising amount although the amount above may not be final though as pre-season football may affect the amount of races shown on Sky Sports 1. If we didn't include possible pre-season football clashes then 5 races would be on Sky Sports 2 and 1 on Sky Sports 3/4
You may think some of my channel decisions listed are strange however it's not as I should explain. I've listed Bahrain as Sky Sports 3 as it would directly clash with the Super Sunday football and the World T20 final plus I believe Cricket has to be on Sky Sports 2 so Sky Sports 3 would be the only best spot to put F1 on. I've listed Sky Sports 4 for Monaco because even though the race would probably finish by the time the Football had finish it would affect the Super Sunday build up on Sky Sports 1 and in case of a red flag the race could end up overrunning with the Football and it would look pretty silly if Sky had to change channels during the final laps, so the safe and best decision would be to put the F1 on Sky Sports 4. If I was the person deciding which channels to put F1 I would simulcast Bahrain and Monaco on Sky1 to make up for the loss of audience.
The good thing about the calendar is that Italy and Brazil are placed on World Cup qualifiers weekends so Sky should be able to place them both on Sky Sports 1 although why do FOM and Dorna think it's a great idea for the Italian GP and British MotoGP to fall on the same weekend as each other???....
As for the TV ratings then the races that will have a big fall in ratings are Bahrain, Russia, Spain, Monaco, Canada, Britain, Hungary, Belgium, Italy, Singapore and Abu Dhabi as they clash with major sporting events. I expect Austria might take a slight dive as well as it clashes with the Tour De France. Ratings have already tumbled and with a busy year or sport ahead I can only expect a further drop of ratings ahead of us...