Scheduling: The 2019 Chinese Grand Prix / Rome E-Prix

Formula 1 heads to China for not only round three of the 2019 season, but also for the 1,000 F1 race in history (at least, according to the official statistics).

The race airs across Sky’s F1 channel, Sky Sports Main Event and Sky One, with highlights following on Channel 4 later in the day. The expectation is that this is the last race for the moment that Sky are simulcasting on Sky One.

As in Bahrain two weeks ago, Nico Rosberg will be with Sky’s F1 team for the Shanghai race weekend. Joining Rosberg, and the rest of the Sky Sports F1 team for the first time in 2019 is Ted Kravitz.

As exclusively revealed by this site prior to the start of the season, Kravitz fell out of favour within the Sky ranks during the latter half of 2018, but a decision to axe him from their F1 coverage was overturned. China will be the first of 13 rounds, not 14 as previously reported, for Kravitz with Sky this year alongside his F1 TV commitments.

Sky’s programming slate is like Australia and Bahrain, with no sign of Ted’s Notebook as expected. One late addition to the schedule is Race to the Equator, which follows United Autosports’ quest to win the Asian Le Mans Series.

Elsewhere, a congested sporting schedule on both the BBC and BT Sport has left the Rome E-Prix with the short straw. Gymnastics and Final Score, crossing both BBC One and the Red Button, means that the electric series will air live on Connected TV and online, with delayed coverage following on the Red Button.

BT’s schedule of football, MotoGP, rugby, and the Indian Premier League cricket series also means that both the Formula E and Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy races air behind BT’s Red Button.

The congested schedule may explain why Formula E’s deal with Quest had the provision for live action from the outset, as that is where the race, as well as Paris in two weeks’ time, turns up on.

The clash between Formula E and Formula 1 means that Jack Nicholls is not commentating on the BBC F1’s coverage of practice or qualifying, with Alex Jacques substituting in his absence.

Inside the motor sport arena, MotoGP, IndyCar, and World Superbikes are amongst the other championships competing for attention across the weekend.

Channel 4 F1
13/04 – 13:00 to 14:30 – Qualifying Highlights
14/04 – 15:00 to 17:00 – Race Highlights

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
12/04 – 02:45 to 04:45 – Practice 1 (also Sky Sports Main Event)
12/04 – 06:45 to 08:45 – Practice 2 (also Sky Sports Main Event)
13/04 – 03:45 to 05:30
=> 03:45 – Practice 3
=> 05:10 – Paddock Walkabout
13/04 – 06:00 to 08:30 – Qualifying (also Sky One and Sky Sports Main Event)
=> 06:00 – Pre-Show
=> 06:55 – Qualifying
14/04 – 05:30 to 10:30 – Race
=> 05:30 – Pit Lane Live (also Sky One and Sky Sports Main Event)
=> 06:30 – On the Grid (also Sky One and Sky Sports Main Event)
=> 07:05 – Race (also Sky One and Sky Sports Main Event)
=> 09:00 – Paddock Live (also Sky One and Sky Sports Main Event)
=> 10:00 – Notebook

Supplementary Programming
09/04 – 19:30 to 20:00 – The Championship Begins
09/04 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Race to the Equator
11/04 – 07:00 to 07:30 – Drivers’ Press Conference (also Sky Sports Main Event)
11/04 – 10:00 to 10:30 – Welcome to the Weekend (also Sky Sports Main Event)
12/04 – 09:00 to 09:30 – The Story so Far (also Sky Sports Main Event)
13/04 – 08:30 to 09:00 – The F1 Show (also Sky Sports Main Event)
17/04 – 18:00 to 18:30 – F1 Weekend Debrief

BBC Radio F1
11/04 – 21:00 to 21:30 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
12/04 – 02:55 to 04:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
12/04 – 06:55 to 08:35 – Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
13/04 – 03:55 to 05:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
13/04 – 06:55 to 08:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
14/04 – 07:00 to 09:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)

MotoGP – Austin (BT Sport 2)
12/04 – 14:45 to 22:15 – Practice 1 and 2
13/04 – 15:00 to 22:15
=> 15:00 – Practice 3
=> 18:00 – Qualifying
14/04 – 14:30 to 22:00
=> 14:30 – Warm Ups
=> 16:15 – Moto3
=> 18:00 – Moto2
=> 19:30 – MotoGP
=> 21:00 – Chequered Flag

MotoGP – Austin (Quest)
15/04 – 18:00 to 19:00 – Highlights

Formula E – Rome
Shakedown, Practice and Qualifying also air live on YouTube…
12/04 – 14:45 to 15:30 – Shakedown (BT Sport/ESPN)
13/04 – 06:15 to 07:30 – Practice 1 (BT Sport/ESPN)
13/04 – 08:45 to 09:45 – Practice 2 (BT Sport/ESPN)
13/04 – 10:30 to 12:00 – Qualifying (BT Sport Extra 2 and Eurosport 2)
13/04 – 14:30 to 16:30 – Race: World Feed
=> live on BBC’s website and Connected TV
=> live on Quest
=> live on BT Sport Extra 2
=> live on Eurosport 2
13/04 – 14:30 to 16:10 – Race: Voltage (YouTube)
13/04 – 17:30 to 19:30 – Race: World Feed Delayed (BBC Red Button)

IndyCar Series – Long Beach (Sky Sports F1)
13/04 – 19:45 to 21:30 – Qualifying
14/04 – 21:00 to 00:00 – Race

Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy Series – Rome
13/04 – 07:30 to 08:15 – Qualifying (BT Sport/ESPN)
13/04 – 12:45 to 13:45 – Race (BT Sport Extra 2)

Virgin Australia Supercars – Phillip Island (BT Sport 2)
13/04 – 06:15 to 08:00 – Race 1
14/04 – 04:30 to 06:30 – Race 2

World Superbikes – Assen
12/04 – 09:25 onwards (Eurosport 2)
=> 09:25 to 10:25 – SBK: Practice 1
=> 13:55 to 14:55 – SBK: Practice 2
=> 14:55 to 15:55 – SSP: Practice 2
13/04 – 09:30 to 14:15 – Qualifying and Race 1 (Eurosport 2)
14/04 – 09:30 to 15:15 – Support and Race 2 (Eurosport 2)
18/04 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Highlights (ITV4)

The schedule will be updated if listings change.

Update on April 7th – Sky’s EPG has updated to cover the Chinese Grand Prix, and with it contains a 30-minute post-race show following Paddock Live called ‘Notebook’. Sounds familiar. I do not know if Kravitz is presenting the new Notebook, but will work to confirm.

Elsewhere, Race to the Equator will now premiere on Tuesday 9th April, not yesterday as mentioned previously.

Update on April 8th – It is indeed Kravitz presenting the new Notebook. Article online here.

Update on April 9th – A third update, the inclusion of ‘The Championship Begins’, an edit of the 1950 British Grand Prix airing tonight at 19:30 on Sky Sports F1.

Opening round of World Touring Cars season to air across BBC’s digital platforms

Touring car action is to return to the BBC for the first time in nearly two decades this weekend, series organisers have confirmed.

The opening round of the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) series from Marrakesh this weekend will air across the BBC’s digital platforms, including Connected TV and Online.

Eurosport Events, which is part of the Discovery Communications group, carries out the day-to-day running of the championship. As thus, the series remains on its longstanding platform Eurosport, with the new BBC deal coming in addition. Currently, the deal does not cover the remainder of the season.

The last time BBC aired touring car action was back in the Grandstand era, when the corporation aired live coverage of the British Touring Car Championship until the end of the 2001 season.

In recent years, the BBC and Discovery have collaborated in the sporting arena, most notably on the Olympic Games front in a deal signed at the beginning of 2016.

Three-time WTCC champion Andy Priaulx said “This is the best possible news for me, as there is nothing better than going into your first race in a series and know that your family, friends and fans can watch what is happening via the BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website and app.

“This can only help raise the profile of everyone involved in the championship and well done to WTCR promoter Eurosport Events for pulling off such a coup.”

François Ribeiro, Head of Eurosport Events, the WTCR promoter, said: “With three championship-winning British drivers on the grid, it’s really good news that fans living in the UK will get another outlet on which to watch live coverage of the season-opening races in Morocco.”

WTCR follows in Formula E’s footsteps in heading to the BBC, although this one-off deal is surprising considering the way the series has declined recently, losing its FIA ‘World Championship‘ status in 2017.

It is possible Formula E’s BBC deal has led other FIA events outside of the Formula 1 pyramid, WTCR included, to experiment with the Beeb. This is a surprising, but pleasing move for WTCR overall.

In other rights news…
Following Motorsport Network’s decision to move Motorsport.tv into the online-only space during the latter half of 2017, it left many championships without a home on UK TV.

One of those championships, the Blancpain GT Series will air live on Eurosport in the UK this season, aligning with the rest of Europe. The series will still be available via a vast array of online platforms, such as Motorsport.tv, YouTube and Motor Trend.

Elsewhere, the FIA World Rallycross Championship heads to BT Sport. All ten rounds will air live on BT, in addition to their existing Freesports deal.

Scheduling: The 2019 Sanya E-Prix

Formula E remains in the far east for the second leg of its Asian tour, as the championship heads to China for the Sanya E-Prix.

After its one-off appearance on BBC Two last time out in Hong Kong, the series returns to BBC’s Red Button on Saturday, with World Feed only coverage returning. As always, Vernon Kay and Nicki Shields preside over proceedings, with Bob Varsha, Jack Nicholls, and Dario Franchitti in the commentary box.

On the radio side, Tom Gaymor, Claire Cottingham and Marc Priestley will commentate on the action for Formula E Radio as well as BBC 5 Live Sports Extra.

Over in the west, the Circuit of the Americas plays host the IndyCar Series. Barring any technical difficulties, the race itself will run without commercials for UK viewers on Sky Sports F1, a stark contrast to the first race in St Petersburg when the UK programme followed the same ad-break pattern as their US counterparts.

Formula E – Sanya
Shakedown, Practice and Qualifying also air live on YouTube…
22/03 – 07:45 to 08:45 – Shakedown (BT Sport 1)
22/03 – 23:15 to 00:15 – Practice 1 (BT Sport 1)
23/03 – 01:30 to 02:15 – Practice 2 (BT Sport 1)
23/03 – 03:00 to 04:45 – Qualifying (BT Sport 1 and Eurosport)
23/03 – 06:30 to 08:30 – Race: World Feed
=> live on BBC’s digital platforms
=> live on BT Sport 1
=> live on Eurosport
23/03 – 06:30 to 08:10 – Race: Voltage (YouTube)
24/03 – 00:00 to 01:00 – Highlights (Quest)

Formula E Radio – Sanya (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
23/03 – 03:15 to 04:50 – Qualifying
23/03 – 06:45 to 08:20 – Race

Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy Series – Sanya (BT Sport 1)
23/03 – 00:15 to 01:00 – Qualifying
23/03 – 04:45 to 05:45 – Race

IndyCar Series – Austin (Sky Sports F1)
23/03 – 19:00 to 20:30 – Qualifying
24/03 – 17:00 to 20:00 – Race

If anything changes, the schedule will be updated.

Hong Kong E-Prix peaks with 355,000 viewers on BBC Two

A packed weekend of motor sport to kick start the traditional season saw Formula E lead the way on its BBC Two debut, overnight viewing figures show.

Formula E makes BBC Two debut
As part of their commitment to air one race on linear television, BBC aired the Hong Kong E-Prix live on BBC Two this past weekend. The race brought in a solid audience, according to audience numbers supplied by Overnights.tv.

An average of 229k (4.6%) tuned into the broadcast from 07:30 to 09:30. Sunday’s audience is an improvement on the last two seasons for Hong Kong, when the race aired on tape-delay on Channel 5.

In a positive sign, the BBC’s race coverage saw consistent growth throughout the broadcast, increasing its audience in most of the five-minute segments between 07:35 and 09:05. The race peaked with 355k (6.5%) at 09:00 as the race concluded.

It is Formula E’s highest UK audience for an Asian-based race since their first ever E-Prix in 2014. Back then, live coverage of the Beijing E-Prix on ITV4 averaged 266k (4.7%) and peaked with 477k (6.8%).

BT Sport and Eurosport make negligible difference to the overall picture, averaging 5k (0.10%) and 8k (0.16%) respectively, if anything showing the importance of free-to-air for Formula E.

For me, Formula E’s audience is solid, whether it is enough to convince the BBC to move the series off the Red Button for the latter half of the season, I do not know. If the peak was nearer to 500,000 viewers, I think the decision may be easier, that is if there is even a discussion here.

Last weekend’s race was Formula E’s first on a mainstream television channel since June last year, so expectations from a viewing figures perspective are lower as a result. With a bit of promotion, a European race could peak at around 800,000 viewers on BBC One, potentially. Time will tell if the BBC genuinely considers that a viable option this season.

MotoGP’s return peaks with 249,000 viewers on BT
A new season of MotoGP kicked off on BT Sport 2 with the Qatar GP. The leading bike series was unaffected by tough football opposition on Sky.

The race brought in an audience similar to previous years. The 90-minute MotoGP slot averaged 190k (1.3%) from 16:30 to 18:00, a slight decrease on last year’s figure of 211k (1.5%), but an increase on the 2014 and 2017 averages.

A peak of 249k (1.6%) watched as Marc Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso went wheel-to-wheel over the finish line for the second year running. The peak audience is in-line with the past two years, which peaked with 247k (1.3%) and 255k (1.9%) respectively.

Free-to-air highlights of the championship moved from Channel 5 to Quest, with the audience dropping significantly year-on-year. Quest aired two highlights shows at 18:00 and 23:00 respectively. Their premiere airing averaged 140k (0.9%), with the repeat bringing in 50k (0.8%).

The combined Quest audience of 190k is down 58 percent on Channel 5’s highlights audience for Qatar last season of 456k (2.5%). It is lower than all bar three MotoGP races on either ITV4 or Channel 5 since the highlights arrangement started in 2014.

Cumulatively, the drop for the highlights airing meant that MotoGP peaked with 513,000 viewers in the UK over the weekend, when accounting for BT’s live airing and Quest’s two repeats, a disappointing number for the championship.

As with all the figures in this piece, on demand platforms such as BT Sport’s online services and MotoGP’s VideoPass over-the-top offering are not included, which may make a small difference to the total MotoGP numbers.

IndyCar struggles on Sky return as St Pete opener plagued by technical issues
It was not a good Sunday for IndyCar, on all fronts. The series returned for a new season in St Petersburg, and with it came a change of channel for UK viewers, as the championship moved from BT Sport to Sky Sports F1.

Viewing figures struggled, with the race averaging 19k (0.11%) from 16:30 to 20:30, a decrease on last year’s BT audience of 25k (0.16%) over a shorter 200-minute time slot. Sky’s coverage peaked with 56k (0.32%) at 18:40 on Sunday, compared with 56k (0.38%) one year ago on BT.

The season opener faced MotoGP on BT and Premier League football on Sky, which may have impacted figures. Last month, F1 testing brought in a higher audience than IndyCar managed, although testing aired across the F1 channel and Main Event.

Considering the buzz when the IndyCar deal was first announced, Sky’s audience is disappointing. IndyCar, from a UK perspective, failed to move the needle outside of the Twitter bubble. However, IndyCar could benefit from cross-promotion during Sky’s main F1 coverage this year, so the picture could change as the season progresses.

The problems with Sky’s IndyCar broadcast may not have helped audience figures, although I doubt it caused a significant dent given the low base to start with.

IndyCar produces two feeds: a domestic feed for NBC, and an international feed. The feeds contain different graphics set, whilst the former is also not a continuous feed of the racing action. For St Pete, Sky aired the domestic feed ‘as-is’, breaking away to their own commercials when NBC in America went to adverts or went ‘side-by-side’.

What this meant was a downgrade on coverage offered by BT Sport in previous years. It was expected that Sky would take some commercials (@IndyCarUK understands four ad-breaks), but also utilise the feed to stay on the action for most of the race outside of yellow flag periods.

Whether Sky were unaware that the domestic feed was going to break away from the action or not is unclear. Either way, the communication between Sky Sports, NBC Sports and IndyCar needs to be clearer ready for Austin in two weeks’ time.

In a separate issue, IndyCar’s broadcast lost pictures completely for around 15 minutes on Sunday, affecting both the domestic NBC feed and the international feed. IndyStar Sports writer Jim Ayello reports that there was “a power supply failure to one of IMS Productions’ up-links due to two amplifiers overheating,” which caused the feed to go down.

Scheduling: The 2019 Qatar MotoGP / Hong Kong E-Prix

After a dominant display in 2018, Marc Marquez looks to keep hold of the MotoGP crown, as the championship springs back to life in Qatar.

This year though, Marquez has a new partner at Repsol Honda in Jorge Lorenzo, a pairing that will be fascinating to watch as the season progresses. For UK fans, live coverage of the series remains on BT Sport.

2019 is the first of BT’s new three year MotoGP contract, and with it Suzi Perry is on-board as BT’s presenter at every race this season. The main personnel change for BT is that James Toseland is no longer with the team.

On the free-to-air front, highlights of the championship move from Channel 5 to Quest, with the 60-minute show airing in an earlier time slot on Monday evenings.

Staying on tarmac, Formula E makes the jump to BBC Two for the Hong Kong E-Prix as part of their commitment to air one race on terrestrial television. In a throwback to ITV’s coverage of the series, Jennie Gow presents from the BBC’s Salford studios.

Jamie Chadwick and Marc Priestley are alongside Gow in the BBC studio, instead of Billy Monger as originally billed. Prior to the live airing, delayed coverage of qualifying airs via the Red Button for the first time.

To be honest, there is an argument that the Formula E World Feed on its own would have been a better approach, especially as the World Feed output has matured since ITV covered the series in its inaugural years. Saying that, adding a bit of colour to the broadcast is par for the course for BBC’s sporting output on linear television, so it is not too surprising.

Meanwhile, the IndyCar Series moves from BT Sport to Sky Sports F1 in a multi-year deal, with Sky covering qualifying and the race live. The expectation is that Sky are taking IndyCar’s World Feed without any bespoke wrap-around content. UK viewers will hear the likes of Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy calling the action.

There is a lot of action across the weekend, with IndyCar overlapping with both MotoGP and the climax of Rally Mexico.

MotoGP – Qatar (BT Sport 2)
02/03 – 19:45 to 20:45 – Season Preview
08/03 – 10:30 to 18:15 – Practice 1 and 2
09/03 – 10:15 to 13:15 – Practice 3
09/03 – 14:00 to 16:15 – Qualifying
10/03 – 11:30 to 19:00
=> 11:30 – Warm Ups
=> 13:15 – Moto3
=> 15:00 – Moto2
=> 16:30 – MotoGP
=> 18:00 – Chequered Flag

MotoGP – Qatar (Quest)
11/03 – 18:00 to 19:00 – Highlights

Formula E – Hong Kong
Shakedown, Practice and Qualifying also air live on YouTube…
09/03 – 07:45 to 08:30 – Shakedown (BT Sport 1)
09/03 (Saturday night) – 23:15 to 00:15 – Practice 1 (BT Sport 3)
10/03 – 01:45 to 02:45 – Practice 2 (BT Sport 3)
10/03 – 03:30 to 05:00 – Qualifying (BT Sport 3 and Eurosport)
10/03 – 06:00 to 07:30 – Qualifying Delayed (BBC Red Button)
10/03 – 07:30 to 09:30 – Race
=> live on BBC Two until 09:15
=> live on BT Sport 3
=> live on Eurosport 2
10/03 – 07:30 to 09:10 – Race: Voltage (YouTube)

IndyCar Series – St Petersburg (Sky Sports F1)
09/03 – 19:30 to 21:00 – Qualifying
10/03 – 16:30 to 20:30 – Race

World Rally Championship – Mexico (All Live)
Every stage also live via WRCPlus.com
07/03 – 16:45 to 18:15 – Shakedown (BT Sport Extra 1)
08/03 – 01:30 to 03:00 – Stage 1 (BT Sport Extra 1)
08/03 – 15:00 to 02:15 – Stages 2 to 9 (BT Sport Extra 3)
09/03 – 13:15 to 02:45 – Stages 10 to 18 (BT Sport Extra 1)
10/03 – 14:00 to 19:45 – Stages 19 to 21 (BT Sport Extra 2)

World Rally Championship – Mexico
08/03 – 02:00 to 03:00 – Stage 1 (BT Sport 3)
09/03 – 05:00 to 05:30 – Day 1 Highlights (BT Sport 2)
09/03 – 17:00 to 18:00 – Stage 12 (BT Sport/ESPN)
10/03 – 05:00 to 05:30 – Day 2 Highlights (BT Sport 3)
10/03 – 18:00 to 19:30 – Stage 16 [Power Stage] (BT Sport/ESPN)
11/03 – 16:00 to 16:30 – Day 3 Highlights (BT Sport 3)
11/03 – 19:00 to 20:00 – Highlights (5Spike)

Asia Talent Cup – Qatar (BT Sport 2)
09/03 – 13:15 to 14:00 – Race 1
10/03 – 10:30 to 11:30 – Race 2

Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy Series – Hong Kong (BT Sport 3)
10/03 – 00:15 to 01:15 – Qualifying
10/03 – 05:45 to 06:45 – Race

As always, I will update the schedule if anything changes.

Updated on March 5th with changes to the BBC’s Formula E line-up. Updated further on March 8th, with Quest’s MotoGP deal announcement.