So BBC have lost most of the F1 coverage 
They get 3 poxy races and Sky pirates get the rest
A sad day for F1 
Actually, I think this is terrible news for F1 fans as they will now have to subscribe to Sky to watch all the races in the UK. Iām sure Sky will do a good job but it will not be without cost.
I can see why the BBC would want to save some money as the payments to Bernieās CVC company are obviously enormous. So, as usual itās probably Bernieās fault! Alternatives are:
1 Watch it on the internet (justin.tv for example)
2 Set up a satelite dish at 19East and watch it on (German) RTL while listening to R5live.
SKYās a rip off and I have not subscribed since I realised this in 1996. I do not intend to subscribe now. I used to watch RTL when F1 was on ITV. RTL have adverts as well, of course, so I would switch between RTL and ITV but it was amazing how often the adverts were on both channels at the same timeā¦ Like most people, Iām sure, I have moved my satellite dish to look at 28East but it can always be moved back again.
Sky will never get my money! Especially now that Murdochās empire has finally, and properly, been exposed for the disfunctional, money grabbing, headline creating, wrong thinking, oligarchy that it is.
Sky still wonāt be showing ALL the races live eitherā¦ weāll miss parts of every one of them for all the damn adverts!
Itās a real shame as I reckon the BBC, both TV and radio, are a very large part of why F1 has become so popular again in the UK.
From Martin Brundleās twitter feedā¦
āBBC/Sky/F1 2012+. Found out last night, no idea how it will work yet Iām out of contract, will calmly work through options Not impressedā
Ecclestone and murdoc take over the world.
Maybe they can pay back the Greek debt and Save the Worldā¦but that would be a nice thing to do and they dont do āniceā so I have heardā¦
Anon
Politics apart (which stink), I think Sky Sports coverage is superb, & has taken the gendre to new heights over the last 15 years.
However, I am a couch potato, & enjoy watching motorsport, football, cricket, golf, cycling & even darts! So for me, paying ĆÆĀæĀ½5 a week for the āSports Packageā is excellent value.
Really looking forward to watching F1 in āHDā, but definately not the bloody adverts!!!
This is bad news so im gonna make the best of the beeb coverage this season then probably find steams on the net for the 2012 races not shown on bbc, quality will suck but its better than being ripped off paying for sky sports, just when f1 was regaining a decent following too they alienate the sport even moreso
I bet sky will want Brundle dc etc all and pay the ĆÆĀæĀ½ās
They have promised no adverts during the races and will also be showing the practice sessions, not impressed as I do have sky but never paid for the sports, not convinced I want to just for F1 either
OK I have a totally different perspective (given who pays my mortgage), and I certainly respect the opinions of everyone that has posted. Just a little contrast though :
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On the ground, pretty much everyone I work with (but esp the creative types) are seriously passionate and committed about what they do and the service they deliver.
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Come up with a product that you think people want, put a price on it and try to sell itā¦its the same principle from cottage-industry Lotus engine conversions to PayTV giants. If as a punter you consider the productās value to you is not commensurate with the price, then donāt buy itā¦simples
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Iām as shocked as the next man at what has transpired in the hacking scandal but feel less implicated in it all than the dude working at my local BP garage does with the Deepwater horizon oil spill.
Gota say, Ben has a couple of good points there.
BBC had their chance to choose what to kill off, and F1 was far too easy a target. Would be interesting to see how much would have been saved by the beeb if they had done it a bit differently, Jake and DC UK based for every event, Brundle and a couple of bods at the event to get a feel for what is going on, bullet in the head for EJ, etc. Would be interesting to know the BBCās costs for travel, food, allowance, etc for each event/season, seeing as for each camera, theres normally a couple of other people in the area to make it all āworkā. I know what it costs to move, feed, hotel a group of people for a weekend of racing, and the logistics is a nightmare for a only handfull.
Give Sky and the BBC a chance to see how they make it work. Extensive highlights could be anything from 5 mins to almost full replay.
Can you go and turn that switch on now Ben?? 
Well I hate the money grabbing little arse (Ecclestone that is) & I canāt get sky here!!
Too many greedy fookers in this world ā¦
Donāt we all pay our licence fee to watch British sportsmen at their game or am I missing something ?
We,ll get toll roads next when some greedy fooker works out how to make US pay /rant over 
No different to live Premiership, cricket, etc. I think that its more of a BBC problem, as its too easy to make another sing/dance/decorate/police/hospital/cooking/antiques drama/reality programe, that can then be endlessly repeated without much further cost, before finally being sold onto another channel.
Would getting rid of BBC3 and BBC4 be more appropriate - alhough watching BBC4 as I type!! Or some of the many BBC radio stations?
Well ā¦ down here we get the pundits sitting in the studio and the race coverage of Brundle and DC from the Beeb ā¦ althought spoilt by adverts !! so it will be interesting to see how that works out now !
Suspect Iām going to have to talk with Ben and get my Mom a slingbox and second Sky box 
I think Murdoch should donate FREE transmission on Sky Sport all F1 to the British public as a punishment for phone hacking
Imagine we both have a mate Jez who has a company. He runs it without our help but you have a 60% stake and I have 40%. Iāve had a bit of a PR disaster and want to give away Jezās new product to try and make up for it. I assume you would not be cool with that idea?
Iām just trying to illustrate that Newcorp are a shareholder and the remainder are held by shareholders who think Sky have a responsibility to deliver value to them.
Great newsā¦ oh sorry, my mistake.
Bernire is obviously having difficulties keeping up with the rent bill for his daughters!
[quote=JDS]Gota say, Ben has a couple of good points there.
Would be interesting to know the BBCās costs for travel, food, allowance, etc for each event/season, seeing as for each camera, theres normally a couple of other people in the area to make it all āworkā. I know what it costs to move, feed, hotel a group of people for a weekend of racing, and the logistics is a nightmare for a only handfull.
[/quote]
I agree that SKY will probably do a good job (and said so in my original post) but the profits posted by Murdochās empire are obscene. They will aim to make even more money out of broadcasting F1. SKY do excellent coverage of Football, cricket etc but itās unreasonably expensive to watch it when compared to the BBC licence fee.
According to the Times, the BBC pay ĆÆĀæĀ½40m for the F1 rights and ĆÆĀæĀ½10m to cover broadcast costs each year. Under the new deal the BBC will save ĆÆĀæĀ½32m (i.e. still spending ĆÆĀæĀ½18m on it!!)
The basic problem is that in the UK we have a culture of āfree to airā TV but in truth we pay a licence fee to the BBC in which we have no choice but to pay and accept whatever is broadcast as reward for our payment. At least SKY let you choose what you want to watch. As a licence fee payer I expect to watch what I want to watch and not to have to pay any more.
As ever, the real villain is Ecclestone who, if he really wanted to popularise F1, could give it away to any free to air broadcaster but that would be too generous by far. This is the first time that F1 rights have been sold to a subscription broadcaster - the previous attempts in the early days of HD failed to materialise, of course.
No doubt weāll all get used to the new regime with the passage of time but, for the moment at least, it stinks.
On the positive side, Iām going to get 10 Sundays a year back to do real things with.
Like others I wonāt be giving Sky any of my money. Benja - I donāt think your analogy works - your bosses have been shown up for what they really are but I appeciate they pay your bills.
Bernie is one of the real culprits - the sums being asked for are just obscene.