Doing the sums: the cost of viewing F1 and MotoGP in 2015

For those of you who want to see every race of Lewis Hamilton’s 2015 Formula One championship title defence, unfortunately 2015 is another year where you will be paying more money than ever before. If you’re a MotoGP fan too, you may end up parting company with nearly £1,000. But, as always, there are cheaper options if you’re willing to sacrifice a bit of quality too. A wide variety of options are available, depending on what exactly you want. I have done this post for the past few years, so the below is mostly copy and pasted from previous years with a few changes here and there to fit the narrative.

Starting with Sky, the first option is to switch from your current provider to Sky, purchasing the Sports Pack on top of the basic Original Bundle. The Original Bundle was previously called the Entertainment Pack, Sky choosing to re-brand the packages during 2014. The Sports Pack costs £24.50 a month (an increase of £2.50 compared with this time last year), meaning that when you include the compulsory Original Bundle, this option will put you back £46.00 a month. Given that 12 months is the minimum subscription (see the small print here), this is £552.00 for the year, a whopping £30.00 higher than the equivalent package twelve months ago.

To watch Sky Sports F1 in HD, you need the Family Bundle, at a cost of £33.00 per month. Aside from the Family Bundle, you need the Sports Pack and the HD Pack. As noted above, the Sports Pack is £24.50 a month, and to watch Sky Sports in HD, that is an extra £5.25 a month. Add them three numbers up brings you to £62.75 a month. That’s a staggering £753.00 across the year. If Sky want to make HD the norm (which frankly in 2015, it should be), then the HD Pack and the extra cost that comes with it should be abolished as well. The same applies for Virgin Media as well.

Moving away from TV, and we move towards viewing Formula 1 via Sky Go’s Monthly Ticket system. Unfortunately, Sky do not offer the Sports Pack on its own, you need to have the Family Bundle as well at a cost of £35.00 a month. The benefit of Sky Go’s Monthly Ticket is that it is simply that – a monthly ticket which you renew, if you wish, every month. I assume that this is still the case, although I cannot see any reference to the phrase ‘monthly ticket’ on Sky’s website (if it is no longer a monthly ticket, can someone leave a comment, and I’ll adjust as necessary). With that in mind, the 2015 calendar is as follows:

– March 15th – Australia (Melbourne) – Sky
– March 29th – Malaysia (Sepang) – BBC and Sky
– April 12th – China (Shanghai) – Sky
– April 19th – Bahrain (Sakhir) – BBC and Sky
– May 10th – Spain (Barcelona) – Sky
– May 24th – Monaco (Monaco) – Sky
– June 7th – Canada (Montreal) – BBC and Sky
– June 21st – Austria (Red Bull Ring) – Sky
– July 5th – Britain (Silverstone) – BBC and Sky
– July 19th – Germany (TBA) – Sky
– July 26th – Hungary (Budapest) – BBC and Sky
– August 23rd – Belgium (Spa) – BBC and Sky
– September 6th – Italy (Monza) – Sky
– September 20th – Singapore (Marina Bay) – Sky
– September 27th – Japan (Suzuka) – BBC and Sky
– October 11th – Russia (Sochi) – BBC and Sky
– October 25th – USA (Circuit of the Americas) – Sky
– November 1st – Mexico (Mexico City) – Sky
– November 15th – Brazil (Interlagos) – BBC and Sky
– November 29th – Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina) – BBC and Sky

If you want to watch every race live:

– ticket 1 can be used from March 13th to April 13th (Australia and China)
– ticket 2 can be used from May 7th to June 7th (Spain and Monaco)
– ticket 3 can be used from June 19th to July 19th (Austria and Germany)
– ticket 4 can be used from September 1st to October 1st (Italy and Singapore)
– ticket 5 can be used from October 16th to November 16th (USA and Mexico)

Five tickets at £35.00, one less than in 2014, is £175.00 at most. The Now TV online service comes next in the Sky offering. To view the six Sky Sports channels for a 24 hour period, it costs £6.99. However, this is a ‘limited time offer’. How long is limited? How long is a piece of string? If it stays at £6.99, then you can watch the ten Sky exclusive races for £69.90. If you want to add Qualifying to that, however, this will increase to £139.80. The final option from Sky comes from their Sky Sports TV service for iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android. At £9.99 per month, it means that you can get five tickets for £49.95. If you’re an F1 addict and don’t care about other sports, why pay silly money when you can get away with parting company with only £49.95 for the year?

Over on Virgin Media, their Sky Sports Collection pack is available for £27.25 (no change). Interestingly, you can now add Sky Sports with any of their TV packages. Their basic More TV package is only £13.00 with the V HD Box, so you’re looking at £40.25 a month, or £483.00 a year. Furthermore, Sky Sports F1 is now available on the Virgin Media platform in high definition, which is an extra £7.00 a month. Factoring that in brings the cost to £567.00 a year.

As of writing, Sky Sports F1 is also not available on BT Vision or Freeview, meaning that the above are the only viable options.

To summarise, if you are a Formula 1 fan:

– £753.00 a year – Sky TV – Family Bundle, Sports + HD Pack (up £102.00)
– £567.00 a year – Virgin Media TV – V HD Box + More TV + Sky Sports Collection + HD
– £552.00 a year – Sky TV – Original Bundle + Sports Pack (up £30.00)
– £483.00 a year – Virgin Media TV – V HD Box + More TV + Sky Sports Collection (down £78.00)
– £209.70 – NOW TV – Practice, Qualifying and Race (down £90.00)
– £175.00 – Sky Go Monthly Ticket (down £35.00)
– £139.80 – NOW TV – Qualifying and Race (down £60.00)
– £69.90 – NOW TV – Race (down £30.00)
– £49.95 – Sky Sports TV App (down £9.99)

But what if you like two wheels too? You’ve already parted company with several hundred pounds to watch Formula 1 for the year – what now? For those who are fans of both F1 and MotoGP, 2015 will be just as expensive as 2014. Add the BT Sport options from here (non F1 fans will be interested in reading that link) on top of the Sky and Virgin Media options above. On Sky:

– BT Sport is free if you have BT Broadband
– BT Sport is £13.50 a month if you do not have BT Broadband
– BT Sport HD is an extra £3.00 a month

This means that, for both Formula 1 and MotoGP, there are eight possible combinations.

– £951.00 a year – Sky TV – Family Bundle, Sports + HD Pack + BT Sport in HD (up £120.00)
=> this will get you Formula 1 in HD and MotoGP in HD [if you have no BT Broadband]

– £915.00 a year – Sky TV – Family Bundle, Sports + HD Pack + BT Sport (up £120.00)
=> this will get you Formula 1 in HD and MotoGP in SD [if you have no BT Broadband]

– £789.00 a year – Sky TV – Family Bundle, Sports + HD Pack + BT Sport in HD (up £102.00)
=> this will get you Formula 1 in HD and MotoGP in HD [if you have BT Broadband]

– £753.00 a year – Sky TV – Family Bundle, Sports + HD Pack + BT Sport (up £102.00)
=> this will get you Formula 1 in SD and MotoGP in SD [if you have BT Broadband]

– £750.00 a year – Sky TV – Original Bundle + Sports Pack + BT Sport in HD (up £48.00)
=> this will get you Formula 1 in SD and MotoGP in HD [if you have no BT Broadband]

– £714.00 a year – Sky TV – Original Bundle + Sports Pack + BT Sport (up £48.00)
=> this will get you Formula 1 in SD and MotoGP in SD [if you have no BT Broadband]

– £588.00 a year – Sky TV – Original Bundle + Sports Pack + BT Sport in HD (up £30.00)
=> this will get you Formula 1 in SD and MotoGP in HD [if you have BT Broadband]

– £552.00 a year – Sky TV – Original Bundle + Sports Pack + BT Sport (up £30.00)
=> this will get you Formula 1 in SD and MotoGP in SD [if you have BT Broadband]

Even after that you could say “but has BT Broadband gone up in the past year?” I don’t know the answer to that, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if the answer is “yes”.

Meanwhile, over on Virgin Media…

– BT Sport is free with the TV XL package
– BT Sport is otherwise £15.00 a month

Which means that it is:

– £747.00 a year – Virgin Media TV – V HD Box + More TV + Sky Sports Collection + HD + BT Sport
=> this will get you Formula 1 in HD and MotoGP in HD

– £747.00 a year – Virgin Media TV – V HD Box + XL + Sky Sports Collection + HD + BT Sport
=> this will get you Formula 1 in HD and MotoGP in HD

– £663.00 a year – Virgin Media TV – V HD Box + More TV + Sky Sports Collection + BT Sport (down £12.00)
=> this will get you Formula 1 in SD and MotoGP in HD

– £663.00 a year – Virgin Media TV – V HD Box + XL + Sky Sports Collection + BT Sport (up £30.00)
=> this will get you Formula 1 in SD and MotoGP in HD

A final option for MotoGP fans would be to go for their video pass, which works out at about £83.00 based on the current conversion rate. Interestingly, thanks to the way the calendar has worked out, the alternative options are cheaper: whilst Sky’s prices have increased significantly, their Now TV service may prove to be a cheaper option for some.

All prices correct as of Monday 19th January 2015. Information contained in this blog post is subject to change.

BT Sport’s MotoGP coverage: Your 2014 Verdict Revealed

Last month, following the conclusion of the 2014 MotoGP season, I asked you for your verdict on BT Sport’s MotoGP coverage. Thanks to all of you for the responses on the linked post, which I have summarised below.

Their inaugural season was an eventful one for the team, especially in the first half with the departure of Melanie Sykes. To say that comments drastically varied would be an understatement, with no real agreement. IAP29 says that BT Sport’s coverage is a huge improvement over what the BBC offered, however posters such as James Rowe and Adam called their coverage ‘average’.

The main praise from a number of posters surrounds Neil Hodgson, primarily due to the fact that he is a former rider and was actually on-location at the majority of races.

Hodgson and Emmett were pretty good and were the highlights of the coverage, as they were actually at the racetrack and could actually interact with the people in the paddock. – Adam

Hodgson is fine and interacts well with the riders. – john carlisle

mark sansom added that Hodgson’s on-board laps were really insightful, noting that he could not find any faults with BT’s coverage.

That is the only part that contributors agreed was a positive. There was indifference towards the commentary and negativity towards the studio. Not one comment was positive about the studio, suggesting that it should be axed, or at least significantly reduced for 2015.

BBC set the standard, and BT didn’t better it. Clipboards replaced iPads and Presentation went from Pit Lane to a Studio in London. Their intro, outro, and commercial break idents were effectively identical. BT need to improve for next year. – f1picko

The studio part baffles me, to the point where I think it would be better just being presented by Gavin [Emmett] and Neil [Hodgson] trackside! And how many presenters have we seen this year? [Melanie] Sykes, Chris Hollins, Abi Griffiths, Iwan Thomas, etc. They need a consistent presenter who is preferably knowledgeable of MotoGP! – IAP29

I think Daniel Clarke makes a very interesting comment, suggesting that the studio was utilised because their coverage was running to a very tight budget, especially considering how much BT Sport spent on the UEFA Champions League.

The big point that multiple people noted about the commentary was the noticeable bias towards British riders, some also not warming to Keith Huewen and Julian Ryder as a whole:

The race commentary is okay, I much preferred Parrish and Cox on the BBC, they had a genuine relationship and complimented one another really well. I’m not saying Huewen and Ryder aren’t good, but I just prefer the old BBC team. – James Rowe

Huewen and Ryder did their job, but were a bit too supportive of the Brits – sound familiar (North One Production). – Adam

As for commentators, it would be a dream to get Steve Parrish and Charlie Cox back with their easygoing, friendly, informative approach and, possibly the greatest talent of all, the sense to realise they’re broadcasting to bikers and there are times when the commentary team need to SHUT UP so we can enjoy the sound of a pair of Hondas or Ducatis or Aprilias running in tandem. – john carlisle

Daniel Clarke does state that the coverage was comprehensive, saying “that’s all that really matters” at the end of the day. Lastly, a comment about the presenter, should BT Sport appoint a new MotoGP presenter. James Rowe calls the decision to appoint Melanie Sykes back in February “shambolic”. Let us hope that the decision that BT Sport make regarding the presenter’s role is not as shambolic as the Sykes debacle…

News round-up: Buxton ending GP2 and GP3 commitments; MotoGP numbers

In between the lull of the Brazilian and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix, there have been some interesting bits of news worth reporting in one post.

Buxton says “a very warm goodbye”
The biggest piece of news is that the Abu Dhabi weekend will be the last for Will Buxton as lead commentator of the GP2 and GP3 Series. Writing on his blog, Buxton said “My work in America has increased over the years to the point where I feel I am no longer able to divide my time effectively between three championships. By concentrating solely on Formula 1, I hope that I will be able to improve the quality of the content I bring to the burgeoning American audience, and help to grow the sport Stateside”. I’ve sampled a bit of ‘Off the Grid’ (a 30-minute show for NBC Sports) with Buxton and Jason Swales, and it is safe to say that the American audience is incredibly lucky to have two talented and dedicated people producing content for them.

I will miss hearing Will commentate on GP2. Not many people come across as passionate and articulate on the microphone, but he is always willing to give his opinion, which I think viewers appreciate. As for his replacement, Jack Nicholls and Ben Evans are surely two contenders high on the list. Nicholls is currently lead commentator on the Formula E World Feed, whilst Evans has been commentating on a lot of things for BT Sport alongside Keith Collantine. I guess we could always see someone like David Croft or Ben Edwards hoisted into the seat, but it depends whether FOM want to breed new talent or rely on a veteran figure such as those mentioned.

I’m a former MotoGP presenter
…Get Me Out of Here? Apparently so. Former MotoGP presenter for BT Sport, Melanie Sykes, is heading into the jungle. Sykes is not the only motor cycling alumni heading down under though, as Carl Fogarty is joining her on the ITV show. I didn’t mention this at the time, but Sykes did very briefly mention leaving BT’s MotoGP coverage on her Twitter feed at the end of August, albeit did not go into any further detail. Let’s see if her time in the jungle lasts longer than her time as MotoGP presenter…

MotoGP season ends with 669k
The 2014 MotoGP season ended with a combined peak audience of 669k, unofficial overnight viewing figures reveal. It was a tale of two halves however, as ITV4 figures were up compared to usual, and BT Sport ended the season on a low. The respective peaks were 518k (2.3%) for ITV4’s highlights programme and 151k (1.5%) at 13:45 for BT Sport’s live coverage from Sunday afternoon. ITV4’s highlights on Monday evening seen a boost compared to recent numbers, averaging 407k (1.8%).

No such boost for BT Sport’s coverage, which averaged 71k (0.7%) to 09:30 to 14:30. From 12:30 to 14:00, the channel averaged 110k (1.1%). Both of those numbers are poor, and I believe that is actually their lowest overnight figures for a European round of the entire season. BT’s audiences have not grown throughout the year, although they haven’t been helped by having a championship that was decided many months ago. Last year’s championship finale averaged 1.21m (11.9%) over on BBC Two. Unusually, the MotoGP finale was held on the same weekend as an F1 race, which could well have had a side-effect even though there was no direct clash.

ITV were non-committal when this blog asked about MotoGP highlights for next season. When the highlights deal was announced earlier this year, no details were released about how long the contract was for. I hope it will be multiple seasons, but we shall see. Personally, it would be a catastrophic mistake from Dorna to ignore its free to air audience. I don’t see any evidence that axing ITV4’s highlights programme would increase BT Sport’s MotoGP audience, either.

BT Sport’s MotoGP coverage: Your 2014 Verdict

The 2014 MotoGP season has finished, with Marc Marquez dominating the majority of the year. The Valencia Grand Prix programme has just concluded, which brings to an end BT Sport’s first year of covering MotoGP. So, how have they fared? This season marked a drop in viewing figures, thanks to a lack of free-to-air television coverage as a result of Dorna’s new deal with BT Sport, later followed by a deal with ITV4 for highlights coverage.

From their team announcement in February, through to Melanie Sykes’s departure in May and onto their fantastic coverage at Silverstone, it has been a roller-coaster ride for BT.

The comments section is open for you to have your thoughts: what did BT Sport do well in 2014, and what could they have done better? Should they appoint a permanent presenter for their MotoGP coverage in 2015? If so, who should that be? What should the channel do differently for 2015 where MotoGP is concerned?

As always at this time of year, the best thoughts will be put into a new blog post in a few weeks time.

BT Sport screening MotoGP testing, Macau Grand Prix this week

Although the MotoGP season comes to a conclusion this weekend, BT Sport’s motor sport coverage continues into this week and next weekend with both MotoGP testing and the Macau Grand Prix being screened live by BT. As noted by Keith Huewen on Twitter, BT Sport 2 will be covering MotoGP testing live on Monday 10th and Tuesday 11th November, eight hours in total. Like last year, I imagine coverage will be the Dorna World Feed with no input from the BT team.

Alongside this, BT Sport will be airing an hour long show covering the FIM Awards Ceremony on Monday 10th November as Marc Marquez et al. pick up their trophies. The channel will also be airing live coverage of the the annual Macau Grand Prix next weekend, along with the final round of the 2014 World Rally Championship from Wales. Lastly, they are airing eight hours of their Motorsport Tonight show, with season reviews of several series. I don’t think it will be airing live, but it will feature many guests alongside the best action from the year. Elsewhere, British Eurosport and Motors TV will be covering the penultimate round of the World Endurance Championship from Bahrain.

Motorsport Tonight – BT Sport 2
Saturday 15th November – 16:30 to 20:30 [Part 1]
Sunday 16th November – 16:15 to 20:00 [Part 2]

MotoGP – BT Sport 2
Monday 10th November – 13:00 to 16:00 [Live Testing]
Monday 10th November – 21:30 to 22:30 [Awards]
Tuesday 11th November – 10:00 to 12:00 and 13:00 to 16:00 [Live Testing]

Live Macau Grand Prix – BT Sport 2
Saturday 15th November – 05:45 to 06:45 [F3 qualifying]
Saturday 15th November – 07:30 to 08:30 [Motorcycling]
Sunday 16th November – 01:00 to 02:00 [GT Cup race]
Sunday 16th November – 07:30 to 08:30 [F3 race]

Live World Endurance Championship: Bahrain
Saturday 15th November – 11:30 to 18:35 [Motors TV]
Saturday 15th November – 16:00 to 18:00 [Eurosport]

Live World Rally Championship: Wales Rally GB – BT Sport 2
Sunday 16th November – 11:45 to 13:15 [Day 3]

I will update the above throughout the week if anything does change.