Scheduling: The European Grand Prix [UPDATED]

From the Asia’s to the European’s to the North America and now back to Europe for, rather aptly, the European Grand Prix. Both BBC and Sky are live this weekend. As with Canada, the BBC team has undergone a few changes. Lee McKenzie steps into Jake Humphrey’s shoes, while Tom Clarkson again steps into McKenzie’s shoes, McKenzie confirming on Twitter this past week that Clarkson would be stepping in for this round, Germany and Hungary. Here’s how the schedule shapes up:

Thursday 21st June
14:00 to 14:30 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)

Friday 22nd June
08:45 to 10:50 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
08:55 to 10:35 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Red Button)
10:55 to 11:35 – GP2: Practice (Sky Sports F1)
12:45 to 14:50 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
12:55 to 14:35 – F1: Practice 2 (BBC Red Button)
14:55 to 15:35 – GP2: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
16:00 to 16:30 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
17:00 to 18:00 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)

Saturday 23rd June
08:40 to 09:20 – 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 14:20 – F1: Qualifying (BBC One)
14:35 to 16:00 – GP2: Race 1 (Sky Sports F1)
16:15 to 17:00 – GP3: Race 1 (Sky Sports F1)
23:10 to 00:10 – Le Mans 24 Hours Highlights (Sky Sports F1)

Sunday 24th June
08:20 to 09:05 – GP3: Race 2 (Sky Sports F1)
09:30 to 10:35 – GP2: Race 2 (Sky Sports F1)
11:30 to 16:15 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
12:10 to 15:15 – F1: Race (BBC One)
15:15 to 16:15 – F1: Forum (BBC One)
16:15 to 17:15 – F1: Legends: Mika Hakkinen (Sky Sports F1)

One thing to note is that there is no sign of the Friday Press Conference with the Team Principles. I assume that is because the Press Conference clashes with the GP2 Qualifying session, and therefore Sky are only showing the Friday Press Conference when the two do not clash. I shall update this blog though if that changes.

Update on 19th June: Sky are showing the Team Principles Press Conference after all, at 16:00 on Friday. I’ve added that above. There are also highlights of the 24 Hours of Le Mans which I have added too. It looks like that may be the only showing, so record it while you can!

Update on 21st June: It turns out that most of my opening paragraph above is now irrelevant. Humphrey is travelling out to Valencia due to the way the Euro 2012 schedule has fallen, meaning McKenzie is doing the usual interviews and Clarkson presumably will not be with the BBC F1 team. Also, on the radio side of things Jonathan Legard is in again for James Allen. On the Sky F1 side of things, Allan McNish is the super sub in place of Anthony Davidson for practice, while Karun Chandhok is also with them for the weekend.

Scheduling: The Canadian Grand Prix

From the streets of Monte Carlo to the traditional June trip to North America as the 12 teams and 24 drivers head to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal, Canada. Due to the time difference between the UK and Canada, the majority of proceedings are in primetime. Also, Sky Sports F1 have exclusive live coverage for this weekend, with BBC showing highlights at 22:30 on both days. As with previous years, the GP2 Series and GP3 Series do not travel to North America – their races shall continue in two weeks time in Valencia.

It looks like the Race programme is again at the 4 hours, 45 minutes length it was for Monaco. Saying that, there is a Legends programme featuring Murray Walker on immediately afterwards, which will be worth watching.

As previously reported on this blog, there are several personnel changes on both the BBC and Sky sides this weekend. On the BBC side, Lee McKenzie is replacing Jake Humphrey as presenter, with Humphrey presenting Euro 2012, while for 5 Live, Jonathan Legard replaces James Allen. On Sky Sports F1, Jacques Villeneuve is joining their team for the weekend alongside the usual line-up.

I’ve added the 5 Live F1 schedule below in italics for those without access to Sky Sports F1. Due to test match cricket and Euro 2012, only Practice 2 and the Race will be on 5 Live Sports Extra, with the rest of the sessions online only, hence why they are not listed below. The forum is also listed, but I suspect that will be uploaded to the BBC website at some point on Monday.

Thursday 7th June
16:00 to 16:30 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)

Friday 8th June
14:45 to 16:50 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 21:00 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
18:55 to 20:35 – F1: Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
21:00 to 21:30 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
23:00 to 00:00 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)

Saturday 9th June
14:45 to 16:10 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
17:00 to 19:45 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
22:30 to 23:45 – F1: Qualifying Highlights (BBC One)

Sunday 10th June
17:30 to 22:15 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 21:00 – F1: Race (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
22:15 to 22:45 – F1: Legends: Murray Walker (Sky Sports F1)
22:30 to 00:30 – F1: Race Highlights (BBC One)
00:30 to 01:30 – F1: Forum (BBC Red Button)

Sky’s response to showing Classic F1 races: “no firm decision”

There has been “no firm decision” to broadcast Classic F1 races on Sky Sports F1, as of today. As I noted here, I sent an e-mail to Sky on Tuesday night asking about the situation with regards to Classic F1 races.

Their response was that there is “no firm decisions to show classic races”, and that the Classic Grand Prix schedule that we seen on the Sunday prior to Monaco, for the time being, “appears […] a one off”.

An interesting point has to be, why did they broadcast them, getting fans hopes up that Sky Sports F1 was finally going to be a proper Formula 1 channel. It is possible that they were ‘testing the waters’ so to speak for broadcasting them some time in the future and to monitor the reaction alongside viewing figures.

Schedules for June show no Classic F1 for Canada, as already noted, with no Classic F1 also for Europe. But then we come to Britain. Given that it’s Silverstone, one would have thought that Sky would make a big deal out of it with it being the home race with more airtime and features. Also, with it being one of the blue ribbon events alongside Monaco, I am hopeful that we will see Classic F1 races turn back up for Britain. Will that happen? Who knows. I hope it does.

At the moment at non-F1 weekends there is nothing for me to watch on the channel, as it is filled with endless repeats. At least adding Classic F1 races gives the viewer something different to watch. The viewing figures appear to support that Classic F1 races bring a portion of extra viewers to the channel, increasing the channel reach with it.

No Classic F1 for Canada next Sunday on Sky Sports F1

Now that the EPG is updating for next Sunday, it appears that there will no Classic F1 on Sky Sports F1 next Sunday like there was last Sunday. This is extremely disappointing to see considering the positive reaction there was to Sky screening Classic F1 races last week.

It seems, although time will tell, that was just a one-off for Monaco. I should note that it was no where stated on their website that classic races would be shown for every race for Monaco, just that was the assumption.

Nevertheless, it is disappointing to see another repeat of the Spanish and Monaco Grand Prix’s in the schedule for this time next week. Here is their schedule for next Sunday:

10:00 – Spanish Grand Prix Repeat
13:50 – filler
15:30 – Monaco Grand Prix Repeat

Hopefully that will change mid-week. But at the moment, it appears that Sky are screening no classic stuff for Canada. Considering Canada is one of the best races of the entire season, I would be more likely to watch the 2007 through 2011 races for Canada than what was shown last weekend. I watched 2008 Monaco last weekend, but 2007, 2009 and 2010 were nothing spectacular, whereas with Canada just about every race in the past few years has had excitement and I would happily watch 2007 Canada, 2008 Canada and so on and so forth again.

I should probably note that Sky are continuing to screen the season reviews – with 2007 airing next weekend at 21:00.

Update on Wednesday 30th May: So it is now mid-week, and as of writing this update, the schedule is exactly the same to that above. I sent an e-mail to Sky last night asking why they are not broadcasting Classic Formula 1 races this Sunday. I also said that the following schedule would be much better:

09:00 to 09:30 – a classic Canadian Grand Prix from the 1980’s (similar to Monaco)
09:30 to 11:25 – 2006 Canadian Grand Prix
11:25 to 13:35 – 2007 Canadian Grand Prix
13:35 to 15:35 – 2008 Canadian Grand Prix
15:35 to 17:30 – 2010 Canadian Grand Prix
17:30 to 21:00 – 2011 Canadian Grand Prix
21:00 to 22:20 – Season Review 2007 (Part 2)

I added to the end of the e-mail that the above schedule “appeals to the hardcore fans, whereas showing more repeats appeals to no one”. The ratings released this past Monday appear to support that very fact.

The benefits of putting Indy 500 on Sky Sports F1

There are several reasons why this weekend’s Indy 500 should be shown on Sky Sports F1 and not Sky Sports 4. The current schedule has it on Sky Sports 4 from 16:30 to 21:00.

The first reason is quite a simple one. It’s promoted as “the world’s greatest motor race” (or something along those lines, I can’t remember the exact wording), yet it’s on the least viewed of Sky Sports’ channels? Is that not a oxymoron? Sticking with that train of thought, would it not make sense to have the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indy 500 on the same channel one after the other? That sounds like a motor racing fan’s heaven – which is exactly what Sky Sports F1 should be. All the motor sport fans are likely to be watching Sky Sports F1, which is another reason for moving it there.

In terms of Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports 4, which is better, the answer is Sky Sports F1, as it reaches more people. During the Spanish Grand Prix week, Sky Sports F1 reached 2.444 million people, while Sky Sports 4 reached 1.929 million people. Although you could argue that the difference is only 513 thousand, in terms of audience profiles, the Indy 500 would be a much better fit on Sky Sports F1, where you could cross promote it a lot better than on Sky Sports 4. Let’s be honest, Sky Sports 4 is only for things that can’t be fitted anywhere on Sky Sports 1, 2 or 3.

Also, Sky Sports F1 is available to HD and Sport subscribers, meaning potentially a bigger audience for Indy 500, which could increase its audiences in the future. For the other races, I don’t think it matters as much, but if there’s one race which deserves priority on Sky Sports F1, it’s the Indy 500.

The only things I can see here are positives for Indy 500 and Sky Sports F1. So why is it not on Sky Sports F1? Who knows. Maybe Bernie says no? But then you could argue that two of the first few IndyCar races have been on Sky Sports F1, albeit due to scheduling clashes, but the point stands. In my opinion, it should be on Sky Sports F1. And I hope that it happens.

Ratings statistics in paragraph three are from BARB.