BBC to stick “with F1 until the end of the current deal and perhaps longer”

The BBC are set to remain covering Formula 1 until at least 2018. That is according to an interview conducted by Phil Duncan of the Daily Mail with BBC’s Formula 1 presenter Jake Humphrey.

In the interview with Duncan, Humphrey noted that he has “been told categorically that the BBC are sticking with F1 until the end of the current deal and perhaps longer”, while he cannot see “be astounded and massively shocked if the BBC say: “we’re stepping away from F1″”.

The comments from Humphrey follows an interview Bernie Ecclestone gave to The Guardian last month, suggesting that free-to-air Formula 1 could end on the BBC.

This line from Humphrey interests me though: “Internally, I can promise you there has not been a single discussion”. I’m not sure how factually accurate that statement is myself. Let us rewind back to last July and work ourselves up the chain. We have the Head of Formula 1 at the BBC, Ben Gallop. Ahead of Gallop in the chain, so to speak, is Barbara Slater, Head of BBC Sport. And ahead of her is the new Director General at the BBC, George Entwistle. Last July, the new rights deal between BBC and Sky Sports was announced on Friday 29th July at 07:00. The BBC Formula 1 team were not told about the new deal until the night before. We know that, Martin Brundle specifically tweeted that himself.

As they were told the night before, we can assume that Ben Gallop (and Mark Wilkin, the editor for BBC F1) was not told until the Thursday as well as the deal was thrashed out primarily between Barbara Slater, Jeremy Darroch (the managing director of Sky Sports) and Bernie Ecclestone.

The point is, with regards the line from Humphrey above, just because there has been no discussion within the Formula 1 team, it does not mean that discussion has not taken place higher up, if they really wanted to exit the contract earlier. I’m not sure that would be in their financial interests, of course, legally binding contracts have such things called get-out clauses.

Humphrey also said that he has been “have been really impressed” with Sky’s coverage, but noted that he “still think[s that] we hold the edge”.

Sky Sports F1 confirm Allan McNish as pundit for next 3 races

Sky Sports F1 have today confirmed via their Twitter account that Allan McNish will be a pundit with them for the next three races. McNish will be with the team for the British, German and Hungarian Grand Prix’s.

This will be McNish’s third appearance with the Sky Sports F1 team, having previously appeared with them for Monaco on The F1 Show and throughout the European Grand Prix race weekend.

As I’ve noted on my Twitter account several times, I think McNish is one of the best pundits on the Sky Sports F1 team with his breadth of knowledge on all areas of Formula 1 and motor sport. McNish will likely be on the Sky Pad alongside Georgie Thompson and commentating alongside David Croft for practice while Anthony Davidson continues his recovery after his crash at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

On a side note, Johnny Herbert’s five race deal expires this weekend, so it shall be interesting if we see him later in the season, while Damon Hill will be with the Sky F1 team as well for this weekend’s British Grand Prix.

Sky Sports F1 – Top 10 ratings (week ending 24th June, 2012)

From BARB:

1 – 531k – Live European Grand Prix (Sunday, 11:30)
2 – 348k – Live European Grand Prix: Qualifying (Saturday, 12:00)
3 – 70k – European Grand Prix Highlights (Sunday, 22:42)
4 – 64k – F1 Legends (Saturday, 09:35)
5 – 64k – Live European Grand Prix: Practice 3 (Saturday, 09:45)
6 – 64k – Live European Grand Prix: Practice 1 (Friday, 08:45)
7 – 61k – Live European Grand Prix: Practice 2 (Friday, 12:45)
8 – 49k – Fast Track (Sunday, 10:38)
9 – 47k – F1 Legends (Sunday, 11:06)
10 – 42k – European Grand Prix: Practice 2 Replay (Friday, 18:00)

Some notably poor figures above. Qualifying and the Race did fine, but all three practice sessions recorded surprisingly low figures, none of the three live showings breaking 64,000 viewers. In fact, the average of three sessions is the lowest since the Malaysian Grand Prix in March.

The channel reach was 2.19 million, which is also the lowest yet for a race weekend for the channel. BBC One’s live race programme entered the top 30 on BARB, with an average of 3.92 million viewers.

As I noted in my ratings piece last Monday, I expected the combined viewership to be the highest since 2000, and this is exactly the case with a viewership of 4.45 million viewers. The number is the second highest of the year, only behind the Chinese Grand Prix, also coincidentally a race that both Sky and BBC broadcasted live.

The Qualifying figure of 348,000 combined with BBC’s overnight rating of 2.24 million (25.2% share), brings a total combined viewership of 2.60 million, about 300,000 viewers down on last year.

British Eurosport to screen MotoGP live tomorrow

Note: If you have come to this article via a search engine, this article was written in June 2012, and is no longer relevant. It will, however, be kept here for historical purposes. Thank you.

British Eurosport are to screen all three MotoGP races live tomorrow, as well as all three warm-up sessions live tomorrow, it has been announced. The broadcaster normally broadcasts the Moto3 and Moto2 races live, with the MotoGP race on a tape-delay as the MotoGP races air live on BBC Two.

However, due to live coverage of Wimbledon, MotoGP will not be airing live on BBC Two tomorrow. As with past occurrences where this has happened (such as Qatar in the past few years), it means British Eurosport is allowed to air MotoGP live as BBC will only be broadcasting it on the Red Button.

As for the warm-up, I do not remember Eurosport broadcasting Moto3 or Moto2 (even in their previous form 125cc and 250cc) warm-up’s before, so nice to see them broadcasting that too.

British Eurosport 2’s schedule tomorrow therefore runs as follows:

07:35 to 08:05 – LIVE: Moto3 warm-up
08:05 to 08:35 – LIVE: Moto2 warm-up
08:35 to 09:15 – LIVE: MotoGP warm-up
09:15 to 09:45 – LIVE: Build-up
09:45 to 11:05 – LIVE: Moto3 race
11:05 to 12:25 – LIVE: Moto2 race
12:25 to 14:15 – LIVE: MotoGP race

For viewers without access to Eurosport, the three races are live on BBC’s Red Button service from 09:45, with the MotoGP race repeated at 12:30 on BBC Two on Sunday (it’s usual timeslot). The current contract between British Eurosport and BBC expires at the end of the 2013 season.

Scheduling: The British Grand Prix

After a fantastic European Grand Prix, it’s time for Formula 1 to head home. And that means it is time for the British Grand Prix. While Sky are pulling out the stops with Classic F1 in the run up to the race, the same cannot be said for BBC. Due to coverage of Wimbledon, both Qualifying and the Race are on BBC Two, with only the Race Build-Up on BBC One.

As announced at the end of their European Grand Prix show, there is an extra F1 Show on Thursday 5th July, with a two hour build-up to the race on Sunday. Although I have not heard anything concrete, I would expect an increased on-site presence for Silverstone from both the News and F1 team, maybe even with a studio there aside from the Sky Pad, as going on air at 11:00 would be when the Porsche Supercup cars are still on track.

On BBC, there is an extra guy in the pit-lane for Radio 5 Live, former McLaren mechanic Mark Priestley is alongside Jennie Gow. 5 Live also have race car driver Tiffany Chittenden alongside them for the weekend. Finally, don’t be surprised if the F1 Forum overruns, as it is coming live from the main stage as Silverstone, so if you’re going, you may be caught on camera! I’ve also added Inside F1, presented by Lee McKenzie, below the poll for anyone interested.

Thursday 5th July
15:00 to 15:45 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
20:00 to 21:00 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)

Friday 6th July
09:45 to 11:55 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
09:55 to 11:35 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Red Button)
11:50 to 12:30 – GP2: Practice (Sky Sports F1)
13:45 to 15:50 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
13:55 to 15:35 – F1: Practice 2 (BBC Red Button)
15:55 to 16:45 – GP2: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
17:15 to 18:00 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
18:00 to 19:00 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Saturday 7th July
08:45 to 09:25 – GP3: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
09:45 to 11:10 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
09:55 to 11:05 – F1: Practice 3 (BBC Red Button)
12:00 to 14:35 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
12:10 to 14:30 – F1: Qualifying (BBC Two)
14:35 to 16:00 – GP2: Race 1 (Sky Sports F1)
16:15 to 17:05 – GP3: Race 1 (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Sunday 8th July
08:25 to 09:25 – GP3: Race 2 (Sky Sports F1)
09:35 to 10:40 – GP2: Race 2 (Sky Sports F1)
11:00 to 16:15 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
11:30 to 12:55 – MotoGP: Sachsenring (BBC Two)
12:10 to 12:55 – F1: Race Build-Up (BBC One)
12:55 to 15:30 – F1: Race (BBC Two)
15:30 to 16:30 – F1: Forum (BBC Red Button)
17:30 to 20:00 – IndyCars: Toronto (Sky Sports 2)
20:30 to 22:30 – FILM: Senna (Sky Sports F1)

The schedules above are now confirmed, so should not change. I’ve also added BBC’s MotoGP coverage for the Sunday as that is partly the reason why the F1 build-up is on BBC One. IndyCars and a screening of the Senna film is also above.