Author: David Nelson

The merry-go-round: what we know

With just 19 days until the Australian Grand Prix and the Qatar MotoGP, we are none the wiser to the identity of Channel 4’s Formula 1 team or BT Sport’s MotoGP team. But, there are some things that we do know. And, as always, it looks like we could have some shocks on the cards…

BBC part company with James Allen
The F1 Broadcasting Blog can confirm that BBC Radio 5 Live have parted company with James Allen. Allen has been part of BBC’s 5 Live F1 team since the beginning of 2012, working as lead commentator for the majority of races. In the races that Allen did not cover, either Jonathan Legard or Jack Nicholls substituted for Allen. It is understood that the decision to drop Allen for 2016 was made prior to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Allen has since updated his LinkedIn to confirm his BBC exit.

Jack Nicholls will again be commentating on some of the races with 5 Live. We do not yet know which races, but Nicholls is unlikely to be commentating on any race which clashes with the Formula E Championship. Alongside Nicholls will be Jennie Gow, who is staying with 5 Live. As that link shows though, what exactly the ‘team’ consists of appears to be shrouded in some mystery. The problem we have is that: the BBC took a decision to exit its Formula 1 TV contract. Anyone under a BBC F1 TV contract for 2015 is therefore still under contract with BBC, unless they are able to escape from said contract. Even though Gow is radio, inevitably no TV coverage means that the radio operation is being downsized.

Allan McNish looks like he is staying with BBC F1. Recent tweets certainly give the indication that McNish is remaining with the BBC, and will be by default be 5 Live’s co-commentator one would imagine. At this stage, we don’t know about the status of Tom Clarkson in all of this. Who will be Allan McNish’s partner when Nicholls is not around? Your guess is as good as mine. However…

Is a shock on the cards at Channel 4?
This blog understands that the Channel 4 team does contain at least one major surprise. And given that Allen is not tied to the BBC any more, the chances of him turning up as part of Channel 4’s team increases significantly. Inevitably, thoughts turn to Allen potentially grabbing the lead commentator role instead of Ben Edwards, a move which would shock a lot of people reading this post.

A more likely thought I feel is that Allen could be one of Channel 4’s pit lane reporters alongside Lee McKenzie, with Edwards remaining in the commentary box. Bear in mind that Alex Kalinauckas, writing on James Allen’s website on February 9th, stated that McKenzie and Edwards would be part of Channel 4’s team. You would not write something that is knowingly inaccurate. Allen becoming pit lane reporter would not be surprising if Tom Clarkson is tied into a BBC contract. Bear in mind that the Channel 4 photo shoot occurred in the week beginning February 8th, so the team would have been finalised at the time of Kalinauckas’ post.

If Allen is Channel 4’s pit lane reporter, then it would be a role that I would be happy to see him in given that I enjoy reading his thoughts and also enjoyed his original stint as pit lane reporter with ITV. Allen is good in front of the camera too, and given that Channel 4 are having two presentation teams in one, Allen could be the face they want to help in that respect, not necessarily as presenter but in a journalist style role. Like I said though, if Allen though was announced as lead commentator, that would be major shock. And, I imagine for those reading this, not exactly a positive shock either. Assuming for a second that Allen is in as lead commentator and Edwards is not, then the latter is presumably still locked into a BBC contract.

Alternatively, Allen may not be part of Channel 4’s team at all…

Suzi Perry set to join BT’s MotoGP team
According to Charles Sale writing in the Daily Mail, Suzi Perry has been signed up by BT Sport to work on their MotoGP coverage. Sale does not elaborate much further, saying that Perry has been signed up to “work on a variety of roles” for their coverage. If true, it is a fantastic signing for BT Sport and bolsters their MotoGP coverage following a successful second season. It is difficult to read much into a small paragraph, but the implication is that there is some change to the BT Sport team.

Craig Doyle was understood to be one of the four on Channel 4’s shortlist to host their Formula 1 coverage. Whether we can expect Doyle to jump, I don’t know. My instinct is that BT want Doyle to focus on their rugby coverage as opposed to juggling between rugby and MotoGP. A tweet from Ben Constanduros on Monday 29th February went as follows: “Last week was a good one, spoke to People from BBC, C4, Sky and FOM – enlightening! broadcasting shocks coming – not involving me though!” The follow-up was that it doesn’t involve Channel 4, so we will have to wait and see on that front.

Finalised television listings go to press on Wednesday 9th March. No matter what, we will all know the answers soon. Unless we hear anything more in the next few days, this will probably be the final piece of this nature. So, tomorrow, Thursday, Friday. Or next week, whenever it may be. Let the announcements begin!

Update on March 1st at 19:55 – As I said, before Wednesday 9th March. David Coulthard has gone on public record on yesterday’s Hawksbee and Jacobs Show on talkSPORT (14:30 to 15:00 segment, 20 minutes in) that the Channel 4 press launch will be taking place on Tuesday 8th March.

Update on March 2nd at 21:25 – This blog learnt late last night that the announcement of Perry to join BT’s MotoGP team, which was scheduled for today, had been pushed back at the last minute. Perry was due to appear at the MotoGP test in Qatar, but has not showed up.

Sky Sports unveil 2016 pre-season trailer

Sky Sports have unveiled their 2016 pre-season trailer for the new Formula One season, which for the second year running will air across their UK, Germany and Italian outlets. The trailer, called the Constant Fight, in my opinion is a marked improvement on last year’s effort.

The 90 second film may remind readers of Sky UK’s promotion heading into their inaugural 2012 season. The 2016 version features drivers preparing for a Formula One weekend and was filmed during the last two race weekends of the 2015 season in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

The music in the campaign was created by Dave Connolly, with creative and direction led by Jacques Salmon. The trailer aims to “bring to life all of the fights fought out at every level of this intense competition, demonstrating that F1 really is a constant fight.” Whilst last year’s trailer, #TheChasingPack also aired in Germany and Italy, Salmon notes that this year’s trailer marks “first truly pan-European 360* campaign for SKY.”

Channel 4 begins Formula 1 advertising campaign

Channel 4 has begun its Formula 1 promotion in earnest with teaser trailers airing across their portfolio of channels.

The trailers started airing on the 24th February and will no doubt continue through the next couple of weeks as we head towards the Australian Grand Prix. I’ll adjust this post when clean versions of the trailers are released. Alongside this, @C4F1 is the official Channel 4 Twitter account for Formula 1 going forward.

The promotional work surrounding Channel 4’s coverage is being handled by Pitch PR, who won “a competitive pitch process at the start of the year.” To quote from Pitch’s press release, they have “been tasked with helping launch Channel 4’s 2016 coverage and promoting the broadcast of their live and highlight coverage throughout the season.”

Update on February 26th – Here we go! Channel 4’s F1 Twitter (and Vine) feeds are alive. A host of tweets came through on the Twitter account promoting their coverage. Their first tweet, embedded above, is the famous riff of The Chain which is remaining with Formula 1 in 2016. On television, more teaser trailers aired during shows such as Gogglebox. The car in the teasers appears to be the Red Bull RB7 from 2011.

The broadcaster has also launched their Formula 1 website. Clearly it is a slim line version at the moment, but Channel 4 promise that their in-depth website will be ready “soon”.

Update on March 8th – Coinciding with the formal launch of their coverage, Channel 4’s promotion is about to ramp up significantly with the launch of their 30 second trailer. As well as being broadcast on Channel 4, the trailer will be “broadcast in key spots on BT Sport and ITV1 including the England vs. Wales Six Nations rugby match on Saturday 12th March” in order to reach a wider audience.

Notably, the campaign will continue beyond the Australian Grand Prix, including radio trailers leading up to the Bahrain Grand Prix, which is Channel 4’s first live Grand Prix. Channel 4 notes that the trailer was shot at Silverstone and was conceived and created by their in-house creative agency 4Creative.

Update on March 15th – A high resolution version of the 30 second trailer has been uploaded to Vimeo here.

Motors TV removed from Sky platform (and reinstated)

Motors TV has today (Thursday 25th February) been removed from the Sky platform.

The reason, as of writing, is unknown but the channel disappeared from its channel 447 slot on the EPG at some point late this morning. Their Twitter has not yet commented on the situation, but Sky’s Help Team on the social networking website said that Motors TV are “no longer broadcasting on Sky”.

The removal from Sky follows the removal of the channel from Freeview via an aerial and YouView earlier this year, having been added in late 2014. Obviously it is concerning that the channel has been removed from two platforms in the space of two months. The main casualty of this, if contracts do not change, would be the World Endurance Championship who currently have some races broadcast exclusively live on the channel.

If we hear anything more about this, I will update this post…

Update on February 26th – Thanks to those of you on Twitter and elsewhere who have linked to this piece on the Endurance Info website. The article, written on February 15th, contains quotes from Jean-Luc Roy who is the president of Motors TV. Reading the article, it appears Roy is deeply unhappy with Motors TV’s treatment on French platforms on beyond. The crux of the argument is that Motors TV has found itself sliding down the EPG, meaning they get a smaller audience.

My suspicion, although as far as I can see Roy does not confirm this, is that Motors TV has to pay a flat rate fee to the likes of Sky, irrespective of whether it is channel 413 or 447 on their EPG. For Sky, it would have been “we want X” to extend the carriage agreement, Motors TV would have said no and walked away. And, at the end of the day, no one is really going to defect from Sky to Virgin Media to watch Motors TV, maybe a handful, if that. Similar situations have happened before, and successfully resolved. Back in 2007, Sky’s basic channels were taken off Virgin for nearly two years because of a carriage dispute, at the time it was a high-profile dispute between the two parties.

With the above in mind, Motors TV could return to Sky. Don’t know when, but never say never. We just don’t know. But this is a desperately sad situation that is driven by finances. Is Motors TV closer to the brink than any of us realise?

Update on February 27th – Per Daily Sports Car, a source close to the situation is hopeful that the channel will be reinstated in the next week, which is good news for everyone concerned.

Update on March 4th – Motors TV has returned to the Sky platform in the same EPG slot as previously. On their Twitter page, they did not explain the reason for the disappearance.

Expansive on-air team expected for Channel 4 F1?

A very interesting piece over at SVG Europe has dropped online today. The SVG Europe article confirms that Whisper Films will use Presteigne Broadcast equipment for their coverage of Formula 1 on Channel 4. Presteigne’s presence is a continuation of their BBC F1 contract which began in 2014.

The piece talks about the facilities that are built to cater for the Formula 1 coverage, all of the facilities fitting into two lightweight pods. It is well worth a read for those of you into the intrinsic technical details that is required to getting a Formula 1 broadcast on the air. There’s a few points I want to focus on from the piece.

Notably, Whisper Films will have four radio cameras instead of three radio cameras as in previous years. SVG Europe says that this is “to accommodate an expanded number of on-air talent upped from four to seven.” Given that the photo shoot for Channel 4’s F1 team is understood to have already taken place, you would not accommodate something that is not going to happen. I would assume this applies for the live races only given that you would not use four radio cameras for a highlights programme.

David O’Carroll, Presteigne’s Head of Technology said that this “enables Whisper to move around much more freely, for example, placing a couple of cameras at either end of the paddock or pit lane and throwing presentation between them or wherever the story is.” The above can be interpreted many ways. Does the increase from four to seven include the guests that they have throughout the show? The wording suggests we are strictly talking about the Channel 4 ‘on-air talent’.

In essence, it looks like Whisper could have two presentation teams on the go at the same time. My best guess is that four on-air talents would be in pit lane with a further three in the paddock. That does not necessarily mean that Channel 4 will be announcing two presenters for their Formula 1 coverage. The ‘paddock presenter’ would combine that with the pit lane reporter role. Until we see the full line-up, it is difficult to know how things will break down. An increase in cameras could also imply more build-up and post-race coverage on Channel 4 compared to the BBC for their live races.

Further down the piece, there’s a few bits that regular readers may already be aware of, but not actually seen in writing – i.e. the fact that broadcasters (in Channel 4’s case Whisper Films) are required to supply FOM with all footage filmed within the race circuit during a race weekend, even if said footage did not make the air. Presteigne will be picking up “about 24 main programme feeds” including on-board feeds, the post does not mention if Channel 4 plan on using said feeds online, so we will have to wait for that piece of news.

A fascinating point is that the idea in the future is to have the programme edited in London as opposed to on-location, although O’Carroll did not give a timeline for this being implemented. O’Carroll said that “remotely editing from London would save sending a number of editors around the world.” And, for those wondering, no plans for FOM to look into 4K or virtual reality, “at least for this season.”