New Channel 4 Deal In The Offing??

[Big Tea]

I believe (not 100% sure) that DC owns the production team that covers F1 for C4, so he may be in a deliberate 'role' with them.
C4 also seem to get good access to Red Bull, like Horner speaking live a few times each GP, before during and after.

I think it works, but I understand that if people follow other teams it can be biased, but try as they might, there is never going to be unbiased commentary
The teams that interact with the broadcasters are always going to have the opportunity to present their view. I dont think any teams are excluded, but there is only so much air time

[GrandAxe]

I prefer Channel 4 to Sky by a country mile.

80% of Sky's reporting is controversy seeking, click baity sensationalist nonsense. This especially worse during practise sessions when weekend only fans are absent and you want quality information, not some guy missing all that's going on on track while yapping on about things that belong on Twitter.

karun Chandhok is excellent, but he's slightly dumbed down at CH4. That guy is an F1 encyclopedia who should be given more room for the sake of F1 fans.

[Just_a_fan]

I believe (not 100% sure) that DC owns the production team that covers F1 for C4,

Yes, he's a director of Whisper Films. Channel 4 has bought a strake in it too.

https://www.whisperfilms.co.uk/about

[nevill3]

I would prefer it if FOM would extend their OTT service to include the UK then we can all watch the races when and where we like. However I am sure Sky have negotiated an exclusive deal with FOM for the next few years.

F1 commercial chief Sean Bratches says there's no room for a free-to-air deal for live races in the UK until 2024 given Sky's agreement.

Sky UK TV deal 'immutable' until 2025 - Bratches
Formula 1 commercial chief Sean Bratches says the Sky's TV deal to broadcast the sport in the UK exclusively live between 2019 and 2024 is "immutable" after being inherited from the previous administration.

F1 is currently shared between Sky Sports and Channel 4 in the UK, with the latter showing half of the season's races live and the rest via highlights free-to-air. Sky Sports, a subscription service, shows the entire season live.

Sky Sports announced last year that it had gained exclusive rights to show the entire season from 2019 to 2024 with no scope for live races to be shown on free-to-air TV.

from a report herehttps://www.crash.net/f1/news/259579/1/ ... 5-bratches

So all the UK fans will either have to pay Sky or give up watching the sport live.....

[Just_a_fan]

So all the UK fans will either have to pay Sky or give up watching the sport live.....

If I can find a VPN live stream then I'll watch it. Otherwise, this is my last season after more than 30 years of watching F1. I simply will not give Murdoch a single penny of my money. The man, and his associates, are poison. I'd give Steve Smith a blowjob before I'd give Murdoch a brass farthing.

I might come back once OTT is available in the UK but not if Murdoch is tied to the deal. Channel 4's highlight package doesn't cut it as one loses the flow of the race.

I listen to cricket on the radio - TMS is just heaven, and I have listened to F1 on the radio, but motor racing isn't the same on the radio. Cricket works, F1 doesn't.

[Big Tea]

So all the UK fans will either have to pay Sky or give up watching the sport live.....

If I can find a VPN live stream then I'll watch it. Otherwise, this is my last season after more than 30 years of watching F1. I simply will not give Murdoch a single penny of my money. The man, and his associates, are poison. I'd give Steve Smith a blowjob before I'd give Murdoch a brass farthing.

I might come back once OTT is available in the UK but not if Murdoch is tied to the deal. Channel 4's highlight package doesn't cut it as one loses the flow of the race.

I listen to cricket on the radio - TMS is just heaven, and I have listened to F1 on the radio, but motor racing isn't the same on the radio. Cricket works, F1 doesn't.

Hi, its Steve Smith, just checking you have my number?

[Just_a_fan]

Hi, its Steve Smith, just checking you have my number?

Just finishing my Phall curry and I'm all yours...

[Big Tea]

Hi, its Steve Smith, just checking you have my number?

Just finishing my Phall curry and I'm all yours...

[Shakeman]

So all the UK fans will either have to pay Sky or give up watching the sport live.....

If I can find a VPN live stream then I'll watch it. Otherwise, this is my last season after more than 30 years of watching F1. I simply will not give Murdoch a single penny of my money. The man, and his associates, are poison. I'd give Steve Smith a blowjob before I'd give Murdoch a brass farthing.

I might come back once OTT is available in the UK but not if Murdoch is tied to the deal. Channel 4's highlight package doesn't cut it as one loses the flow of the race.

I listen to cricket on the radio - TMS is just heaven, and I have listened to F1 on the radio, but motor racing isn't the same on the radio. Cricket works, F1 doesn't.

I agree entirely, Murdoch gets not a penny from me either. I'm more interested in the technology of F1 rather than the racing because the racing has never been great even in the glory years but the tech remains interesting.

Pay TV for F1 is the nail in the coffin for F1 as advertisers will walk or substantially reduce what they're prepared to pay and teams like Williams maybe even McLaren will struggle to compete and stay in the sport eventually. Every sport needs an audience and Sky's F1 audience is tiny, last figures I saw were under 20k a race and terrestrial were at least 10x that on a bad day.

I 'watched' the German GP through the medium of Twitter's #F1 hashtag, in the early stages every refresh Hamilton had gained a place and I could not hide my joy when the first image of a beached Vettel came through on the stream. If I'm out I often watch Periscope F1 feeds for the start of the race by about lap two FOM have managed to close down the streamers. I can't stand the BBC radio presenters so Twitter will be the future of F1 'watching' for me...

[GreyArea]

Hi All this is my 1st post and was actually looking for info on Ferrari's battery magic but couldn't resist this thread as the C4/Sky thing has been really annoying me.

I really hope C4 can do a deal with Sky for the rights as I'd rather watch their highlights than Sky's live coverage even if it was free. Seen it a few times and always found it terrible which surprised me as I always liked Brundle pre Sky, but when they offered him so much money to leave the BBC I think he disappeared up his own arsehole. Really thought I'd like watching Johnny Herbert and Damon Hill as pundits too but just didn't.

As others have said Karun Chandhok is very good and I think Sky will try to poach him if C4 loses all coverage. You can tell he loves the sport and is a proper stato. Also now he's been on TV a while he's getting much more relaxed and his sense of humour is coming out more. The others are good too, even Eddie Jordan has some useful insights occasionally. Lee McKenzie is great at the driver interviews and is also very knowledgeable, but we all knew that from the her time at the BBC. Would be good it they could afford Mark Webber more often as he is not shy about expressing an entertaining opinion. And Susie Woolf can't help letting slip details about Merc and Toto which helps balance the RB bias from DC and MW and I'm sure must also aid access to Merc. She also has the most recent experience of driving a modern F1 car, albeit as a test driver.

Was worried about Steve Jones replacing Jake Humprhey as DC's onscreen buddy but he does the everyman thing well and probably knows more than he lets on to make it more easily engaging. To me it seems the C4 presenters are enjoying it more and that comes across in the coverage. On the odd occasion it's SJ, DC and MW doing the main presenting you can actually imagine them in the pub having the same conversation.

[jjn9128]

Motorsport reporting new deal for highlights plus live British GP. Disappointing but better than no F1 I guess. Still no word on Coulthard taking Formula E to C4.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/chan ... l/3175284/

[Just_a_fan]

It's a highlight package - which is better than nothing, as you say - but I have found the ability to follow the race is down to how good the editor is. It's easy to lose the flow of the race. I've watched race highlights where drivers suddenly jump 3 places because the editor cut out some routine pitstops, for example. You can figure it out but it's not great.

[Phil]

I fricking love the C4 coverage and I am really sad if they discontinue it. I even watch the highlight stuff, after having watched the live coverage on ORF (Austrian).

[jjn9128]

It's a highlight package - which is better than nothing, as you say - but I have found the ability to follow the race is down to how good the editor is. It's easy to lose the flow of the race. I've watched race highlights where drivers suddenly jump 3 places because the editor cut out some routine pitstops, for example. You can figure it out but it's not great.

It also depends what the package is - atm I think they're limited to a 1h30m program... depending on the race that can include virtually the whole race (Monza) or have to leave a lot on the cutting room floor (Singapore).

[i70q7m7ghw]

I'm glad something has been announced, I'll take highlights over the cost of a Sky package. I prefer the C4 coverage, the Sky coverage is pretty shocking and I still can't believe they run ads during the build-up when it's on pay TV, "F1 on Sky is sponsored by..." WHY!? They are already cleaning up with the subscription fee...

It's a shame because I love F1, but I can't justify the cost of a Sky Sports TV package for only 20 odd weekends a year, I would much rather put the money towards GP tickets.

We can only pray that the F1TV service is made available to UK viewers at some point in the future.