Any other ways to watch F1 in the UK?

[Just_a_fan]

F1TV pro isn’t available in the UK?

If someone had a credit card registered in a suitable country and watched F1TV through a VPN, then it would be possible to watch it in the UK. The stumbling block is paying for it, really.

How much does f1tv cost? Is there someplace that will tell me if it's available in my country (India)?

Sent from my POCO F1 using Tapatalk

Go to https://www.formula1.com/en/subscribe-to-f1-tv-pro.html and it will detect your location and offer you the packages available and their price. In the UK, we can only get live timing / live data stuff along with some historic videos. We can't get the F1 TV Pro with live races streamed etc.

[Just_a_fan]

Just had a play with the F1 TV site and it appears that recognises if a VPN is being used. When I turn on the one built in to Opera, the site doesn't function correctly.

[Jolle]

If someone had a credit card registered in a suitable country and watched F1TV through a VPN, then it would be possible to watch it in the UK. The stumbling block is paying for it, really.

How much does f1tv cost? Is there someplace that will tell me if it's available in my country (India)?

Sent from my POCO F1 using Tapatalk

Go to https://www.formula1.com/en/subscribe-to-f1-tv-pro.html and it will detect your location and offer you the packages available and their price. In the UK, we can only get live timing / live data stuff along with some historic videos. We can't get the F1 TV Pro with live races streamed etc.

If you’re using apple devices, you could buy a apple iTunes card from for instance the Netherlands and open a Dutch iTunes account. Then with a VPN you could stream from there. I used to do that to get US Netflix (and now iPlayer from the UK)

[NathanOlder]

So basically Sky has got me by the balls for a good few years yet.....

Yes. Say "thank you" to Bernie and the BBC.

Blame the BBC , they save every penny ditching the sports like F1, and continue to charge every one for a bloody TV licence! F the BBC, at least the sky service has over 10 hours of live coverage of every race for the money! Plus that price includes all the Golf, Football, Cricket ect

[Just_a_fan]

So basically Sky has got me by the balls for a good few years yet.....

Yes. Say "thank you" to Bernie and the BBC.

Blame the BBC , they save every penny ditching the sports like F1, and continue to charge every one for a bloody TV licence! F the BBC, at least the sky service has over 10 hours of live coverage of every race for the money! Plus that price includes all the Golf, Football, Cricket ect

I do blame the BBC. They could have sold the rights to C4 which would have kept it FTA. But no, they do a deal with Sky which must have been done to stitch up C4.

I blame Bernie for always putting pounds before fans. Of course he was doing short term, maximum money deals knowing well that he'd be out eventually. Got his bag of money before F1 disappears off 95% of TV screens worldwide.

[Unc1eM0nty]

F1 was going pay per view anyway, if not then it would have heppened a season or two later, it was inevitable.

The BBC is a public funded broadcaster and F1 is a niche sport, no way could they justify the massive outlay for such a small audiance. Hell they don't even show our national sport live, if you're a football fan you get match of the day highlights late at night, no live cricket or rugby either.

You can't blame the BBC for this, times have changed, they're not just competing with ITV and C4 anymore, now they have satalite, cable & streaming to deal with, it's just the way thing are

[Wass85]

I don't mind paying for F1 on Sky. It's just the fact that you must pay for the basic package and then add F1 as an extra that irks me.

[El Scorchio]

Trouble for BBC is the way they are funded. (Licence fee and no ad or sponsorship revenue) They have to justify financial decisions and everyone interferes in it. The argument is 'is it in the public interest' to whack all the money on live sport- especially in this day and age where competition for all rights is so fierce. People complain and everyone sticks their oar in and it becomes a political point. And they do have a remit to spend the money on a wide range of things rather than all on sport.

Really their hands are tied as their paymasters will not allow them to realistically compete with subscription based broadcasters. It's truly sad the way sport has disappeared in the last couple of decades from terrestrial TV.

If there's any consolation at all, if you are prepared to pay for it, the pay broadcasters have taken coverage of most sports to fantastic new heights with the amount of money and resource they are able to sink into it. Cricket is the one that springs to mind first.

[f1jcw]

I pay £4.99 for a SKY SPORTS iPhone app. You don't need any other sky services for it. It does all the F1 and some football.
I put it on my iPad Pro (12") and expand it to full screen so its small TV size.

Downsides is that TV mirroring is disabled (obviously)
It has to be full screen, no video over the top.

With it being a App, you can cancel your subscription on a month by month basis and then renew it next year.

All in all, not too bad for £4.99

[Big Tea]

I pay £4.99 for a SKY SPORTS iPhone app. You don't need any other sky services for it. It does all the F1 and some football.
I put it on my iPad Pro (12") and expand it to full screen so its small TV size.

Downsides is that TV mirroring is disabled (obviously)
It has to be full screen, no video over the top.

With it being a App, you can cancel your subscription on a month by month basis and then renew it next year.

All in all, not too bad for £4.99

Can you not run it on your PC in an emulator? (with either large screen or HTML to TV)

[f1jcw]

I pay £4.99 for a SKY SPORTS iPhone app. You don't need any other sky services for it. It does all the F1 and some football.
I put it on my iPad Pro (12") and expand it to full screen so its small TV size.

Downsides is that TV mirroring is disabled (obviously)
It has to be full screen, no video over the top.

With it being a App, you can cancel your subscription on a month by month basis and then renew it next year.

All in all, not too bad for £4.99

Can you not run it on your PC in an emulator? (with either large screen or HTML to TV)

good idea. I havn't got the android version but chromebook can also run android apps

[i70q7m7ghw]

Trouble for BBC is the way they are funded. (Licence fee and no ad or sponsorship revenue) They have to justify financial decisions and everyone interferes in it. The argument is 'is it in the public interest' to whack all the money on live sport- especially in this day and age where competition for all rights is so fierce. People complain and everyone sticks their oar in and it becomes a political point. And they do have a remit to spend the money on a wide range of things rather than all on sport.

Really their hands are tied as their paymasters will not allow them to realistically compete with subscription based broadcasters. It's truly sad the way sport has disappeared in the last couple of decades from terrestrial TV.

If there's any consolation at all, if you are prepared to pay for it, the pay broadcasters have taken coverage of most sports to fantastic new heights with the amount of money and resource they are able to sink into it. Cricket is the one that springs to mind first.

Then they should never have taken F1 on in the first place! If it had been left to the old process, FTA broadcasters would always have had first refusal as part of the bidding process. The BBC to Sky deal was done mid contract outside of the bidding process, so no other broadcasters got a look in.

For the first year in a very long time I didn't watch the majority of races live. Instead I just watched them on the C4 highlights coverage. The C4 team is actually fantastic, and I prefer it to Sky's coverage, but it's just a shame it's not live anymore. The later races I normally miss, the highlights often aren't broadcast until late evening and I have to leave early for work the next morning so I normally miss them all together.

I can imagine a lot of casual watchers aren't watching F1 anymore either, it's a shame but it's the decision they made so it's their problem if the viewing figures are bombing in the UK, the "home of F1".

[Sawtooth-spike]

I am asking this very question too.

I have had sky for year and Sky f1. But now i pretty much use sky only for f1, so at around £600 a year, that does not feel like a good deal. I am going to leave unless they offer me some crazy deal. I don't want to watch the highlights as from speaking with friends that do, you end up missing the build up of a race (like watching only the good bits of a film).

I have looked at the VPN option and using the F1 Service, but it going to be to much of a pain. So my best option is NOW TV and just to watch Sunday. Shame, I always liked Qualifying.

In the perfect would, i would have Pay per view, 4K and be able to watch when i like (live with the race, or on demand afterwards), from any device.

[jumpingfish]

In Russia we have our large free social network VK (similar to Facebook). There are 2 groups where admins stream F1TV in 1080p quality for free and without advertisement pauses, no need VPN. In 1st group there are Races and Qualifications available for all, even who didn't join group, just open and watch. In second group (need admin's decision to let you join) there are Free practises 1-3, Qualy, Races. Online or recorded whenever we have time to watch. So if someone wants - he can try it, there is option to use VK on English. PC or smartphones - no matter.

[nevill3]

I am asking this very question too.

I have had sky for year and Sky f1. But now i pretty much use sky only for f1, so at around £600 a year, that does not feel like a good deal. I am going to leave unless they offer me some crazy deal. I don't want to watch the highlights as from speaking with friends that do, you end up missing the build up of a race (like watching only the good bits of a film).

I have looked at the VPN option and using the F1 Service, but it going to be to much of a pain. So my best option is NOW TV and just to watch Sunday. Shame, I always liked Qualifying.

In the perfect would, i would have Pay per view, 4K and be able to watch when i like (live with the race, or on demand afterwards), from any device.

The Now TV sports pass for a full F1 season was on offer this year for about £180. Half price I think, watch out for the offer next year just before the season starts. It also allows you to watch any sky sports channel I think.