Sky Sports F1 to remain on air over the Winter

Sky Sports F1 will remain on air over the Winter period, I can today confirm. The schedule for Christmas Day includes Britain’s Next F1 Star, and is as follows:

Sky Sports F1 – Christmas Day
11:00 – Britain’s Next F1 Star (1/6)
11:30 – Britain’s Next F1 Star (2/6)
12:00 – TBC (likely 2012 review)
14:00 – Britain’s Next F1 Star (3/6)
14:30 – Britain’s Next F1 Star (4/6)
15:00 – TBC (likely 2012 review)
17:00 – Britain’s Next F1 Star (5/6)
17:30 – Britain’s Next F1 Star (6/6)

It has always been that Sky Sports F1 will go off-air on Friday 30th November that was the most likely option, on the basis of the information released in the now familiar Sky Media document before the start of the season. So the above information, which I believe is the confirmed schedule, contradicts that.

Now, if Sky Sports F1 is remaining on-air over the Winter then well, Sky, you know what the F1 fans out there including myself want… substitute August for December and you get my drift.

Update at 17:45 – Okay, the above has been rewritten heavily. The schedules for the first week in December have been released, and there are shows on Sky Sports F1. What I should note that it is the usual repeats, so Legends, Fast Track, Weekend in Stills and Weekend in Words and the such like up until Friday 7th December at least. So whilst it is surprising to see this (given the Sky Media document), the schedule content is unsurprising in terms of repeats.

BBC receive complaints about swearing and late iPlayer uploads

The BBC have today revealed that they received complaints about the swearing during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix podium procedure. Out of the 4.5 million people that watched the podium procedure, BBC received 22 phone calls about the incident, 21 of them complained with one person commenting on it.

It should be noted however that more complaints were received about the late upload of the race to BBC iPlayer due to the incident than the incident itself. 30 people contacted the BBC about the late iPlayer upload, 28 people complained with a further two commenting about it. I think the fact that more people complained about the late iPlayer upload than the swearing incident itself says it all here in that it was not a major incident to viewers, although it will be interesting to see if Ofcom received further complaints.

Furthermore, the BBC article reveals that a letter has been sent by FIA director of communications Norman Howell to every team on behalf of FIA president Jean Todt. Howell sais “”Since it happened twice on the same weekend, I thought I’d send a friendly note. We need to remind the drivers they are professionals. If you’re a racing driver at that level you have to realise that part of your job description is to talk to the media, and to do so in a way that is acceptable.”

As I talked about earlier today, I do hope Formula One Management (alongside FIA) do not take a knee-jerk reaction and drop the new podium procedure. As always, time will tell.

The podium and press conference procedure

For years, dating back to the 1990s, the procedure after the race has been largely stagnant. The drivers go to the podium, get their trophies, spray a bit of a champagne and then to a room and answer a few questions. It has always followed the same format. Whilst the format was friendly to those television companies around the world in that the top three get interviewed fairly promptly, those at the race track do not do much after the champagne has finished. After the race, those at home get a ‘rawer’ deal that those at the race track. Those that attend do not get to hear the drivers’ thoughts from the media pen or from inside the press conference with James Allen, Bob Constanduros or whoever it may be.

It has to be said that the format was largely formulaic, there were no major scoops picked up in the post-race press conferences and it was just well, ‘there’. There was no advances to the format. This year, starting with the British Grand Prix, that changed. Instead of the drivers having a press conference as such, they brought the questioning out to the podium so that not only the fans at home heard the drivers’ thoughts, but also so that those at the circuit also heard their thoughts. They (Formula One Management) would also bring in a special interviewer, so far a few BBC and Sky Sports people have done the interviews such as David Coulthard and Johnny Herbert.

Over the past four races, however, we’ve seen the pros and cons, with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix potentially being a watershed moment. Formula 1 is a family-friendly product. Formula One Management wants to protect that. It does not matter whether you are ten or eighty, you can still enjoy the action and the interviews after it. What happened on Sunday breached that. The winner, Kimi Raikkonen dropped the s*** bomb, while Sebastian Vettel dropped the f*** bomb. Given the choice of drivers, it was not particularly surprising to hear this. When I said on Twitter that Formula One Management may have to put a seven second censor on it, another user responded “don’t want my young daughter listening to it..” And that is a perfectly valid viewpoint. Whilst I chuckled at the time when I heard it, the fact that Red Bull released an apology on Sunday night shows that FOM take the matter seriously. Was it necessary for Raikkonen or Vettel to swear? Not really. Formula One is largely broadcast in the daytime so FOM have a responsibility to make sure that the broadcast is kept clean of language such as that.

On the other hand, is it ‘raw’ emotion that makes drivers swear on the podium or frustration with the format? Now, let us be honest here, Raikkonen is not the most fan-friendly person as it is at the best of times to communicate with media, that is a well known fact. Take Brazil 2006. Does one incident mean that FOM should take a kneejerk reaction and scrap the format? I don’t think so. The thing with the press conference room is that it is formulaic, whereas the podium brings drivers to life. After all, we want to see their personality, don’t we? For years people have complained about Formula 1 drivers being almost robotic, if anything the podium procedure takes them out of their media savvy comfort zone and into talking to the fan without being told what to say by X or Y.

A final point is that the Japanese Grand Prix podium was a feel good moment, a fantastic moment for Kamui Kobayashi. Hearing the crowd chant a drivers’ name is a rare sight in Formula 1. Seeing Kobayashi talk in Japanese to his fans was one of the moments of the season so far for me. That moment would not have existed in the formulaic press conference scenario. I don’t wish for FOM to go back to that format, which for me is not fan-friendly in the slightest. I’d be happy for a seven second delay for the podium procedure if it meant keeping it in the future.

I do hope it stays, but if we get an Abu Dhabi podium-esque incident again then it won’t be long before we go back to the press conference situation. Which would be a real shame.

Virgin Media launch Anywhere service; Sky Sports F1 included

Virgin Media have today launched their ‘Virgin TV Anywhere’ service, which will allow their customers to watch live television on the move wherever they are. Similar to Sky Go, customers will either be able to watch television live online or via their app, which is available via the App Store if you have iPad, iPod or iPhone.

Alongside watching live television on the move, the Anywhere service features TV on Demand, including Sky Sports. I don’t know whether there are any Sky Sports F1 shows currently available via Anywhere’s TV on Demand section, but thought it was worth noting anyway.

What this means is that if you subscribe to Virgin Media and their Sports package, you can now watch Sky Sports F1 on the move. From a Formula 1 fan perspective, the timing is good, with the US Grand Prix in primetime, it means those with Virgin Media and the Sports package can now watch the race live online if others are watching TV. I should note though that currently, Sky Sports F1 is not available via the ‘Virgin TV Anywhere’ App due to rights restrictions, the same restriction also applying to the other Sky channels. But nevertheless, it is good news for Virgin Media customers who don’t always get to watch Sky Sports F1 via the television.

Virgin Media customers can access ‘Virgin TV Anywhere’ by clicking here.

The Twitter outlook

A surprise winner in Abu Dhabi brings no big surprises in the Twitter outlook, because Kimi Raikkonen does not have Twitter. So, if you are a member of the Lotus team and happen to reading, please do all you can to bring Raikkonen onto Twitter so we can see what he has to say…. if anything!

Drivers – The Top 10
01 – 1,228,067 – Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
02 – 1,223,218 – Jenson Button (McLaren)
03 – 1,189,790 – Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
04 – 515,046 – Bruno Senna (Williams)
05 – 476,805 – Mark Webber (Red Bull)
06 – 332,087 – Sergio Perez (Sauber)
07 – 294,039 – Pastor Maldonaldo (Williams)
08 – 214,847 – Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
09 – 202,119 – Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
10 – 192,733 – Pedro de la Rosa (HRT)

Drivers – Biggest Increases
01 – 27,299 – Fernando Alonso
02 – 15,908 – Lewis Hamilton
03 – 9,076 – Jenson Button
04 – 5,680 – Mark Webber
05 – 4,301 – Felipe Massa

Drivers – Smallest Increases
01 – 569 – Charles Pic
02 – 631 – Timo Glock
03 – 894 – Vitaly Petrov
04 – 1,029 – Daniel Ricciardo
05 – 1,040 – Jean-Eric Vergne

A big week for Ferrari’s drivers in the series as Fernando Alonso overtakes Jenson Button to move into the lead! It is worth noting here that Button has had Twitter for a lot longer than Alonso, Alonso and Felipe Massa only getting Twitter in March thanks to Ferrari’s Twitter stance. Massa has also hit a milestone this week, having crossed the 200,000 follower barrier.

The top five biggest increases are the same as last week, except Webber recorded a higher gain than Massa.

Teams – The Top 10
01 – 367,624 – Ferrari
02 – 255,163 – McLaren
03 – 182,068 – Red Bull
04 – 161,476 – Mercedes
05 – 152,054 – Lotus
06 – 91,367 – Caterham
07 – 88,396 – Marussia
08 – 87,899 – Force India
09 – 87,426 – Sauber
10 – 79,176 – Williams

Teams – Biggest Increases
01 – 6,450 – Ferrari
02 – 3,980 – Lotus
03 – 3,926 – Red Bull

Teams – Smallest Increases
01 – 673 – Caterham
02 – 815 – Williams
03 – 919 – HRT

Lotus move up into second in the biggest increases, but considering Williams had a 7,000 follower gain in May for the Spain win, I’m surprised Lotus’ gain was not higher.

Driver and Team statistics as of Monday 5th November 2012.