Just a few weeks after securing UEFA Champions League rights, it appears BT Sport have their eyes on another prize: Formula 1. I called the move a few weeks ago ‘game changing‘, but now BT Sport’s presenter Jake Humphrey is mentioning Formula 1.
Of course I imagine Humphrey, who left the BBC F1 team at the end of 2012, was asked the question in order to generate a tabloid-esque headline to the Mirror. But anyway, this is what Humphrey said:
I would absolutely love to see F1 on BT Sport. I think if Formula 1 want to be in a place where the best sport is they really have to look seriously at joining BT Sport and being part of this revolution, because if you’re elsewhere then you’re just going to be left behind. So far BT have blown me away by what they’ve done, they promised me they’d impress me. I think I and no one else in the UK actually expected them to get every single Champions League and Europa League game. So now we have FA Cup, Moto GP, so there’s already some motorsport on BT, Premier League matches, the Champions League and Europa League.
So, there you have it. I really don’t believe there is much point discussing this. The BBC and Sky deal is until 2018 and unless either party breaks it, you cannot rip a legally binding agreement into pieces. Also, as for being ‘left behind’, last time I checked viewing figures were approximately 4 million per race for Formula 1, whilst BT Sport has not yet broken 1 million viewers.
Anyway, let us see how successful their MotoGP coverage is throughout 2014 before discussing F1.
Motorsport Broadcasting 
Although I have watched F1 on Sky this season, if BT were to pull of an audacious deal to own sole rights of F1, then it would go against FOM because most if not all F1 races must be viewed on free-to-air television. As an aspiring journalist, the best option in my view since they’ve lost the UCL rights to BT is ITV because they have experience of broadcasting F1 for 12yrs and having North One producing the coverage, it would be a no-brainer. However, I’d like to see Channel 4 have the rights because I do think they could have a perfect package for F1 but the red button would be non-existent which is a shame. But since Sky and BBC have the rights currently right now, it’s never say never although I’d like to see FOM consider live streaming but Bernie’s discontempt for the internet will presumably happen later on. F1 rights in the UK are treading towards the ££££ at the moment and I do not see any signs of it stopping.
ON the one hand, nothing to see hear except and employee saying his employer is best. On the other hand, tearing up legal agreements is how we got the SKy/BBC mess in the first place. And to answer Umar’s point more directly, the FOM deal only says it has to be ‘available’ FTA. Nothing about ‘live and complete’, ‘no adverts’ or ‘more than a half hour a month’ (look how low the BBC let Sky at Night fall, for instance).
“The Commercial Rights Holder may not permit Formula 1 events to be shown only by pay television in a country with a significant audience if it would materially adversely affect audience reach in that country.”
@Kaz: Yes, and ? Nothing there would stop the FTA coverage being drasticly rained in. And that’s without the lawyers getting stuck in to define ‘materially’ and ‘significant’.
What a joke.
‘I would absolutely love to see F1 on BT Sport. I think if Formula 1 want to be in a place where the best sport is they really have to look seriously at joining BT’
Based on whose opinion?
‘they really have to look seriously at joining BT’
Yes, I’m sure Bernie spends hours wishing he could become a tiny part of a faceless national phone company best known for their appalling customer service.
‘if you’re elsewhere then you’re just going to be left behind’.
I suspect Sky made a similarly arrogant comment when they first got the Champions League…
‘So far BT have blown me away by what they’ve done, they promised me they’d impress me. I think I and no one else in the UK actually expected them to get every single Champions League and Europa League game. So now we have FA Cup, Moto GP, so there’s already some motorsport on BT, Premier League matches, the Champions League and Europa League’.
I hope Jake has a left a trail of breadcrumbs to find his way out of his paymasters back passage.
Of course he is going to say that because he works for bt sport if he worked for itv he would say he wants the premier league or f1 on itv