It might not be England in the World Cup final on Sunday, but there is action to interest the Brits over the weekend, as over in America, Sam Bird could become Britain’s first Formula E champion!
Season four of the electric series ends with a double-header in New York as DS Virgin’s Bird battles Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Verge for the crown. In some ways it is the end of an era for the championship, this weekend the last featuring mandatory in-race car swaps.
On the broadcasting front, the action airs live on 5Spike and Eurosport. There are question marks around Channel 5’s Formula E future, with its two-year contract ending after this weekend, and no free-to-air home announced yet for season five onwards.
Formula E – New York (online via YouTube)
14/07 – 12:25 to 13:25 – Race 1, Practice 1
14/07 – 14:55 to 15:40 – Race 1, Practice 2
15/07 – 13:25 to 14:25 – Race 2, Practice
Formula E – New York (race 1)
14/07 – Qualifying
=> 16:15 to 17:40 (5Spike)
=> 18:30 to 19:00 [tape delay] (Eurosport)
14/07 – Race
=> 20:00 to 21:55 (5Spike)
=> 20:15 to 21:45 (Eurosport 2)
15/07 – 10:35 to 11:20 – Highlights (Channel 5)
Formula E – New York (race 2)
15/07 – Qualifying
=> 15:45 to 17:10 (5Spike)
=> 16:00 to 17:00 (Eurosport)
15/07 – Race
=> 19:30 to 21:20 (5Spike)
=> 20:00 to 21:15 (Eurosport 2)
16/07 – 12:15 to 13:10 – Highlights (Channel 5)
The schedule will be updated if broadcasters make any adjustments.
Motorsport Broadcasting 
I think it’s been a mistake to put some races on 5Spike this season. Formula E still doesn’t get the coverage it deserves, and hiding it away on 5Spike will further dent the viewing figures.
I’m pretty sure it’s only 1 practice session on Sunday.
Thanks Alex, all amended now 🙂
And as I have to point out every time, qualifying is broadcast (uninterrupted) on YouTube, thus eliminating the ill-timed 5Spike ad breaks.
Have to agree with some comments on here! C5 have made some very poor decisions in putting races on 5Spike rather than their main channel this past year ! This is the BBC’s golden opportunity to grab an established motorsport series and do wonders with it. They will offer races on their iPlayer, have constant updates and content on their website, they’ll give all of the British drivers the extra exposure they deserve and they’ll just promote the series a hell of a lot better and allow more people to see it who still might not be familiar with it ! If not then there’s always YouTube, if no deal is reached then us UK viewers will get the races streamed live if no tv is in place !
If I had to guess (I don’t but I will anyway) I’d guess C5 will renew for another couple of seasons. The new car is coming, the manufacturer count continues to ramp up, there’s some fairly recognisable drivers getting involved (e.g. Massa, Rosberg doing PR things too), there’s supposed to be a race round the actual Monaco layout, there’s definitely a couple of tracks getting decent crowds (albeit the minority not the majority). The series is starting to get some momentum. Vernon’s actually not too bad at presenting it all. Plus, the FTA F1 offering is going to be significantly more watered down than it already is.
So as long as its cheap (which it must be, surely) I think C5 will try and give it a bit more time, and it fits in with their other motorsport content well (WRC and Moto GP highlights, if my memory serves?). They’ll still stick half of it on 5Spike, though, think that’s a given.
Ultimately though I doubt it’s going to be on C5 for the long haul.
If the BBC were to get it, I’d take a guess that FE will get more live viewers than F1 would do when it goes exclusive to sky.
You’re forgetting the simple fact that those that choose to subscribe to Sky do so because they either want to watch their content and/or their delivery platform.
If the BBC decided to show a programme called “How to polish a turd”, a surprisingly high number would choose to watch it.
As I have said before, the free to air argument doesn’t mean much when Channel 4 has lost over 1 million viewers compared to the BBC. It hasn’t been answered by this blog from what I’ve seen, but then there is the bias to consider.
Another view could simply be that a large percentage of the population watch the BBC regardless of what’s on, which would explain the huge drop in F1 viewing figures between the BBC and C4.
A million viewers for Sky is a good number for them in terms of an entertainment programme, so for F1 they will not be unhappy with what they get. Obviously, as a bundled supplier, viewing figures alone are not the only criteria, and if they were those published do not include Now TV.
Don’t forget that all Liberty Media really want is for fans to subscribe to their F1 TV app if and when contracts allow, FTA is not their priority, if it was then they also need broadcasters who want to pay for it. The BBC don’t want it, nor do ITV. C4 is a public service broadcaster so value for money is important, that doesn’t leave much choice.
Erm, just tuned in to watch the highlights of Race 1 on Channel 5, and the programme has been dropped – there’s some sort of entertainment promo on instead.
Was about to say the same, have avoided the result! Where’s the highlights!
The way Ch5 have treated Formula E this season is terrible! Saturday and Sunday evening, when the race was live on Spike, they were showing repeats! And yes, you guessed it, Police Interceptors was a repeat yesterday too!
I doubt that the BBC would bid for the rights to Formula E unless they showed it online.
Yes, that’s exactly the issue; they have such little confidence in FE that they hide it away on 5Spike when they could easily show it on the main channel; but they know Police Interceptors repeats will get more viewers. It’s a vicious cycle where FE keeps getting low viewership and can’t build it’s audience, but can’t get on the main channel to boost it’s viewership because it’s performance isn’t very good and it’s following is pretty small.