Doing the sums: the cost of viewing Sky Sports F1 in 2016

One of the more popular posts on The F1 Broadcasting Blog is back for a fourth year, as this writer tries to save readers money by listing a variety of options to view Sky’s coverage of Formula 1 and BT Sport’s MotoGP coverage. It is easy to get confused with many different choices out there.

In 2014 and 2015, I analysed Formula 1 and MotoGP in the same piece. This year, I have chosen to analyse them separately, as BT Sport is a whole different ball game. This piece will focus on Sky Sports F1, and the MotoGP analysis will follow in the coming days. The end of the MotoGP piece will bring everything together for those that are fans of both Formula 1 and MotoGP.

As always, prices below do not include broadband, phone or any activation fees. Broadband and phone deals may be available, but I have tried to exclude them where possible so not to muddy the waters even more.

Sky
We start off with Sky, who this season will be broadcasting eleven Formula 1 races exclusively live. To watch Formula 1 in standard definition, you need the Sky Sports Bundle, which is an amalgamation of Sky’s Original Bundle, with the Sports channels on top of it. At a cost of £45.50 a month, it works out at £546.00 a year. The price over the year is down £6.00 compared to January 2015. The trick here is that Sky are hooking people into their cheaper packages by freezing the prices (the Original Bundle has actually dropped). As we are about to see, the same rule does not apply the higher the price goes.

If you want to watch Formula 1 in high definition, you need the Family Bundle, the Sky Sports top-up and then the Sports HD top-up as well. Yes, you still need to pay an extra £5.25 to watch Sky Sports in HD compared with SD. Overall, it is a whopping £66.75 a month, which equates to £801.00 a year. Yes, £801.00 a year to watch every Formula 1 session in high definition, a number that is up £48.00 compared with January 2015. The main attributor for the increase is the Family Bundle, which is now £36.00 a month compared with £33.00 one year ago.

For both options, and in something I don’t think I have seen while doing these pieces, Sky are also throwing in a free LG 32″ television. If you don’t want a new TV, then you can have £100.00 worth of vouchers instead.

Now TV from Sky
In previous years, readers have had the possibility of purchasing a Sky Go Monthly Ticket, which the customer could then renew or terminate as and when necessary. Unfortunately, that option is no longer available to new customers, however it has been superseded by the Now TV Monthly Pass which is available at a similar price to its predecessor. Now TV, available from Sky, allows viewers to watch content as soon as a pass is purchased or through the Now TV Box which is available for a one-off price of £15.99.

There are three Now TV passes. The Sky Sports day pass is £6.99, the week pass is £10.99 and the monthly pass is £31.99. At this point, depending on the variety of Formula 1 content that you want, you’re looking at a total cost of between £76.89 to £230.67. The 2016 Formula One calendar is as follows:

– March 20th – Australia (Melbourne) – Sky
– April 3rd – Bahrain (Sakhir) – Channel 4 and Sky
– April 17th – China (Shanghai) – Sky
– May 1st – Russia (Sochi) – Sky
– May 15th – Spain (Barcelona) – Channel 4 and Sky
– May 29th – Monaco (Monaco) – Sky
– June 12th – Canada (Montreal) – Sky
– June 19th – Europe (Baku) – Channel 4 and Sky
– July 3rd – Austria (Red Bull Ring) – Sky
– July 10th – Britain (Silverstone) – Channel 4 and Sky
– July 24th – Hungary (Budapest) – Channel 4 and Sky
– July 31st – Germany (Hockenheim) – Sky
– August 28th – Belgium (Spa) – Channel 4 and Sky
– September 4th – Italy (Monza) – Channel 4 and Sky
– September 18th – Singapore (Marina Bay) – Sky
– October 2nd – Malaysia (Sepang) – Channel 4 and Sky
– October 9th – Japan (Suzuka) – Sky
– October 23rd – USA (Circuit of the Americas) – Sky
– October 30th – Mexico (Mexico City) – Channel 4 and Sky
– November 13th – Brazil (Interlagos) – Sky
– November 27th – Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina) – Channel 4 and Sky

You can watch every race live by purchasing six passes through the year:

– pass 1 can be used from March 17th to April 17th (Australia and China)
– pass 2 can be used from April 29th to May 29th (Russia and Monaco)
– pass 3 can be used from June 6th to July 6th (Canada and Austria)
– pass 4 can be used from July 6th to August 6th (Germany)
– pass 5 can be used from September 15th to October 15th (Singapore and Japan)
– pass 6 can be used from October 15th to November 15th (USA and Brazil)

At a cost of £31.99 a month, the six passes work out at a total of £191.94 across the season, which would give you access to every session exclusively live on Sky Sports F1. However, there is a cheaper option. Purchasing eleven Now TV weekly passes works out at £120.89 across the season, which again would give you every session that is exclusive to Sky. Of course, Now TV is not in high definition. But we have quickly whittled down the price from Sky’s TV packages to something that would suit those who are not interested in all the extra Sky channels and simply want to watch a Formula 1. We could whittle it down further: if you just want the races, eleven day passes would cost you £76.89 across the season. But, in my opinion the weekly pass is the best option that Now TV provide for those who are looking for a cost effective option.

An even cheaper option is Sky Sports Mobile TV, which is £9.99 a month. Available for Android and iOS, it is a rolling contract, so you can terminate and re-enter as and when you want. Six months/passes as above works out at a total of £59.95 across the season. I should preface Sky Sports Mobile TV with a warning though. Looking on the Play Store, it appears there are some major issues with the app at the moment. I would not be surprised if Sky Sports Mobile TV is phased out as Sky continue to look towards Now TV as a cheap alternative going forward.

Virgin Media
Away from Sky, we have Virgin Media who are the biggest cable television provider in the UK. Before I review the prices, I want to state that the usability of the website was not good. It was pretty much impossible to find the price of the Sky Sports package within their main website, which meant I had to build a bundle to find out the price. Maybe that is their intention, to ‘hook’ people with low prices on their website, only to find that the prices are actually higher when they build the bundle.

To watch Sky’s coverage of Formula 1 in standard definition, you need the More TV package, which is £20.00 a month. Add the Sky Sports package and V HD box onto that brings you to £49.25 a month or £591.00 across the year. Virgin Media’s prices appear to have increased significantly: that price is over £100.00 up compared to January 2015. As alluded to above, finding the price of the Sky Sports package (including F1) is incredibly difficult. The price through the ‘build a bundle’ is £29.25 a month. The V HD box is free, but it does not come with all the features you expect out of a modern day box such as pause, rewind and download. To get that, you need one of Virgin’s TiVo boxes for an extra £5.00 a month.

To watch Formula 1 in high definition, you need all of the above plus an extra £7.00 a month for Sky’s premium channels. The price therefore increases to £675.00 across the year. If you do not care about your definitions, then Sky is the place to go for Formula 1 in standard definition. But if you want Formula 1 in high definition, then Virgin Media is the clear winner. Given that we are focussing primarily on television only and not broadband here, TalkTalk are not really an option, but it is worth noting that you can get Sky Sports F1 through them as well.

In summary, if you are a Formula 1 fan, here are the key numbers:

– £801.00 a year – Sky (HD) – up £53.00
– £675.00 a year – Virgin Media (HD) – up £108.00
– £591.00 a year – Virgin Media (SD) – up £108.00
– £546.00 a year – Sky (SD) – down £6.00
– £191.94 – Now TV (Monthly Pass x 6)
– £120.89 – Now TV (Weekly Pass x 11)
– £76.89 – Now TV (Day Pass x 11)
– £59.95 – Sky Sports Mobile TV

With television packages continuing to rise, and Virgin Media looking like a less of an alternative, there really are three options for Formula 1 fans. One: look to other sources for inspiration, such as Now TV and Sky Sports Mobile TV. Two: bring in broadband and TV and hope for some triple play ‘divide and conquer’ method of bringing down costs. Or, three: watch Channel 4’s highlights programming and forget about Sky’s Formula 1 programming.

A piece looking at BT Sport’s MotoGP coverage, and the variety of options that you have to access that, will follow in the coming days.

Found something cheaper? Is there a figure that does not look right? Leave a comment and I will investigate… last updated on January 28th, 2015.

Update on March 18th – Readers may have noticed that I have not published a MotoGP piece. There’s a few reasons, but the main reason is the complicated nature of BT’s pricing alongside the other news stories that have been developing over the past month. Given Sky’s anticipated price rise coming in June, I’m going to republish this article nearer then, and publish an additional MotoGP piece.

World Rally Championship highlights begin solidly on Channel 5

Highlights of the first round of this year’s World Rally Championship performed well on Channel 5 yesterday, overnight viewing figures show. The series, which was shown in highlights form on ITV4 from 2013 to 2015, moved to Channel 5 in a surprise move for the start of this season. The broadcaster has placed the series in a primetime slot, with highlights airing each Monday evening at 19:00.

The first programme of the year aired yesterday focussing on the Monte Carlo rally, averaging a solid 446k (2.1%) across the hour long broadcast. The programme recorded a one-minute peak audience of 533k (2.4%) at 19:53 as Sébastien Ogier fought off early competition from Kris Meeke before the British driver retired. Astoundingly, the last time a World Rally Championship round achieved a figure like that was at the back end of 2006. In other words, last night’s rating was the best for rallying in the UK for nearly a decade.

The viewing figures show how much rallying has fell out of the public spotlight: not necessarily the deals in the late 2000s with the move to ITV4 and then Dave, but after that with pay-TV deals exclusive to ESPN and BT Sport. Only in recent years has rallying got back in the spotlight with highlights airing on ITV4 and now Channel 5. The programme was slightly down on Channel 5’s slot average in 2015 (Mondays, 19:00-20:00) of 478k (2.4%), but the numbers above are a good starting base when you consider the low publicity surrounding it.

In comparison, BT Sport’s live coverage did not bring in many viewers. The highest average was 15k (0.3%) for the 08:00 segment on Sunday morning (24th January) on BT Sport 2. The low numbers should not be a surprise, but it demonstrates why series such as the World Rally Championship need a mainstream presence on free-to-air television in order to sustain a viable audience in this country, as channels such as BT Sport treat sports such as rallying as ‘schedule fillers’ and nothing more.

I applaud the series organisers for bringing the series back to the wider audience, and I hope Channel 5’s audiences increase as the year progresses.

Whitmarsh rejects approaches from Channel 4 and Sky

A few weeks ago, I announced the results of the survey covering Channel 4’s Formula 1 team. Behind the usual suspects for the punditry roles, we had three names. They were Graeme Lowdon, Martin Whitmarsh and Susie Wolff. It looks like one of those three has indeed been approached by Channel 4, and rejected their offer.

That person is Martin Whitmarsh. Members of the media, including James Allen and Craig Scarborough were invited to a dinner hosted by Ben Ainslie Racing on Thursday evening. Allen has since blogged about the event. In the piece, Allen notes that Whitmarsh “is in no hurry to step back into F1 to offer comment on the current situation in the sport, particularly the problems for his old team [McLaren], despite offers from both SKY and Channel 4.”

For those who read my series of predictions over the Christmas period, I said that Whitmarsh should be one of the first people on Channel 4’s list. It looks like that assumption was indeed correct, although as I noted later, the chances of Whitmarsh actually returning to the paddock were incredibly slim. I always thought Whitmarsh was a possibility, but not a realistic one, although readers rated him highly in the survey.

What this tells us is that Channel 4 want a new name on board, hence the approach to Whitmarsh. Who else they have since approached, we don’t know. But you can probably deduce that Mark Webber, Lowdon and Wolff may also have been on Channel 4’s list (although if Eddie Jordan is staying, as mooted last weekend, you would presumably not need Lowdon). Interesting also to see that Sky is mentioned by Allen in relation to Whitmarsh. I’m not sure if we can read anything into it – we don’t know when the approach was made, whether they were hoping to replace someone or use him in a full time/rotation role. I’d assume Channel 4 were hoping to use him for the live races, plus a few highlights, similar to the Jordan role.

The most mysterious aspect so far though is the role of lead presenter. It is over a month since the Channel 4 deal was announced. Is there much to read into the lack of announcement and the lack of speculation in the press? Are Channel 4 and Whisper Films planning on doing something different with the lead presenter role? By ‘different’, I mean someone you would not expect. Channel 4 had NFL fan and entertainment presenter Vernon Kay (All Star Family Fortunes, amongst others) present highlights of their American Football coverage. Could we expect someone similar for Channel 4’s Formula 1 coverage? Just a thought…

Choosing Channel 4’s signature Formula 1 theme tune

Readers will associate BBC’s Formula 1 coverage with Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain. Dum, dum dum dum dum…. more recently, Sky’s coverage of Formula 1 can be associated with Alistair Griffin’s song entitled Just Drive. ITV went through various iterations from Jamiroquai to Lift Me Up by Moby. But what will Channel 4 choose, if anything, as their signature Formula 1 theme?

Now, I will be honest and say that my music tastes are not varied, so any suggestions will be left that to you guys in the comments section below. But, it is worth a look back at Channel 4’s past theme tunes for some inspiration as to where the channel and Whisper Films may head.

If we are talking Channel 4, sport and theme tunes then the above video is a fantastic place to start. Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of…) by Lou Bega was Channel 4’s cricket theme throughout their duration of their coverage from 1999 to 2005. Want to know how popular that song was when it aired during their coverage? It went straight to number one! You cannot get a better plaudit than that off the people watching your coverage, that they feel connected to the product that they are tuning in for.

Channel 4’s racing theme has undergone many iterations. The above version helps encapsulate the grand nature of horse racing with footage of both the horse racing and the celebrities that turn up week in, week out.

Other themes that have been created and aired on Channel 4 include the cult hit Football Italia in the 1990s and their American Football intro. In terms of Formula 1, Channel 4’s signature tune needs to be fast paced, it needs to get hearts racing. It needs to reflect the tone of the coverage and the race that viewers are about to watch. Having a slow, dreary theme is not the way to start motor racing coverage, but based on the above I’m confident Channel 4 will deliver. Some of BBC’s MotoGP themes captured the fast paced aspect perfectly. Hysteria by Muse and Begging You by The Stone Roses were good themes for motor racing coverage, in my opinion.

Like I said at the start of the piece, I am not great with music, so this is more a case of over to you. What song would you like to see become Channel 4’s signature Formula 1 theme? Or, will their coverage have a generically created theme (like ITV did with Jamiroquai in 1997)?

As always, your thoughts and suggestions are welcome in the comments below.

Update on January 23rd, 2016 – All the suggestions so far can be found in this playlist over on YouTube.

Channel 4 and Sky confirm 2016 F1 scheduling details

Channel 4 and Sky Sports have today confirmed their 2016 Formula One calendar picks. The picks are as follows:

2016 Schedule Details
March 20th – Australia (Melbourne) – Sky
April 3rd – Bahrain (Sakhir) – Channel 4 and Sky
April 17th – China (Shanghai) – Sky
May 1st – Russia (Sochi) – Sky
May 15th – Spain (Barcelona) – Channel 4 and Sky
May 29th – Monaco (Monaco) – Sky
June 12th – Canada (Montreal) – Sky
June 19th – Europe (Baku) – Channel 4 and Sky
July 3rd – Austria (Red Bull Ring) – Sky
July 10th – Britain (Silverstone) – Channel 4 and Sky
July 24th – Hungary (Budapest) – Channel 4 and Sky
July 31st – Germany (Hockenheim) – Sky
August 28th – Belgium (Spa) – Channel 4 and Sky
September 4th – Italy (Monza) – Channel 4 and Sky
September 18th – Singapore (Marina Bay) – Sky
October 2nd – Malaysia (Sepang) – Channel 4 and Sky
October 9th – Japan (Suzuka) – Sky
October 23rd – USA (Circuit of the Americas) – Sky
October 30th – Mexico (Mexico City) – Channel 4 and Sky
November 13th – Brazil (Interlagos) – Sky
November 27th – Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina) – Channel 4 and Sky

As reported last Thursday, Sky’s team is the same as last season. The notable names missing off Sky’s press release are Natalie Pinkham and Bruno Senna. I would not read too much into Pinkham’s name missing given she was present with Sky at the AUTOSPORT show. Senna’s name missing though may be a surprise. I don’t think it implies that he may be jumping to Channel 4 but one to keep an eye on.

The press release is nearly the same as last season meaning there is not a lot to point out. GP2 and GP3 are back, The F1 Show does not appear to be changing (despite some speculation at the back of last year to the contrary) and testing will be presented in the same format too, it looks like.

On the Channel 4 side of things, no further concrete information beyond the announcement of Whisper Films and David Coulthard last Monday. Unfortunately, there is no concrete information as to how their highlights programming will be scheduled, or the length. As discussed previously, the minimum length for the race highlight shows is two hours in my opinion. I really hope their highlights for Canada, USA and Brazil are as early as feasibly possible otherwise viewing figures could be very low for those three races.

Channel 4’s new Head of F1 (previously Commissioning Editor for Sport) Stephen Lyle said: “We are delighted to announce the full line up of races we will be showing live across 2016. The British Grand Prix is a huge highlight of the sporting calendar and we’re looking forward to covering all the action live from Silverstone this summer.”

Sky’s Head of F1 Martin Turner said: “This season offers everything. More races, more stories and more drama and only on Sky Sports F1 can viewers enjoy the complete story live. All eyes will again be on Lewis Hamilton while Mercedes and Ferrari will go head to head for the Constructors title. Our award-winning coverage will be there from the opening grid to the final chequered flag on our dedicated F1 channel and across our digital platforms.”

Normally I would go through the pick process and how I think it went. However, the picks are almost identical to the prediction made by this blog before Christmas, where I predicted correctly 19 of the 21 picks! The two races which I got wrong were Japan and Hungary. The ordering of picks would have been substantially different from pick eight onwards. In my original piece, I said it was between Australia and Hungary. I thought Sky would have taken Hungary over Australia, in reality it looks like they went in the opposite direction, allowing Channel 4 to pick Hungary. That’s probably the only surprise for me, as I anticipated, the picks are skewed towards the latter half of the season.

Update on February 1st – The FIA have now confirmed the timings of every session for 2016. The bad news for Channel 4 is, because of FOM’s insistence to clash Baku with the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the qualifying session with Azerbaijan now runs from 14:00 to 15:00. Which means it clashes with the Royal Ascot. Looking at the schedule on the Royal Ascot website, I would expect both The Chesham Stakes and The Wolferton Rated Stakes air on More4, with Channel 4 joining at around 15:20.