The F1 Show having an audience: Yes or No?

This past Thursday, for the first time ever, Sky Sports F1 recorded a special audience edition of The F1 Show. Those of you who watched it on Friday will know exactly what I mean when it was their version of Top Gear. It basically was “Sky F1 does Top Gear” in all but name.

So, how did it go, and would I like to see it again? If this was a pilot for something in the future, then I would be commissioning a full series. Personally, I thought it went well, and better than I expected. The audience I felt added to the show. Sometimes the weekly studio shows do feel a bit run of the mill (it isn’t the most vibrant studio, either) and paint by lines, so having the audience present did make for a nice change, with them asking the questions. Arguably, shows like that are exactly what Sky should be doing on the channel.

I wouldn’t be keen to see it every week, but once every month or two would do nicely for me. I did chuckle to myself when some were making out how Formula 1 and audience interaction has never been done before. Did they not watch the BBC’s British Grand Prix forum shows in 2010 and 2011 where Jake Humphrey would throw the microphone to the crowd inside The Paddock Club for people to ask questions to Murray Walker and other guests? Okay, it wasn’t during a weekday show, but the way it was done was similar.

There were some weaknesses though, as it did feel a little bit too much ‘us, us, us’ at times. Interviewing people before and after the show just smacked of patting themselves on the back for no particular reason. The same has to be said for the band playing The Chain and Simon Lazenby basically dismissing it for another song. Did no one tell him which channel made Just Drive famous? I suspect not. Their jab at The Chain was plain unnecessary.

I’ve put a poll above, but more so in particular here I’d be interested in your comments as well as the vote.

Motor sport ratings (week ending 7th July, 2013)

As I noted in the overnight ratings report for the German Grand Prix, the Wimbledon final had a significant effect on the ratings for the race. The highlights programme on BBC One averaged a huge 5.26 million viewers in the official BARB ratings thanks to the tennis lead-in. Sky Sports F1’s race programme averaged 743,000 viewers, bringing the average to 6.00 million viewers. It will be a tough ask for that to be beaten late in the season, you would probably be asking for the title race to go down to the wire, and I don’t think that is looking likely at the moment.

Elsewhere on Sky Sports F1:

– 437,000 – Live Qualifying (Saturday, 12:00)
– 101,000 – Live Practice 3 (Saturday, 09:45)
– 80,000 – Live Practice 1 (Friday, 08:45)
– 72,000 – Live GP3 Race 2 (Sunday, 08:20)
– 68,000 – Live GP2 Race 2 (Sunday, 09:30)
– 60,000 – Live Practice 2 (Friday, 12:45)

All of the live Formula 1 ratings on Sky Sports F1 were down year-on-year. However, last year’s race weekend was free to Sky and Virgin Media customers. Maybe Sky should do the same tactic for next weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix?

In the feeder series’, some impressive ratings comparatively speaking for GP2 and GP3, GP3’s Race 2 figure was higher than any figure recorded for the series during 2012, so very good stuff there. GP3 peaked with 92,000 viewers, again one of the higher peaks I’ve seen. It all comes down to promotion for the feeder series, but that appears to be improving slightly, GP2’s Jon Lancaster was seen doing a live interview with Sky Sports News last week following his German Grand Prix victory.

Motors TV struggled this week, with no ratings above 7,000 viewers, whilst over on ITV4, the Tour de France continued with highlights bringing in between 371,000 and 612,000 viewers.

Scheduling: The 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix

The first of two Summer breaks is over for the majority of the Formula 1 drivers as the field head to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix. This year’s calendar is a bit odd in that there is a three week gap between Germany and Hungary, then a four week gap between Hungary and Belgian, this mainly down to the fact that round 20 failed to materialise. Hopefully next year’s calendar is better planned instead of being a stop/start mess…

Onto the schedule itself, and it is a BBC highlights weekend, so highlights are at the beginning of primetime for both Qualifying and the Race. Sky’s schedule is as expected, with the usual GP2 and GP3 action alongside the Formula 1. The Classic F1 races this week are 1986, 1993, 1997, 2003 and 2011. ~~On BBC Radio, Practice 3 will be online only due to athletics from London and Lyon.~~ Allan McNish will not be with the team this weekend, but will be back for his final two races in Belgian and Italy.

Saturday 20th July
20:00 to 20:45 – F1: 1986 Hungarian Grand Prix Highlights (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Murray Walker and James Hunt
– repeated on Friday 26th July at 18:00

Sunday 21st July
20:00 to 20:50 – F1: 1993 Hungarian Grand Prix Highlights (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Murray Walker and Jonathan Palmer
– repeated on Friday 26th July at 18:45

Monday 22nd July
20:00 to 22:15 – F1: 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Murray Walker and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Sunday 28th July at 16:45

Tuesday 23rd July
20:00 to 22:15 – F1: 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from James Allen and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Sunday 28th July at 06:05

Wednesday 24th July
20:00 to 22:15 – F1: 2011 Hungarian Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Martin Brundle and David Coulthard
– repeated on Saturday 27th July at 17:05

Thursday 25th July
14:00 to 14:45 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
21:00 to 22:00 – F1: Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
22:30 to 22:45 – F1: Gear Up for Hungary (Sky Sports F1)

Friday 26th July
08:45 to 11:00 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
08:55 to 10:35 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
11:00 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 Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
14:50 to 15:35 – GP2: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
16:15 to 17:00 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
17:00 to 18:00 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Saturday 27th July
08:45 to 09:30 – GP3: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
09:45 to 11:10 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
10:15 to 11:05 – F1: Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
12:00 to 14:35 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
12:55 to 14:05 – F1: Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
14:35 to 16:00 – GP2: Race 1 (Sky Sports F1)
16:15 to 17:05 – GP3: Race 1 (Sky Sports F1)
17:15 to 18:40 – F1: Qualifying Highlights (BBC One)

Sunday 28th July
08:20 to 09:10 – 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)
13:00 to 14:30 – F1: Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)
16:15 to 16:45 – GP Uncovered: Tribute to Fangio (Sky Sports F1)
17:05 to 18:35 – F1: Race Highlights (BBC One)

As always, the timings are subject to slight alterations, so I shall update this blog if and when that happens.

The contractual battle

The news today that the BBC have won the rights to screen The FA Cup from the 2014-15 football season alongside BT Sport means that it is another contract battle that has been resolved. It is very good news for both, but from differing perspectives.

For BBC, it means that they have secured a contract which lasts a significant duration. The contract signed between them and The FA will last until the end of the 2017-18 season. It is the latest in a long line of contracts which is now secure for the next three years or more on the BBC:

– Premier League – expires 2016 (source)
– The Open Golf – expires 2016 (source)
– Wimbledon – expires 2017 (source)
– Six Nations Rugby – expires 2017 (source)
– The FA Cup – expires 2018 (source)
– Formula 1 – expires 2018 (source)
– Olympic Games – expires 2020 (source)

For BT Sport it means that they retain the cup having inherited ESPN UK’s contract for this upcoming season. For the moment on the contractual front, there is a breather before the next round of negotiations start concerning the first few of those contracts – rumours are already beginning concerning the Open Golf and Wimbledon, for example. I don’t expect any of the contracts, including Formula 1, to be broken half way through. I’d be incredibly surprised if that happened.

As for what happens with those contracts, attention now turns to the launch of BT Sport. It is not necessarily the first few weeks what are vital, but the first six months – from August to Christmas. Yes, the first few weeks are important, but it is not all of a sudden game over if the viewing figures and reaction are not what they hoped for. BT in their channel analysis won’t be looking at just one rating or just one figure, but they will be analysing trends over the upcoming months.

If things do not go to plan, then unfortunately for them, Sky Sports will have the cards to potentially deliver a knock out blow later in the game and BT Sport will have to go back to the drawing board. If that does happen, BT Sport could end up the next ITV Digital or Setanta Sports. At this stage, it is impossible to say what will happen, but like I say above, we will be in a much clearer position come Christmas. On the other hand, if things do go to plan, and the uptake for the channel is better then expected, then in their words this could well be a ‘game changer’. Better than expected results mean that they can put more money in and also try and push the boundaries in what they can offer.

And that’s where the above contracts come in. BT will be in a position to say “we can bring audiences to the channel” which will lead to potentially many battles between them, Sky, BBC and ITV. With some spare funds, ITV a few years down the line could bid for any of them, although it has been noted previously that ITV overbid for The FA Cup (as did Setanta) so they may very well be glad to see the back of that deal. I know that some will probably disagree with me here, but it was in a way lucky that the BBC and Sky Formula 1 rights deal happened when it did. Had BBC seen out its contract (which originally would have expired at the end of 2013), right now in a parallel world, we could be seeing both BT and Sky both fighting for the Formula 1 contract from 2014 with BBC left out in the cold with highlights! Yes, two years ago no one, including myself, wanted to see Formula 1 on Sky. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and in hindsight things could have ended up a lot worse than what they did. As for the next round of rights, if BT Sport is still running, it could be all for play for. And that’s not just for F1. That’s for any of those contracts.

Is that good for the consumer, you may ask? I don’t know. With the amount of money broadcasters are paying for lucrative contracts, it means that inevitably price hikes happen every so often. Whether BT Sport will continue to offer BT Sport free to all people with BT Broadband for example this time next year remains to be seen. From the outside, it will be fascinating to see what happens with BT Sport and whether they can walk the walk as well as talk the talk…

Sky release statement following FIA pit lane changes [UPDATED]

Sky Sports have this morning released a statement following the changes FOM and FIA have made as a result of the incident involving Mark Webber’s Red Bull Racing car this past Sunday.

The statement says: “Following the serious incident which occurred in the pitlane during the German GP last weekend, Sky Sports F1 HD will be working to all new guidelines as specified by FOM. Safety remains a prime concern and we are sure that, whilst the new regulations will mean certain changes to pitlane protocols, we are confident that our coverage will not be affected.”

This should not be seen as much of a surprise. Reporters and non-FOM cameras are banned from the designated pit lane area during qualifying and the race, so from their perspective nothing will change. Some people will wonder what Ted Kravitz and Gary Anderson for BBC will be doing as a result. During qualifying and the race, they do not walk up and down pit lane, instead the pit lane reporters go to the front of each team’s garage by walking through the back of the garage and around the paddock area to whichever team is being reported on.

It appears that this does not stretch as far as practice meaning, again, nothing will change for them so Kravitz, Natalie Pinkham and the other broadcasting teams will still be able to report from pit lane. Which seems slightly bizarre considering the FIA have actually increased the pit lane speed limit to 80km/h and things can be more busier during practice.

Update at 17:56 on July 10th – Will Buxton has tweeted “sad news… TV crews now banned from pitlane for ALL sessions. Going to make our job very tough. Hungary will be interesting.” – this basically means that no cameras from any broadcaster will be allowed in pit lane. It also means that no broadcaster will be able to conduct any interviews from the actual designated pit lane area as well during practice. Sky say that their coverage will not be affected, if Buxton’s tweet does turn out to be the case, it will significantly effect their practice coverage which makes use of their cameras down in pit lane a lot when getting car shots and also interviews with Kravitz and Natalie Pinkham.