Motors TV expands free-to-air reach from today

Good news for Motors TV fans here in the UK, from today, the channel will be expanding its free-to-air reach! The channel joined Freeview earlier this year, however that was via connected TV.

From 11:00 today, Motors TV will be available via Freeview HD and YouView channel 71, beginning with coverage of the FIA World Endurance Championship and the Bathurst 1000 this weekend. It should be noted that whilst the channel will remain on air 24/7 during the weekends, hours will be restricted during the week, the press release notes that this change will happen “at a later date”.

Frederic Viger, Motors TV’s Head of Programming and Acquisitions, said: “The Arqiva Connect TV trial proved there are far more motorsport viewers out there than were originally watching on our other platforms. From the start we saw it as a stepping stone and the fantastic response has given us the confidence to continue expanding. Plus, many more potential viewers have also been very vocal on social media about wanting to receive the channel via Freeview HD and YouView. Well, this is the result!

“For the first time ever terrestrial TV viewers can watch the widest range of live motorsport coverage in the UK, as well as world championships, international and national series, and the sort of grassroots categories that are already enjoyed by thousands of fans across the country. I should also add that we couldn’t have picked a better weekend to expand our potential audience as we’ll be showing V8 Supercars’ showpiece event – the Bathurst 1000 – live in its entirety. I know that will go down very well indeed!”, Viger added.

FOM’s stance on the Bianchi accident

Amateur footage of Jules Bianchi’s crash from the Japanese Grand Prix has made its way onto YouTube. I’m not going to link to the video, but there are two things I think are worth me saying briefly. At this point, I’m assuming Formula One Management (FOM) captured the footage from several angles. There would be exterior camera angles as well as on-board shots from both Bianchi’s and Adrian Sutil’s cars. The amateur footage clearly shows at least one FOM cameraman who captured the accident from close up.

Having watched the amateur footage, FOM made completely the right decision in choosing to exclude the footage from the relevant cameras in their live broadcast. This really is not a debate for me. If the amateur footage looks horrifying, then I dread to think what the footage from FOM shows. I really do. Same applies for any on-board footage that may, or may not, exist.

In my opinion, I don’t think the official footage will ever be released, regardless of the outcome. The only thing which may be released, for Season Review purposes, is the footage from the first Degner Curve. Presumably that camera angle hides a lot of the accident, but apart from that, I don’t see FOM choosing to release any other footage. And rightly so.

Forza Jules.

2014 Japanese Grand Prix UK ratings report

Race
BBC One’s live coverage from 06:00 to 09:15 averaged 1.74m (37.1%), up on last year’s 1.30m (30.5%) Sky Sports F1 averaged 494k (10.0%) from 06:00 to 09:30, up on last year’s 370k. BBC One’s repeat from 13:15 to 15:15 averaged 2.24m (21.3%), up on last year’s 1.92m (15.3%).

The BBC live programme peaked with 2.84m (33.6%) at 09:05, with Sky’s live coverage peaking with 776k (9.5%) at 08:50. 3.55m (42.0%) were watching BBC One and Sky Sports F1 at 09:05. BBC’s highlights peaked with 2.80m (25.1%) at 14:55.

Year-on-year, the combined number of 4.48m is up significantly on 3.58m in 2013 and is the most watched Japanese Grand Prix since at least 2006, and probably the last decade and a half. Same applies for the combined peak of 6.35m, which is the second highest peak of the entire year. Given the circumstances, those facts are not worth boasting about though, really.

The 2013 Japanese Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.

Sky pull remainder of today’s schedule

In light of this morning’s events in Japan, Sky have pulled the remainder of today’s F1 programming on Sky Sports F1. For the record, this is how the revised schedule for today (Sunday 5th October 2014) went:

06:00 – Live Japanese Grand Prix
10:15 – GP Heroes: Niki Lauda
11:15 – Horse Power
12:15 to 06:00 – Your Home of Formula One

Paddock Live was integrated into the main programme although in reality it was not your typical post-race show. Any programming related to the Japanese Grand Prix weekend was dropped, including Ted’s post-race Notebook (presumably they never filmed a notebook) and highlights showings. Their Classic F1 race, highlights of the 1994 Japanese Grand Prix, was also dropped.

BBC aired their highlights programme as normal at 13:15, this was accompanied by a message from Suzi Perry at the start of the show noting Jules Bianchi’s current condition, but that the accident would not be shown in the broadcast (as was the case in the live airing). For those stumbling across this post, as is always the case, BBC and Sky take the Formula One Management (FOM) World Feed, which did not play out Bianchi’s accident.

Update on October 5th at 18:00 – Sky have pulled repeats of practice that were meant to be broadcast tomorrow morning (Monday 6th October), and will remain off-air until at least 13:00.

Update on October 6th – Sky went back to their normal schedule at 13:00.

Scheduling: The 2014 Russian Grand Prix

The next round of the Formula One season is just a few days away, however there is a lot of other motor sport action next weekend. For those wishing to jump to the schedule, click the links below.

– Thursday 9th October
– Friday 10th October
– Saturday 11th October
– Sunday 12th October
– Wednesday 15th October
– Classic F1

Beginning with the F1, and Jack Nicholls and Bruno Senna are in for BBC Radio and Sky Sports respectively. The race will be the last for Nicholls this season, whilst Senna will also be with Sky for USA and Brazil. On the schedule front, it is a weird one with timings on Friday two hours earlier, and an hour earlier than a typical European race during the latter end of the weekend. Due to a clash with the Daily Politics, practice two on BBC Two is on a tape delay, however it will air live behind the Red Button. Another oddity concerns GP3, for some reason, the organisers have stuck GP3’s first race of the weekend in between F1’s final practice session and qualifying. What that means is that Sky’s qualifying programme is split into two.

Aside from the F1, there are a plethora of other events throughout the weekend: the BTCC season finale, Bathurst 1000, the 6 Hours of Fuji and MotoGP! The WEC will be tape-delayed on Motors TV and screened live only from Eurosport’s bonus online channel. Considering how other events try and avoid the F1, I’m unsure how we’ve ended up with several top flight series on the same weekend as the F1. In any case, the schedule as always can be found below…

Thursday 9th October
12:00 to 12:45 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
23:15 to 23:30 – Gear Up for Russia (Sky Sports F1)

Friday 10th October
06:45 to 09:00 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
06:55 to 08:35 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Two)
09:00 to 09:50 – GP2: Practice (Sky Sports F1)
10:45 to 12:55 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
10:55 to 12:35 – F1: Practice 2 (BBC Red Button)
12:55 to 13:35 – GP2: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
13:20 to 15:00 – F1: Practice 2 Repeat (BBC Two)
14:00 to 14:45 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
15:00 to 16:00 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Saturday 11th October
06:30 to 07:05 – GP3: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
08:45 to 10:15 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
08:55 to 10:15 – F1: Practice 3 (BBC Two)
10:15 to 10:35 – F1: Qualifying Build-Up (Sky Sports F1)
10:35 to 11:20 – GP3: Race 1 (Sky Sports F1)
11:15 to 13:30 – F1: Qualifying (BBC One)
11:20 to 13:35 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
13:35 to 15:05 – GP2: Race 1 (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)
23:30 to 07:30 – V8S: Bathurst 1000 (Motors TV)
00:30 to 07:30 – V8S: Bathurst 1000 (BT Sport 1)

Sunday 12th October
02:45 to 07:15 – MotoGP: Motegi (BT Sport 2)
07:30 to 13:40 – WEC: Fuji (Motors TV)
– tape delay
07:55 to 08:55 – GP3: Race 2 (Sky Sports F1)
09:00 to 10:15 – GP2: Race 2 (Sky Sports F1)
10:15 to 18:30 – BTCC: Brands Hatch (ITV4)
10:30 to 15:15 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
=> 10:30 – Track Parade
=> 11:00 – Race
=> 14:30 – Paddock Live
11:00 to 14:15 – F1: Race (BBC One)
14:15 to 15:15 – F1: Forum (BBC Red Button)
15:15 to 16:15 – GP Heroes: Mario Andretti (Sky Sports F1)

Wednesday 15th October
20:30 to 21:00 – Midweek Report (Sky Sports F1)

Classic F1 on Sky Sports F1
06/10 – 21:15 to 22:30 – 1993 German Grand Prix Highlights
07/10 – 21:00 to 00:00 – 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix
08/10 – 21:00 to 23:45 – 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix
09/10 – 21:00 to 23:15 – 2000 Belgian Grand Prix
10/10 – 16:00 to 16:45 – 1994 Australian Grand Prix Highlights
11/10 – 15:05 to 17:35 – 2008 British Grand Prix
11/10 – 20:20 to 21:20 – 1976 Season Review
12/10 – 19:45 to 20:45 – 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix Highlights
13/10 – 21:00 to 23:30 – 2012 European Grand Prix (Sky commentary)
14/10 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1982 Monaco Grand Prix Highlights
15/10 – 21:00 to 22:00 – 1985 Australian Grand Prix Highlights
16/10 – 21:00 to 23:00 – 2012 British Grand Prix (Sky commentary)
17/10 – 21:00 to 23:15 – 2010 Belgian Grand Prix
18/10 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1991 Spanish Grand Prix Highlights
19/10 – 21:00 to 21:30 – 1987 Australian Grand Prix Highlights
20/10 – 21:00 to 23:15 – 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix
21/10 – 21:00 to 23:00 – TBA
22/10 – 21:00 to 23:00 – 2005 Belgian Grand Prix
23/10 – 21:00 to 22:45 – 2003 British Grand Prix
24/10 – 21:00 to 23:15 – 2010 German Grand Prix

If anything changes, I will update the schedule.