The award winning film Rush, based around the 1976 Formula One season, will make its terrestrial television première on Channel 4 later this month, it has been confirmed.
The film, starring Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt and Daniel Brühl as Niki Lauda, will air on Channel 4 on Saturday 20th June at 21:00.
Lewis Hamilton’s victory in the Canadian Grand Prix peaked with 6.4 million viewers in the UK, according to overnight viewing figures.
Race
The race, broadcast live on BBC One from 18:25 to 21:00, averaged 4.62m (25.0%). The number is near identical to the past two years. 2013’s race averaged 4.61m (23.6%) from 18:15 to 21:10, whilst coverage in 2014 averaged 4.59m (23.3%) from 18:20 to 21:00. To have three different years separated by just 30k shows how consistent the numbers have been for BBC’s coverage in Canada. BBC’s peak audience of 5.48m (26.0%) came as Lewis Hamilton crossed the line, marginally down on 2013’s peak of 5.55m. In the grand scheme of things, the numbers are good, perhaps they would have liked it to be slightly higher but it’s not a disappointing result by any stretch of the imagination.
Over on Sky Sports F1, their coverage averaged 619k (3.4%) from 18:00 to 21:30. Last year’s coverage across the equivalent slot averaged 818k (4.2%), which is a fairly hefty drop of 24 percent year-on-year. However, including the Sky Sports 1 simulcast, which averaged around 117k (0.6%), brings the percentage drop down to 10 percent. Which is still bad, but not as bad, although I question whether you should bundle Sky Sports 1 and F1 together and then make a comparison with the Sky Sports F1 only figure from last year. Either way, it is again not a pretty picture for Sky. Why have Sky’s ratings dropped compared to 2014, and more interestingly, will the trend continue? It was a similar story for Sky’s peaks: 1.13m last year compared with 952k this year (including Sky Sports 1), a 16 percent drop.
The combined audience of 5.35m is down on both 2013 and 2014 marginally. 2014 averaged 5.40m, whilst 2013 averaged 5.36m. It is the third race in a row which has seen viewership drop year-on-year. The Austrian Grand Prix is guaranteed to reverse that trend, with highlights being screened on BBC One this year as opposed to BBC Two last year.
Formula E drops further
The inaugural Formula E season continued to stumble towards the finishing line, hitting a near low for the Moscow ePrix. Live coverage of the race, airing on ITV4 from 13:00 to 15:30 on Saturday, averaged just 77k (1.0%). If it wasn’t for the Putrajaya ePrix, which averaged 66k (5.1%) in the early hours of the morning last November, that number would have been a series low.
The race, won by Nelson Piquet Jr, peaked with 128k (1.7%), compared with 137k (7.2%) for Putrajaya, so from a peak perspective, Moscow was a series low. The series low’s should stop now, with the London ePrix up next, but it is impossible to tell how much the numbers will increase with the series being on home turf.
The 2014 Canadian Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.
The greatest endurance race on earth takes place next weekend with the 24 Hours of Le Mans! British Eurosport have their usual extensive coverage which begins on Monday 8th June, covering practice, qualifying and the race itself. This is the only race in the World Endurance Championship season that Motors TV do not cover, with Eurosport screening the race exclusively live. Saying that, Quest TV, which like Eurosport is owned by Discovery Networks, will be covering the start and the end of the race live on their channel.
There is a half hour portion which Eurosport will not be covering live from 20:00 to 20:30 on the Saturday due to cycling highlights. As in previous years, Martin Haven leads Eurosport’s coverage, with a range of voices including Mark Shaw, Jeremy Shaw, Tom Gaymor and Liz Halliday also involved in their coverage. For those of you that watch overnight, you’ll be happy to hear that you are guaranteed a full service with the news that TV cameras will be active for the entire 24 hours.
Monday 8th June
20:00 to 20:30 – 24 Minutes (Eurosport)
Tuesday 9th June
21:55 to 22:30 – 24 Minutes (Eurosport)
Wednesday 10th June
15:00 to 19:00 – Live Practice (Eurosport 2)
20:30 to 21:00 – Live 24 Minutes (Eurosport)
21:00 to 23:00 – Live Qualifying 1 (Eurosport)
Thursday 11th June
18:00 to 20:15 – Live Qualifying 2 (Eurosport)
20:15 to 20:45 – Live 24 Minutes (Eurosport)
20:45 to 23:00 – Live Qualifying 3 (Eurosport)
Friday 12th June
21:15 to 21:45 – 24 Minutes (Eurosport 2)
Saturday 13th June
07:45 to 08:45 – Live Warm Up (Eurosport)
08:45 to 09:45 – Live Legends Race (Eurosport)
13:15 to 13:45 – Live 24 Minutes (Eurosport)
20:00 to 20:30 – Live 24 Minutes (Eurosport)
– for details of the race itself, see below
Sunday 14th June
07:30 to 08:00 – Live 24 Minutes (Eurosport)
14:15 to 14:45 – Live 24 Minutes (Eurosport)
The race itself beginning on the Saturday…
13:30 to 15:30 – Quest TV
13:45 to 20:00 – Eurosport
20:30 to 07:30 – Eurosport
21:00 to 22:00 – Quest TV [Highlights]
07:00 to 08:00 – Quest TV [Highlights]
07:30 to 08:00 – Eurosport 2
08:00 to 14:15 – Eurosport
13:00 to 14:30 – Quest TV
As always, if anything changes, I will update the schedule.
The season-ending London ePrix from Battersea Park will be broadcast on ITV’s main channel in the United Kingdom, it has been confirmed.
The news was made official by ITV’s Formula E presenter Jennie Gow. Writing on her blog, Gow said: “We will bring you all the action LIVE on ITV4 on Saturday 27th June with qualifying from 11.30am and then the season will draw to a close in spectacular style as we bring you the title decider LIVE on ITV’s main channel. We’ll be in Battersea Park for the weekend so it will be great to meet as many of you as possible!”
Reading Gow’s post, it looks like the Saturday action will air on ITV4, with Sunday’s action airing on ITV(1). The reason for the move is because the British Touring Car Championship will be occupying ITV4 on Sunday 28th June with action from Croft, meaning that something had to move to either ITV or ITV.com, as I noted a few weeks back. I’m glad that ITV chose to move Formula E to their main channel, furthermore, it will be the first time since the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix that a single-seater event has aired live on the channel.
Gow’s post also confirms that the ITV team will be on-location during the weekend, and that qualifying will have a 30-minute build-up, similar to ITV’s F1 coverage from 1997 to 2008. The move will help Formula E reach a bigger, and hopefully wider audience. There is no major sporting opposition during that weekend, as Wimbledon is starting later this year.
It is too early to read anything conclusive into this regarding any coverage plans for season two. Whether ITV will continue to broadcast Formula E for the 2015-16 season remains to be seen.
Formula 1 heads to North America for its annual June stop in Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix! Both BBC and Sky Sports will be covering the action live over the weekend.
Elsewhere, on ITV, it is a congested line-up with the UEFA Champions League Final (for the last time live on ITV before it heads to BT Sport), England vs Ireland in a football friendly and the French Open Finals. What that means is that the BTCC action on ITV4 on Sunday 7th June is split into two shows, with the French Open airing on ITV4 whilst ITV covers the friendly. I assume BTCC will be on ITV.com from 13:30 to 15:15 on the Sunday, but I haven’t seen that confirmed.
Formula E is also racing next weekend from Moscow, however qualifying will not be broadcast on ITV4 as was the case for Monaco and Berlin. It will be interesting to see if it returns for London’s races. Below are all the scheduling details you need…
BBC F1
BBC TV – Sessions
05/06 – 14:45 to 16:45 – Practice 1 (BBC Two)
05/06 – 19:00 to 20:35 – Practice 2 (BBC Three)
06/06 – 14:55 to 16:00 – Practice 3 (BBC Two)
06/06 – 17:00 to 19:15 – Qualifying (BBC One)
07/06 – 18:25 to 21:00 – Race (BBC One)
07/06 – 21:00 to 22:00 – Forum (BBC Red Button)
BBC Radio – Sessions
05/06 – 14:55 to 16:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
06/06 – 14:55 to 16:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
06/06 – 17:55 to 19:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live)
07/06 – 18:30 to 21:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)
Supplementary Programming
05/06 – 21:30 to 22:00 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
06/06 – 16:00 to 17:00 – F1 Rewind (BBC Two)
Sky Sports F1
Sessions
05/06 – 14:45 to 16:50 – Practice 1
05/06 – 18:45 to 21:00 – Practice 2
06/06 – 14:45 to 16:15 – Practice 3
06/06 – 17:00 to 19:45 – Qualifying
07/06 – 17:30 to 22:15 – Race
=> 17:30 – Track Parade
=> 18:00 – Pit Lane Live (also Sky Sports 1)
=> 18:30 – Race (also Sky Sports 1)
=> 21:30 – Paddock Live
Supplementary Programming
04/06 – 16:00 to 16:30 – Driver Press Conference
04/06 – 20:45 to 21:00 – Paddock Uncut: Canada
05/06 – 21:00 to 21:45 – Team Press Conference
05/06 – 23:00 to 00:00 – The F1 Show
10/06 – 20:30 to 21:00 – Midweek Report
Formula E – Moscow (online via FIAFormulaE.com)
06/06 – 06:10 to 07:10 – Practice 1
06/06 – 08:25 to 09:10 – Practice 2
06/06 – 09:45 to 11:10 – Qualifying
Formula E – Moscow (ITV4)
06/06 – 13:00 to 15:30 – Race
07/06 – 10:10 to 11:15 – Highlights
BTCC – Oulton Park (ITV4)
07/06 – 11:15 to 13:30 – Part 1
07/06 – 15:15 to 18:30 – Part 2
IndyCar Series – Texas (BT Sport 2)
07/06 – 01:00 to 04:00 – Race
As always, if anything changes, I’ll update the schedule.
Motorsport Broadcasting 