Sky and BBC F1 coverage

[Agasthya]

Lazenby and Hill were about as interesting as a fence at the weekend, it was horrendous viewing at times. I hate the 'Americanisation' of all the graphics, the over the top 'flashiness' of just about everything they do.

I'll be watching on the BBC when they are showing the races live.

I thought David Croft was quite terrible as well. He was fairly confused throughout the race.

[SS454]

I was very disappointed not to hear Martin Brundle give commentary to the race. While DC can have his place in the booth, Martin is just far more enjoyable to listen to for the entire grand prix.

[Suzie]

fair enough! I'm not particularly a fan but he's been pretty good so far.

But when the other pair are talking he stares into the camera like a creepy weirdo and makes weird shapes with his mouth. You watch.

[Greig]

hahaha yes he does, you can count them if you get bored

[Ste]

Anything is better than EJ....

[Mrs Alonso]

hahaha yes he does, you can count them if you get bored

I'm not that sad

[Greig]

I thought David Croft was quite terrible as well. He was fairly confused throughout the race.

He did get rather excited about most things, probably comes with him doing radio where you really need to describe things in more detail, but on TV we can see also, made a few mistakes as well but nothing too major and Martin kept him right

[Ste]

I watched the BBC highlights for about 30 minutes after watching the Sky coverage live. Always rated Ben Edwards but there's no doubt that Brundle and Crofty are a league apart. Yes, he's excitable but that only adds to the race, it adds drama rather than just being slightly dull. Edwards is part way between Legard and Croft in terms of animation but 10x the knowledge and accuracy of Legard - obviously.

The difference between Croft/Brundle in Qualifying when compared to Edwards/DC was phenomenal. They make it so much more exciting, in my view.

Agree about the interviews on the formation lap though - they annoyed me. Otherwise, fantastic.

[Sianellen]

I watched the Sky coverage live and then the BBC coverage afterwards. I think the BBC's highlights were edited together really well so you couldn't tell where the gaps were, which was a nice surprise. The qualifying wasn't as good on the BBC but their commentary of the race with DC and Ben Edwards I enjoyed, so I will put it down to teething. I also think Sky have done a good job as they give a much more equal share of viewing/talking to all the teams which is a big improvement on last year, although the studio setup seems a bit "football" to me. I'm not really sure which race commentary I prefer at this stage, the only thing I'm a bit sad about is that there will be no Ben Edwards on BTCC this year and I will miss him attempting to talk to Jason Plato in the car just after his latest run in with Matt Neal.

[redsteph]

I wonder how many people actually watched streams of Sky's coverage, though

*whistles*

Have to say I just watched the race coverage on Sky - not interested in the rest of their coverage. I much prefer the BBC for that. The Sky commentary was just like watching the BBC as you has Crofty, Brundle and Ted Kravitz in the pitlane. That is the only thing that the BBC is missing imo. They need someone running up and down the garages seeing what is going on. Other than that I thought the BBC race coverage was pretty good. I didn't notice the bits of the race that they cut

[TheProdigalSon]

I enjoyed the Brundle and Crofty pairing! I also watched BBC's highlights and I must say that Sky have much better race commentary, Crofty could do with toning it down slightly becuase sometimes it sounds like he is trying to hard to impress, Brundle sounds more natural. But give Crofty one thing he does get you pumped up at the right moments and his delivery is really good to just like Brundle even though he makes the occasional mistake.

[TheProdigalSon]

Lazenby and Hill were about as interesting as a fence at the weekend, it was horrendous viewing at times. I hate the 'Americanisation' of all the graphics, the over the top 'flashiness' of just about everything they do.

I'll be watching on the BBC when they are showing the races live.

Must admit I was not that impressed with Lazenby, maybe he will grow into the role but he just wasn't interesting or looked like he was ever in control. I completely skipped the build up as I was not prepared to sit through and hour and a half build up and put up with that. And those bits with Ant and Thompson.. Thompson who apart from being nice eye candy is completely useless in that role. Ant should be downstairs with Lazenby and co.

[Mrs Alonso]

Must admit I was not that impressed with Lazenby, maybe he will grow into the role

I'm pretty sure he will. Must be a lot to take on,and I dont think he's bad now. Jake has 3 years of experience now so he's bound to feel and look more confident and comfortable but I dont see why the same wont happen to Simon.

[Sianellen]

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2012/03/2...first-f1-race/

UK TV audience falls by one million at Sky’s first F1 race

Viewing figures from the first race weekend of 2012 indicates a fall of over a million viewers in the UK.

There was no live free-to-air coverage of the race in Britain. The race was shown live on Sky while the BBC broadcast highlights later in the day.

Sky declined to issue details of their TV audiences for their F1 programming over the race weekend when asked by F1 Fanatic.

However multiple sources have reported their first F1 broadcast attracted a peak audience of 1.02 million viewers.

This represents a fall of over 2 million compared to the figure recorded by the BBC for last year’s live race.

The BBC reported a peak of 3.2 million people watched their highlights programme, over one million more than their repeat of the race in a similar time slot attracted last year.

Combining the figures suggests around one million fewer people in the UK watched the first F1 race of the season, a fall of over 20%.

However Sky commentator Martin Brundle, who left the BBC to join the broadcaster, praised the figures, saying on Twitter: “Very happy Sky F1, BBC F1 (and hopefully BBC 5 live) had strong Australian F1 audiences. So important for British [motorsport], Silverstone and F1 generally.”

Half of this year’s ten races will be shown live on the BBC, starting with the Chinese Grand Prix.

[redsteph]

Well it's kind of obviousl really. Everyone in the country has access to the BBC coverage. That's over 60 million people. Sky has what? 10 million subscribers - but out of that how many are able to access the F1 channel?

Of course the viewing figures will be down

[Red passion]

Will be awesome if their dedicated F1 channel shows old races as well.

That would be brilliant either pick random races from all decades and show them or run a whole season of old races. I would love to see the early Schumacher years, Senna and Prost, gilles and others. it would be a bargain then at a tenner a month.

[Red passion]

Half means from 0:00 until the race leader reaches the halfway mark.

Yeah, good one, cut to an ad break at halfway mark and don't come back

[Jose-Lorca Fan]

I still miss Eddie Jordan's wise words and crazy thoughts. The good thing about him is that he is so controversial, it adds a bit of spice and sometimes gets me laughing out loud. I love him (Don't hate me ^^)

As for Lazenby i think he'll grow into the role as lead presenter but i still prefer Jake Humphrey, the old Jake that is, not the one of recent times making childish and sarcastic comments to the point where you just feel like telling him to grow up.
I really don't the point of Georgie Thompson, she is as clueless as one can get, they don't need her to supply onboard replays from qualifying, the other dude can do it by himself. She just looks out of place imo...

[Suzie]

Really enjoying the 1997 season review that's on right now. I keep forgetting about the reviews being shown on Sky so I'm glad I know just in time for all these late 1990s/early 2000s seasons. My favourite era

[Greig]

Good stuff so far, now for Monaco

[Rob]

Really enjoying the 1997 season review that's on right now. I keep forgetting about the reviews being shown on Sky so I'm glad I know just in time for all these late 1990s/early 2000s seasons. My favourite era

got it recording, watched 96 last night, great watching them again, and forgot how hard we had it back in those dark days.

[Greig]

LOL @ Rubens doing is his crazy dance thing on the podium

[Suzie]

got it recording, watched 96 last night, great watching them again, and forgot how hard we had it back in those dark days.

I loved it though. We weren't up there with Williams and then McLaren, but we always pulled wins out of the bag when it mattered most. Also, Michael and Eddie were the best teammates ever.

[Greig]

Good season was 97 lot's of twists and turns and blowing up McLaren's

[Aruba]

Im glad we still get all of the GP for free overhere in the Netherlands,but with commercial brakes during the race, but i can always switch over to the belgian tv, they broadcast the whole race without interruptions.
I really like to watch the BBC during a GP weekend (dont we all love the comments from our bearded friend Eddie ) but if things are really gonna change like this im switching over to dutch/belgian telly....

Well, I used to do the same, switch to the BBC or the Belgian channel to watch the race during the commercials on the Dutch telly, however, the last 2 races of the new season hasn't been broadcasted on the Belgian channel. Does this mean that Ketnet/Canvas (Belgian Channel) stopped transmitting F1 races as well? Or are they doing what BBC is doing?

The most annoying thing is that all the action, crashes, pitstop mishaps, overtaking etc etc happens during the commercial breaks.

[Grinsomx]

Well, I used to do the same, switch to the BBC or the Belgian channel to watch the race during the commercials on the Dutch telly, however, the last 2 races of the new season hasn't been broadcasted on the Belgian channel. Does this mean that Ketnet/Canvas (Belgian Channel) stopped transmitting F1 races as well? Or are they doing what BBC is doing?

The most annoying thing is that all the action, crashes, pitstop mishaps, overtaking etc etc happens during the commercial breaks.

yup, Canvas stopped transmitting F1. now it's on VT4 with commercial breaks and delayed broadcasts depending on the time the race is held. during commercial breaks you get this small window to follow the race and they are shorter but still annoying.
not even going to mention the quality of the reporters...
i usually stream the race

[Aruba]

yup, Canvas stopped transmitting F1. now it's on VT4 with commercial breaks and delayed broadcasts depending on the time the race is held. during commercial breaks you get this small window to follow the race and they are shorter but still annoying.
not even going to mention the quality of the reporters...
i usually stream the race

Same here in Holland with rtl7. Tons of commercials. You do get a small screen though, but it is really annoying to say the least. It is a shame though that Canvas stopped transmitting F1.

[MRRabbit]

only seen these two races but the Croft dude seems rather clueless sadly.

[Omegablue]

In South Africa we still get the BBC commentary for the live races, but on the bloody pay per view only. Yip, it's been 6 years that the GP here is pay per view! Scandalous! you Bernie!

Anyway, how does BBC fair against Sky's team?

I've so far enjoyed Coultard's new microphone teammate. He tries to be himself while adding a bit of that Walker excitement.

[Alessandra]

BBC v BSkyB

1. Georgie: what’s she for? OK, we all know the answer, but it doesn’t work!
The look is insanely over-dressed for the occasion and doesn’t suit her. And she knows it. Poor girl. Let her find something she feels ‘comfortable’ in, in all senses, and she may achieve more credibility. She’s not stupid.

2. M. Brundle: for some time now MB has been the king of sports commentators, but in the fast-changing world of F1 for me DC comes across now as having more up to date and faster accessed understanding of what’s going on on the track, how drivers feel, the likely problems with a car etc. He doesn’t yet have the confidence of MB and the RBR connection, IMO, hampers some of his comments. But he also doesn’t have MB’s wide-eyed admiration or conversely, dated dislike, of certain pilots. Because he actually knows them as fellow drivers.
Ben and DC will work together increasingly well, I think.

3. Crofty: amiable and knows his stuff. But I share others’ irritation with his near hysterical, Murray Walker-ish screaming. It’s not radio, Crofty, and we can see those moving pictures and get excited all by ourselves.

4. EJ : sometimes perceptive and sometimes self – obsessed, but he’s been there and is entitled to his opinions. Well, it’s what he’s paid for.

5. Jake: Hmmm. I said ‘ hello’ to him at a GP and he gave me a friendly smile and wave, replied chattily and was completely un-starry and normal.
His sucking up to one or two drivers makes me throw my shoes at the screen!

6. Damon: enthusiastic and knowledgeable. Just needs a bit more time to relax in front of the camera.
Damon is a bit fierce. Those eyes can turn bread to toast as I discovered when I put my head round the door of a café where he seemed to be holding forth - how was I to know? – to the cameras and assembled aged F1 dignitaries. I would have got out faster if I hadn’t become melded to the floor!

7. Ted: In a suit! What the hell’s Ted doing in a suit? Not during the race of course, but in the programme afterwards. It’s against all the laws of nature. Ted wears overalls, smells of beer and petrol and has filthy nails. Tall, aristocratic people like LDM tread on him when they turn around quickly and don’t see him. Who’s this dandy masquerading as my beloved Ted? Get rid of him now!

8. Lee – I like her. Not too thin! And I feel it would be a brave director who told her to put on her stilettos and a dress with a peplum for the F1 cameras. Georgie, look and learn.

9. Another female interviewer. Haven’t really registered her yet. Probably due to having no peplum.

10. I love the BBC’s tame F1 engineer – Gary Anderson. He’s my favourite new boy! He has drawings, bless him, instead of an ipad!