Scheduling: The 2018 Bahrain Grand Prix

Both Formula 1 and MotoGP remain outside of Europe, as both championships embrace round two of their respective seasons.

For MotoGP, it is a trip to South America for the Argentine round of the series, whilst Formula 1 heads to the Bahrain International Circuit. The action from Bahrain airs live across Sky Sports and Channel 4 for the third year in succession.

With Channel 4’s Lee McKenzie reducing her Formula 1 commitments further this season, her former BBC F1 colleague Tom Clarkson is super substitute, for Bahrain at least. Mark Webber and Susie Wolff join Steve Jones in Bahrain. The channel’s free-to-air race day schedule changes slightly for 2018 to cater for the F1 race starting ten minutes later than in previous years.

The Formula Two season roars into life in Bahrain, with races on Saturday and Sunday. Elsewhere, the British Superbikes returns on Easter Monday (April 2nd) at Donington Park, with action remaining live on Eurosport. Rachel Stringer joins the team as race reporter, Stringer having previously covered a variety of events for the BBC and BT Sport.

Both the domestic and world touring car series’ return as well, although the latter has a new name. The former World Touring Car Championship is back, but now known as the World Touring Car Cup as the series no longer has manufacturer participation.

Channel 4 F1
Sessions
06/04 – 11:55 to 14:10 – Practice 1
06/04 – 15:55 to 17:35 – Practice 2 (More4)
07/04 – 13:00 to 14:30 – Practice 3
07/04 – 14:55 to 17:45 – Qualifying
08/04 – 15:00 to 18:45 – Race
=> 15:00 – Build-Up
=> 15:45 – Race
=> 18:20 – Reaction

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
06/04 – 11:45 to 13:50 – Practice 1 (also Sky Sports Main Event from 12:00)
06/04 – 15:45 to 17:50 – Practice 2 (also Sky Sports Main Event)
07/04 – 12:45 to 14:15 – Practice 3
07/04 – 15:00 to 17:45 – Qualifying (also Sky Sports Mix)
=> 15:00 – Pre-Show
=> 15:55 – Qualifying
08/04 – 14:30 to 18:55 – Race
=> 14:30 – Pit Lane Live
=> 15:30 – On the Grid
=> 16:05 – Race
=> 18:30 – Paddock Live

Supplementary Programming
04/04 – 20:30 to 21:00 – The F1 Report: Preview
05/04 – 13:00 to 14:00 – Driver Press Conference
05/04 – 20:45 to 21:00 – Paddock Uncut
07/04 – 17:45 to 18:20 – The F1 Show
11/04 – 20:30 to 21:00 – The F1 Report: Review (also Sky Sports Mix)

BBC Radio F1
05/04 – 20:00 to 20:30 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
06/04 – 11:55 to 13:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
07/04 – 12:55 to 14:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
07/04 – 15:55 to 17:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
08/04 – 16:00 to 19:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)

MotoGP – Argentina (BT Sport 2)
06/04 – 12:45 to 20:15 – Practice 1 and 2
07/04 – 12:45 to 20:15
=> 12:45 – Practice 3
=> 16:00 – Qualifying
08/04 – 13:30 to 21:00
=> 13:30 – Warm Ups
=> 15:15 – Moto3
=> 17:00 – Moto2
=> 18:30 – MotoGP
=> 20:00 – Chequered Flag

MotoGP – Argentina (Channel 5)
10/04 – 19:00 to 20:00 – Highlights

British Superbikes – Donington Park
01/04 – 15:30 to 18:00 – Race 1 (Eurosport 2)
02/04 – 13:00 to 18:00 – Race 2 (Eurosport 2)
04/04 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Highlights (ITV4)

British Touring Car Championship – Brands Hatch (ITV4)
08/04 – 10:15 to 18:20 – Races

Formula Two – Bahrain (Sky Sports F1)
06/04 – 09:30 to 10:20 – Practice
06/04 – 17:55 to 18:35 – Qualifying
07/04 – 11:05 to 12:15 – Race 1
08/04 – 12:10 to 13:10 – Race 2

IndyCar Series – Phoenix (BT Sport 3)
07/04 – 02:00 to 05:00 (Saturday night) – Race

World Rally Championship – France
Every stage live via WRCPlus.com
06/04 – Day 1 Highlights
=> 22:15 to 22:45 (BT Sport 1)
=> 22:30 to 23:00 (Motorsport.tv)
07/04 – 10:00 to 11:00 – Live: Stage 7 (BT Sport 1)
07/04 – Day 2 Highlights
=> 21:45 to 22:15 (BT Sport 1)
=> 22:30 to 23:00 (Motorsport.tv)
08/04 – 11:00 to 12:30 – Live: Stage 12 [Power Stage] (BT Sport 2)
08/04 – Day 3 Highlights
=> 21:00 to 21:30 (BT Sport 2)
=> 22:30 to 23:00 (Motorsport.tv)
11/04 – 19:00 to 20:00 – Highlights (Channel 5)

World Touring Car Cup – Marrakech
08/04 – 10:30 to 11:50 – Qualifying (Eurosport)
08/04 – 16:30 to 18:55 – Race (Eurosport 2)

As always, if the schedules change, I will update the above times.

Update on April 3rd – I would not normally update schedules retrospectively, but it is important to note that British Superbike’s first race of the weekend from Donington Park was moved from Monday to Sunday, avoiding the torrential weather that hit the circuit yesterday morning. I have updated the above for future reference to show what actually happened.

In other news, Ted Kravitz (and his Notebook!) is not part of Sky Sports F1’s Bahrain Grand Prix team this weekend as his wife has given birth to a baby girl!

Update on April 4th – As a result of Ted’s absense, Paddock Live following the race on Sunday has been cut to 25 minutes from its normal 40 minute length.

News round-up: F1 series coming to Netflix; IndyCar domestic rights changing

In addition to all the discussion around Formula 1’s new graphics suite, the past week saw a variety of broadcasting related announcements, covering both F1 and the IndyCar Series.

F1 documentary series to air on Netflix
Netflix are to air a ten-part documentary series in 2019 focusing on the inner surroundings of Formula 1. The deal between the two parties has been mooted for several months, with an official announcement coming on the Saturday of the Australian Grand Prix weekend.

Filming has already started, and will continue throughout the 2018 season, with the production team revealing “the intense fight for the heart, soul, and direction for the future of this multibillion-dollar business.” James Gay Rees, who was previously part of the making of Senna, and Paul Martin for Box to Box Films, are the executive producers.

The Netflix series builds on the foundations laid by Amazon’s Grand Prix Driver. The four-part Amazon series focused on McLaren’s pre-season exploits prior to Australia 2017, whereas the Netflix programming has a wider remit across the whole year. I enjoyed Amazon’s documentary, and if this is half as good as that, Formula 1 fans will be in for a treat.

Sean Bratches, F1’s Managing Director of Commercial Operations, said “Formula 1 is a global sport that we are actively repositioning from a motorsport company to a media and entertainment brand. This series will unleash a compelling vantage point to the sport that will delight fans and serve as a catalyst to entice new fans.”

Bela Bajaria, Vice President of Content for Netflix, said “This partnership with Formula 1 furthers our mission of working with world-class brands and production partners to produce best-in-class unscripted series. We can’t wait for this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix and to embark on an incredible season across the world.”

In a second announcement from Formula 1 last week, the organisation confirmed that coverage was returning to free-to-air broadcaster CCTV in China, with all qualifying and race sessions airing live on the network throughout 2018.

ESPN’s US coverage receives complaints
Bratches’ former home ESPN was subject to numerous complaints over the Australian Grand Prix weekend. The US broadcaster, which took over from NBC as rights holder for Formula 1, was expected to take Sky UK’s pre-race build-up show ‘On the Grid’. However, the show failed to make the air at the expected time, with a variety of technical issues.

ESPN released a press statement late on Sunday evening apologising for the difficulties. “We deeply apologise to Formula 1 fans for the technical issues that caused them to miss the first 20 minutes of the pre-race show for the Australian Grand Prix. We are sorry that our first F1 telecast did not go as smoothly as we would have liked but we are taking steps to prevent those same issues from occurring in the future.”

The secondary problem is commercial breaks. Formula 1 commentary in the UK is free-flowing, as Sky Sports air F1 uninterrupted, whereas ESPN in the US take commercials. This is a major issue if something happens whilst ESPN is on a commercial break.

Historically, US viewers had a dedicated commentary team for their audience meaning that the lead commentator could re-cap the action on return. Forcing Sky’s UK commentary team to do the same thing would disturb the flow for anyone taking the UK coverage uninterrupted and would provoke a backlash from UK viewers.

One approach would be to have Sky’s F1 presentation team (i.e. Simon Lazenby) do a voice over for US viewers leading back into the UK commentary at a given point, that way the commentary flow is untouched.

In further news, ESPN’s coverage of the Grand Prix rated lower than NBC’s coverage in recent years. According to Showbuzz Daily, ESPN2’s show failed to make the top 150 for original programmes on Saturday, recording under a 0.05 share in the adults 18 to 49 metric. Last year’s NBC coverage averaged 238,000 viewers, whereas 2016’s show averaged 222,000 viewers.

International television rights for IndyCar up for grabs
The IndyCar Series is heading to NBC from 2019, with their existing US agreement with ESPN and ABC Network coming to an end after this season, the two sides confirmed last week.

The three-year deal will see eight races, including the Indianapolis 500, broadcast on NBC’s main channel with the remaining races airing on NBC Sports Network.

In addition, NBC’s over-the-top platform, dubbed NBC Sports Gold, will offer an IndyCar package consisting of every race from the feeder series Indy Lights, plus all practice and qualifying sessions from the main series not broadcast on one of NBC’s linear television channels.

As part of the press release, NBC touted the fact that IndyCar’s viewing figures have grown in recent years with the broadcaster as part of the shared contract with ESPN/ABC. “We’re honoured to bring the Indianapolis 500, one of the most prestigious events in all of sports, to NBC, further enhancing NBC Sports’ Championship Season,” said Jon Miller, NBC’s President of Programming.

“We’ve seen consistent growth for INDYCAR on NBCSN in the past decade, and we hope to continue that growth throughout the series by leveraging the television, digital, production and marketing assets that make NBC Sports a powerful media partner.”

IndyCar officials have also confirmed that the international broadcasting rights for the series are up for grabs at the end of 2018. For UK fans, it helps clear up a few things. BT Sport have a deal to with ESPN’s international arm to air a range of content up to and including the end of 2022. Separately, IndyCar’s non-domestic rights sit with ESPN’s international arm.

ESPN International are the ‘middle man’ here, if that man changes then BT Sport will need to negotiate with the new ‘middle man’ if they want to continue to air IndyCar, unless IndyCar go direct to a broadcaster, for example Eurosport (see below).

Mark Miles, the CEO of IndyCar’s parent company Hulman and Company, said “We will now move to working on the international rights licensing right away. We’ve had a lot of those very early conversations to understand both from an agency perspective and individual broadcaster perspective who wants to talk to us.”

“[The NBC deal] does not preclude an ongoing involvement by ESPN International. Although with any result, I think it will change. There may be countries where we go direct to broadcasters in any major country with IndyCar interests. I see us being at the table, even if we go with a distributor or packager like ESPN International.”

“There are a number of agencies that would love to compete with ESPN International for whatever we’re willing to license as part of a package, and there are a number of countries where we’re already having direct conversations with broadcasters. It will be some kind of a mixed approach undoubtedly.”

Scheduling: The 2018 Qatar MotoGP / Punta del Este E-Prix

The excitement, anticipation and tension has reached fever pitch on the eve of the new MotoGP season, which begins in Qatar!

Whether you are listening to the MotoGP app, or to BT Sport’s television coverage, the soundtrack to your weekend will be different, following the retirements of Nick Harris and Julian Ryder from the paddock at the end of 2017.

Simon Crafar, who raced in MotoGP and World Superbikes in the 1990s, partners Steve Day on the MotoGP World Feed, whilst Neil Hodgson will commentate on the 19 MotoGP races alongside Keith Huewen for BT Sport.

Ex-MotoGP rider Michael Laverty joins BT’s team for six races in 2018, with more an emphasis on the analytical side of things from BT this year. BT have overhauled their Friday offering, with a full presentation team now covering the action on practice day, and a 15-minute wrap-up show in the evening.

Suzi Perry continues to present BT’s coverage, covering 14 rounds, with Craig Doyle hosting the remainder.

MotoGP highlights programme remains on Channel 5 for 2018, however highlights from Qatar do not air until Wednesday evening, which seems like a waste on Channel 5’s behalf given that there are diminishing returns the further away from live you air.

Elsewhere, Punta del Este is the next stop on the Formula E calendar, replacing Sao Paolo which was meant to fill this slot. Live action returns to Channel 5 for the first time since Marrakesh in January.

MotoGP – Qatar (BT Sport 2)
16/03 – 09:30 to 17:15 – Practice 1 and 2
17/03 – 09:30 to 12:30 – Practice 3
17/03 – 13:00 to 17:30 – Qualifying
18/03 – 10:30 to 18:00
=> 10:30 – Warm Ups
=> 12:15 – Moto3
=> 14:00 – Moto2
=> 15:30 – MotoGP
=> 17:00 – Chequered Flag

MotoGP – Qatar (Channel 5)
21/03 – 19:00 to 20:00 – Highlights

Formula E – Punta del Este (online via YouTube)
17/03 – 10:55 to 11:55 – Practice 1
17/03 – 13:25 to 14:10 – Practice 2

Formula E – Punta del Este
17/03 – 14:45 to 16:15 – Qualifying (5Spike)
17/03 – 17:30 to 20:10 (Eurosport 2)
=> 17:30 – Preview
=> 18:05 – Qualifying
=> 19:00 – Race
17/03 – 18:30 to 20:10 – Race (Channel 5)

Asia Talent Cup – Qatar (BT Sport 2)
17/03 – 17:30 to 18:30 – Race 1
18/03 – 09:45 to 10:30 – Race 2

As always, the above will be updated if anything changes.

Scheduling: The 2018 Barcelona test 2

After a truncated first test of 2018 in Barcelona, the ten Formula 1 teams return to the circuit this week hoping for a bit more action on track.

For Sky Sports, the schedule for the four days remains the same as the first test, with Craig Slater fronting the round-up at 21:00 each day, followed by Ted Kravitz’s Notebook. There is no #AskCrofty, as there was in previous years at testing. The Sky Sports Digital and News teams as always will provide updates throughout each day of testing.

There are two special editions of the F1 Report looking back at testing, one a general review, and one a technical overview. The presentation line-up for both is unconfirmed as of writing.

The BBC’s radio coverage also kicks off this week, with Jennie Gow presenting a preview of the new season on Thursday alongside website editor Andrew Benson and new recruit Jolyon Palmer.

Elsewhere, the IndyCar Series begins in St. Petersburg, live coverage continuing on BT Sport. The third round of the World Rally Championship takes place in Mexico, with UK TV coverage airing from Saturday through to Tuesday.

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
06/03 – 21:00 to 21:45 – Day 1 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15
– schedule repeated for following three days
07/03 – 21:00 to 21:45 – Day 2 Highlights
08/03 – 21:00 to 21:45 – Day 3 Highlights
09/03 – 21:00 to 21:45 – Day 4 Highlights

Supplementary Programming
10/03 – 17:30 to 18:00 – F1 Report: 2018 Testing Special
14/03 – 20:00 to 21:00 – F1 Report: Development Special

BBC Radio F1
08/03 – 20:30 to 21:30 – Season Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)

IndyCar Series – St. Petersburg (BT Sport/ESPN)
11/03 – 16:00 to 19:15 – Race

World Rally Championship – Mexico
Every stage live via WRCPlus.com
10/03 – Day 1 Highlights
=> 09:30 to 10:00 (Motorsport.tv)
=> 11:00 to 11:30 (BT Sport 1)
10/03 – 17:00 to 18:00 – Live: Stage 13 (BT Sport 3)
11/03 – Day 2 Highlights
=> 09:30 to 10:00 (Motorsport.tv)
=> 15:30 to 16:00 (BT Sport 1)
11/03 – 16:00 to 17:00 – Live: Stage 21 (BT Sport 1)
11/03 – 18:00 to 19:30 – Live: Stage 22 [Power Stage] (BT Sport Extra 1)
12/03 – Day 3 Highlights
=> 09:30 to 10:00 (Motorsport.tv)
=> 11:00 to 11:30 (BT Sport 1)
13/03 – 19:00 to 20:00 – Highlights (Channel 5)

If anything changes, the above schedule will be updated.

MotoGP and BT Sport extend relationship until 2021

BT Sport will continue to show MotoGP until the end of 2021, after signing a new rights deal with Dorna.

The sport has aired on BT Sport since 2014, after leaving the BBC at the end of the 2013 season, heralding a new era for MotoGP live on pay television. BT’s extension covers the 2019, 2020 and 2021 seasons, their original contract was due to expire at the end of this season. The agreement ends speculation from media outlets about the future of MotoGP’s UK live television rights.

Andy Haworth, BT managing director of content and strategy, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to continue as the home of MotoGP in the UK and Ireland. Over the past four seasons we have given MotoGP fans the very best race coverage ever seen on TV in the UK. The team will bring every single minute of the action from this fantastic sport to our viewers for another four seasons.”

Manel Arroyo, Managing Director at Dorna Sports, commented: “We are delighted to have extended our agreement with BT Sport for another three years. During our current agreement with BT Sport, MotoGP fans in the UK and Ireland have been treated to live coverage of all sessions of all Grands Prix on the BT Sport channels, with a fantastic team of presenters onsite to bring all the behind the scenes news and action from the paddock.”

“We look forward to BT Sport continuing to provide fans in the British Isles with such high-quality coverage of the Championship during the 2019 – 2021 seasons, as well as their promotion of the MotoGP World Championship to a wider audience.”

“We also look forward to cooperating with BT Sport around the newly launched British Talent Cup, which will debut in 2018. This is an example of BT Sport and Dorna working together to support and develop young riders from the British Isles in the first step on their journey towards the MotoGP World Championship.”

Changes ahead of the 2018 season for BT
Ahead of the 2019 season, the 2018 championship will be one of change for BT.

Following Julian Ryder’s retirement from his full-time MotoGP position at the end of last season, Neil Hodgson succeeds Ryder in the commentary box for the premier MotoGP class at all 19 rounds this season. Beyond that, the colour commentator role will rotate around the rest of BT Sport’s team for practice and qualifying. During BT’s announcement on Facebook Live, presenter Suzi Perry emphasised that there is “no direct replacement” for Ryder.

Perry will continue to present BT’s coverage. This year she fronts 14 races, with Craig Doyle presenting the remaining five rounds. Ex-MotoGP rider Michael Laverty joins the team during six race weekends. Laverty is new to the team for 2018, as Laverty juggles both MotoGP off the track, and British Superbike activities on the track.

The Facebook Live stream also revealed that BT’s offering will expand for the 2018 season, with enhanced coverage of Friday practice. The practice sessions will now feature a full presentation team, instead of just the World Feed, with a new bite-sized 15-minute catch-up show beginning on Friday evenings. From Jerez onwards, BT are bringing their version of the Sky Pad to MotoGP this season, with a new touch screen device in the paddock, giving Neil Hodgson and the rest of the team the ability to conduct in-depth analysis.

The start of the British Talent Cup means more coverage of motorcycling on BT Sport, with MCN’s Simon Patterson reporting that BT will air the Silverstone and Valencian rounds of the series live, whilst the other rounds will be covered as part of their MotoGP programming.

Good news continues for BT Sport
The past two weeks have been positive for BT Sport, and have helped cement the broadcasters’ future heading into 2021, with two significant rights agreements now in place. Whilst MotoGP is much smaller than the Premier League, it is important for BT to have good, solid ‘tier two’ content, and the championship clearly fits into that category with 20 hours of coverage for each of the 19 rounds.

Speaking to this site last August, Dorna said that they were “very happy” with BT’s MotoGP coverage, so it is no surprise that the two sides agreed to renew. I think, had the Premier League rights gone in a different direction then we might have seen the trajectory change for MotoGP, but as soon as the Premier League announcement, it felt natural that MotoGP would soon follow on from that.

The increase in Friday coverage is natural progression for BT, whilst the touch screen analysis is long overdue. Bringing in Michael Laverty feels like a wise move considering the hole that Ryder’s departure has left in BT Sport’s line-up. Elsewhere, BT seem to be playing down the fact that Neil Hodgson is alongside Keith Huewen for every MotoGP race this season, given that no one mentioned it in their Facebook Live stream.