Scheduling: The 24 Hours of Le Mans

Next weekend, it is the third triple crown event of the year, alongside the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500, as the 24 Hours of Le Mans takes place in southern France at the Circuit de la Sarthe. The festivities, though, run all week culminating in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, live on Eurosport and Eurosport 2. Unfortunately there are multiple channel switches in the 24 hour period, but nevertheless, the full 24 hours are live on either channel.

As noted on his Twitter, Martin Haven is not part of Eurosport’s line up this year, as for the first time he is working with the Audi team. So good luck to Haven with that. Instead, according to Ben Constanduros, we get Carlton Kirby.

Monday 11th June
21:30 to 22:00 – 24 Minutes (Eurosport)

Tuesday 12th June
21:15 to 21:45 – 24 Minutes (Eurosport)

Wednesday 13th June
16:30 to 17:00 – 24 Minutes (Eurosport)
17:00 to 19:00 – Live Practice (Eurosport)
21:00 to 23:00 – Live Qualifying (Eurosport 2)
21:40 to 22:05 – Live 24 Minutes (Eurosport)

Thursday 14th June
19:30 to 20:00 – Live Qualifying (Eurosport)
20:30 to 21:00 – Live 24 Minutes (Eurosport)
21:00 to 23:00 – Live Qualifying (Eurosport)

Friday 15th June
18:30 to 19:00 – 24 Minutes (Eurosport)

Saturday 16th June
07:00 to 07:30 – Live 24 Minutes (Eurosport 2)
08:00 to 09:00 – Live Warm Up (Eurosport)
09:00 to 10:00 – Live Legends Race (Eurosport)
13:15 to 13:45 – Live 24 Minutes (Eurosport)
21:30 to 22:00 – Live 24 Minutes (Eurosport)
– for details of the race itself, see below

Sunday 17th June
08:30 to 09:00 – Live 24 Minutes (Eurosport)
14:15 to 14:30 – Live 24 Minutes (Eurosport)

The race itself beginning on the Saturday…
13:45 to 19:00 – Eurosport
19:00 to 19:30 – Eurosport 2
19:30 to 21:30 – Eurosport
21:30 to 22:00 – Eurosport 2
22:00 to 00:00 – Eurosport
00:00 to 08:30 – Eurosport
08:30 to 09:00 – Eurosport 2
09:00 to 14:15 – Eurosport

I would be lying if I said that I watched the entire 24 Hours, but I do watch the majority of the first few hours until the early evening along with the last six or so hours of action. The Qualifying sessions are also worth a watch as well. Hopefully the last few hours are as exciting as last year!

A look back at ITV’s first live Formula 1 broadcast in 1997 – the VT count

While my main post on Tuesday looked back at the 1997 Australian Grand Prix Qualifying broadcast on ITV, this post will simply note the lengths of VT’s and the time that they were actually live for. Basically, the length of everything.

01: Intro
– 00:00 to 00:35 (35 seconds)

02: VT
– 00:35 to 02:35 (2 minutes)
– Jim introduces programme from the lakeside
– a look at the Melbourne scenary
– an introduction to the ITV F1 team

03: VT
– 02:35 to 02:42 (7 seconds)
– Jim linking from previous piece to the next piece
– not live as it probably took him more than three minutes to get to the studio

04: VT
– 02:42 to 05:23 (2 minutes, 41 seconds)
– driver line-up

05: Live
– 05:23 to 07:07 (2 minutes, 44 seconds)
– in studio with Jim, Tony and Simon outlining key discussion points

06: VT
– 07:07 to 07:51 (44 seconds)
– Martin and Murray do a discussion piece to camera

07: Live
– 07:51 to 08:16 (25 seconds)
– in studio with Jim linking to an Inside F1 piece

08: VT
– 08:16 to 09:17 (1 minute, 1 second)
– David Coulthard explains all the buttons on the steering wheel

09: Live
– 09:17 to 09:50 (33 seconds)
– in studio with Jim linking to a piece about anti-F1 in Melbourne

10: VT
– 09:50 to 11:06 (1 minute, 16 seconds)
– News (focus on anti-F1, tyre war, Coulthard, Peter Phillips, tram strike)

11: Live
– 11:06 to 11:38 (32 seconds)
– in studio with Jim linking to a live Damon Hill interview

12: Live
– 11:38 to 12:52 (1 minute, 14 seconds)
– James Allen interviewing Damon Hill in pit-lane

13: Live
– 12:52 to 13:39 (47 seconds)
– discussion about Damon Hill’s weekend so far and expectations

Commercial Break.

14: Live
– 00:00 to 01:00 (1 minute)
– discussion about title championship predictions

15: Live
– 01:00 to 02:35 (1 minute, 35 seconds)
– Louise Goodman interviewing Jacques Villeneuve in pit-lane

16: Live
– 02:35 to 02:51 (16 seconds)
– in studio with Jim linking to track guide

17: VT
– 02:51 to 04:46 (1 minute, 55 seconds)
– Martin Brundle track guide using the F1 1997 video game

18: Live
– 04:46 to 05:47 (59 seconds)
– discussion about Schumacher’s track complaints
– Jim hands over to Murray and Martin

Totals
VT – 10 minutes, 19 seconds (50.6%)
Live – 10 minutes, 05 seconds (49.4%)

VT includes the opening titles.

Some thoughts on Sky’s Practice coverage

I thought, having watched both practice sessions today as I have done throughout the year, write some brief thoughts on Sky’s Practice coverage. It won’t be a really long blog, just a few pointers on where they could improve. For the most part, it is good, but there are a few areas where things do grind.

Firstly, there is the constant cutting away to their own cameras. There needs to be a balance, and I don’t feel that Sky have the correct balance at the moment. They normally cut away from the Formula One Management feed when David Croft hands over to Ted Kravitz or Natalie Pinkham, but I really don’t get why they cut away. They should only cut away if Kravitz has something to show us, as it adds to the coverage. But cutting away to show Martin Brundle interviewing Martin Whitmarsh is unnecessary, we know what both men look like so there is no need to cut away from the World Feed when there may be action on the track. In one example, they cut away to show Jacques Villeneuve walking through the paddock. Yes, he may be part of your coverage this weekend, but the cut away was not necessary, and did not enhance the coverage apart from say “ooh, we have a camera in the paddock!”. As I say, they should only cut away when Kravitz is showing us something, we know what people look like so we don’t need to cut away at any other time, especially if cars are on track, as that grates a lot.

The next point concerns Jerome d’Ambrosio. I’m not sure how many more Friday’s Anthony Davidson is away for, but d’Ambrosio does not really add to the coverage for me, and they would be much better rotating the co-commentary position, or have a guest commentator like BBC Radio 5 Live used to do when Davidson was unavailable. We had d’Ambrosio in Monaco, and as a practice commentator he doesn’t do much because he has not been high up the grid, so does not have the expertise that another potential co-commentator would have, take Johnny Herbert for instance for the sake of an example. At times it felt like Croft and d’Ambrosio were having trouble filling the time with awkward pauses, whereas someone like Herbert, who has a lot of past F1 experience, would be able to fill the time easily and tell ‘stories’ to relate to a current drivers’ situation. d’Ambrosio’s a fine commentator in GP2 and GP3, because he’s commentating on the action in front of him, but is not really suited to practice where they are in ‘discussion mode’, in my opinion.

Seven minutes off-air, that is still in force, and it grinds a bit when they could get a extra interview or two in. It is most noticeable though for practice three, as we witnessed in Monaco when they hurried off air a mere three minutes after the session had ended, despite incidents at the end of the session.

Anyway, I thought I’d write this blog, seeing as I had a few pointers in my head, but as always, your comments are welcome as well. Agree or disagree with the above?

Ecclestone suggests the end is near for BBC F1… or is it?

Yesterday, The Guardian published an article, written by Christian Sylt with the headline “Bernie Ecclestone suggests free-to-air Formula One could end on BBC”.

Interesting headline, I’m sure you will think. Any substance to the article? Not really, if I’m to be brutally honest. The only quotes that come from Ecclestone are as follows:

– “We will never move all countries to pay‑per‑view only though it wouldn’t make any difference here in the UK”
– “Sky reaches over 10m. We don’t get 10m on the BBC, normally about 6m or 7m.”
– “The thing that TV stations want to buy most is live sport. People don’t want to watch delayed stuff because nowadays it’s hard not to know the result if you don’t want to.”
– “Sky have done a super job. The Beeb were sure we wouldn’t be able to go anywhere else”

The first point, Sky is not pay-per-view. It is not like with movies, where you have to buy each one individually. You could call Sky pay-per-month but not pay-per-view. A PPV service model would be F1 Digital+ from back in 2002. Moving onto the second point, and I wonder if that is like for like. Does the Sky Sports F1 channel reach over 10 million, or does the race show reach over 10 million? Looking on BARB, the channel has not reached over 10 million viewers once. If you’re to say “Well, Sky reaches 10 million” then you may as well respond by saying BBC reaches five times that number with a reach of over 50 million.

“People don’t want to watch delayed stuff…”, I don’t know about the don’t want part, but if we’re to look at the viewing figures, 3.65 million viewers (or a 20.2% share) watched highlights of the Bahrain Grand Prix on BBC One, whereas only a peak of 1.6 million viewers watched that race on Sky Sports F1. So people not watching delayed stuff as Ecclestone puts it is a factually inaccurate statement. The last statement is odd, because as far as I know, and as far as what was discussed around the time of the announcement, BBC wanted out of the deal because they could not afford to screen all of the races live, therefore went to Sky to get the deal we currently have now (as Channel 4 and ITV1 were tied up with 2012 commitments already). In other words, the four quotes from Ecclestone have either been spun, or are inaccurate.

Looking outside of the Ecclestone quotes, there are several other factual inaccuracies.

“At an estimated cost of £25m annually Sky is broadcasting all races, qualifying and practice sessions live while the BBC is paying around £15m to show half of the races live with delayed highlights of the others.”

If that is true, it means that Formula One Management have not benefited financially from the deal, when you consider that the previous BBC deal from 2009 to 2011 was also in the region of £40 million. The Guardian themselves reported on the day of the deal that the rights were believed to be worth £65 million now, £40 million being paid by Sky with £25 million being paid by BBC. The amounts above are significantly lower than I expected.

Finally, we’re into month six of a seven year deal, so why have we got headlines like this already? I would expect better from The Guardian rather than trying to twist the story. This reminds me of some kind of tabloid sensationalism, something I don’t really associate The Guardian with. As far as I can see, this is a blatant anti-BBC article with little substance, and as thus the article I’m afraid is cobblers.

Sky Italia to screen 11 F1 races exclusively live next season

Italian pay TV station Sky Italia are to screen all twenty races of the Formula 1 season from 2013 live, it has been announced. Eleven of these races will be broadcast exclusively live on their channel, with the remaining nine races (including the Italian Grand Prix) broadcast by a free to air station yet to be announced. That broadcaster will also screen the eleven races that Sky have exclusively in highlights form. In summary:

– 11 races: Sky Italia exclusively, FTA broadcaster highlights
– 09 races: Sky Italia and FTA live

This announcement appears to signal a reduction, or even possibly the end of Formula 1 involvement, for free to air broadcaster RAI. It is the latest blow for them, who recently lost the rights to the UEFA Champions League and MotoGP. In a statement of intent that they intend to expand their motor sports portfolio, the MotoGP rights went to Sky Italia exclusively last month, with the broadcaster to screen the races from 2014 onwards.

Sky Italia’s coverage will feature across all platforms, “web, tablet Smartphones and IPTV”. In their press release, Bernie Ecclestone notes that “we have a similar arrangement [in the UK] that is working very well, increasing the quality and breadth of coverage”. While true, I cannot help but feel that this is another irreversible step towards Formula 1 being exclusively broadcast on a pay TV station, leading to a dip in ratings. The initial effects of the UK deal after the first four rounds showed a drop in ratings, although the amount that the ratings have dipped by was unclear taking everything into account.

The situation, though, in both countries is different. Before the new deal in the UK, BBC screened every Formula 1 session, from the first Friday practice session to the race on Sunday. Whereas, in comparison, RAI in Italy only screen Qualifying and the Race live with no coverage of practice sessions. So, from that perspective, the fans in Italy may well be happy – or more welcome – to the prospect of Formula 1 being on Sky Italia, compared to the reaction when the similar deal was announced in the UK. Looking at Sky Sport’s Facebook page, specifically this post, it looks like they are more receptive to the move, although there are a few negative comments in there, as you would probably expect.

I would be interested to hear from Italian Formula 1 fans, if any are reading this blog. How do you feel about this deal? Do you welcome it, or do you want all races to remain live on RAI?