BT Sport announces MotoGP line-up and programming

BT Sport have unveiled their MotoGP line-up that will cover the series for them throughout the 2014 season, in what it says will be the most extensive coverage of the sport that has ever been seen in the UK.

Melanie Sykes will present the coverage, with former World Superbike champions Neil Hodgson and James Toseland alongside her. Whilst Sykes comes to BT Sport having presented no live sports coverage, she has presented numerous live programmes on ITV such as Today with Des and Mel and Let’s do Lunch with Gino and Mel. The coverage will be presented on-site at each event, with additional analysis from BT Sport’s studios at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. Keith Huewen will be the lead commentator in a three man booth alongside Julian Ryder, the partnership reuniting after a fifteen year separation. Motorcycle News chief grand prix correspondent Matt Birt is the third man in that booth, whilst Gavin Emmett, who can also be heard on MotoGP’s World Feed commentating, will be BT Sport’s reporter.

Coverage will formally launch with a preview show on Tuesday 18th March as the channel reflects on pre-season testing and looks to the season ahead. From that point forward, BT Sport will broadcast an hour long programme on Tuesday nights at 20:00. Entitled MotoGP Tonight, it will be presented by Craig Doyle and former Olympian and biker, Iwan Thomas, with guests each week. Each weekend coverage will begin on Friday mornings with five hours of coverage each day. The exception to this is Qatar, where coverage will begin on Thursday 20th March at 15:00, from the first minute of Moto3 practice 1 to ten minutes after Moto2 practice 2 has concluded. Aside from the details announced today, it was revealed yesterday that BT have created a MotoGP film, to air in the build-up to Qatar.

Simon Green, head of BT Sport, said: “It’s really exciting to be launching such a thrilling new sport on BT Sport, with a tremendous new team and what we believe will be a fresh approach to MotoGP and some fantastic new shows. MotoGP is the top, two-wheeled motorsport. It’s massive in the UK and we’re heading into it at full throttle and following every second of the action. We’re sure we’ll appeal to committed fans, but we also think we will win over and welcome new fans to the sport.”

Manel Arroyo, managing director, Dorna Sports, said: “I’m pleased that MotoGP is part of such a huge and exciting project as BT Sport. I’m sure that BT Sport will provide the in-depth coverage that MotoGP deserves so that British fans can follow the fortunes of British riders in the Championship.” As expected, there will be interactive options via the BT Sport app with eight views in total: the main coverage; helicopter; live timing; a tracking screen and 4 x onboard. Full races and highlights will also be available on the app.

The channel’s deal with Dorna Sports covers the period from 2014 through to the end of 2018 and will be produced by North One Television. As it stands, MotoGP will not have any terrestrial television coverage from this point going forward.

BT Sport expected to unveil MotoGP team this week

This week is expected to be one of the biggest of the motor sport broadcasting year, from an announcements stand-point as BT Sport are set to unveil their MotoGP line-up. Bennetts last week reported that an announcement was expected at the ExCel Arena, home to the MCN London Motorcycle Show, on 14th February. Whilst that is highly likely to be the date, Shannon Kent, the brother of Moto3 rider Danny Kent tweeted, noting that there is a BT Sport event concerning MotoGP on Thursday (13th February). Either way, it appears this week is the week.

So, who is expected to be part of the team? The rumour mill, as one would expect, has been out in force, however, we can gauge a good idea of who will be part of the team already. Toby Moody’s confirmation a few weeks ago that he would not be part of the team left us with a commentary pairing of Keith Huewen and Julian Ryder, the two expected to rekindle their relationship from the mid 1990s. Despite not mentioning BT Sport recently, his tweets quite clearly show that he is back within the MotoGP paddock circles.

As for the punditry, Bennetts are also reporting that James Toseland and Neil Hodgson, both former World Superbike champions, will be on-board. They note that Toseland “isn’t doing a full season, choosing to do occasional rounds instead, but we believe he will be alongside Hodgson at the first round in Qatar”. This bit is interesting, because a regular insider over on Digital Spy claims that BT will only be on site for seven or eight races. Which, linking back to the above, makes me wonder if Toseland is only going to play a part in proceedings when BT Sport are on-site. I won’t speculate on rumours too much here, as all of this could be wide of the mark.

Which brings me onto my final part. Bike Sport News are reporting that Melanie Sykes is set to front their coverage, with Craig Doyle (current presenter of BT’s Rugby coverage and presenter of ITV’s Isle of Man coverage) fronting a magazine show two days a week. The Sykes rumour sounds incredibly far-fetched, considering Sykes has never presented live sport before and would be a new foray for her. However, it is not as strange as you may expect, when you see this:

ROAR Sport ‏@RoarSport1 Feb 6
Looking forward to announcing some amazing @MsMelanieSykes news next week #2014 #SPORT
3:39 PM – 6 Feb 2014

Again, I don’t want to read too much into this, she could be a lifestyle reporter like Beverley Turner was back in ITV’s Formula 1 coverage back in the mid 2000’s (alas, that role was quickly dropped). Or it could be a red herring, someone has done 2 + 2 and come out with 5. By the end of the week we will find out. And as always, there will be some happy with the line-up, and some unhappy with the moment. For the next few days at least, let the speculation continue…

Doing the sums: the cost of viewing F1 and MotoGP in 2014

The start of a New Year for a Formula 1 brings with it excitement, intrigue and controversy, where one unpopular rule is concerned. But a new year also leaves Formula 1 fans in the United Kingdom counting their pennies. More to the point: how many pounds and pence they need to view every Formula 1 race live. The answer to that question appears to be an ever moving barrier. So while the information in this piece is correct as of writing, I cannot guarantee its accuracy in even a week from now. So, how much does Sky Sports F1 cost to view? The answer, is that you are likely going to have to part with at least £50.00 – maybe more. But how much exactly? That answer depends on what you want to watch.

Starting with Sky, the first option is to switch from your current provider to Sky, purchasing the Sports Pack on top of the required Entertainment Pack. The Sports Pack costs £22.00 a month (an increase of £1.00 compared with this time last year), meaning that when you include the compulsory Entertainment Pack, this option will put you back £43.50 a month. Given that 12 months is the minimum subscription (see the small print here), this is £522.00 for the year. Whilst an extremely hefty amount, surprisingly this is only £12.00 higher than the same packages twelve months ago.

One of the cheaper options last year, however has sadly been wiped out. It was possible to just have the HD Pack to watch Sky Sports F1, resulting in a cost of £381.00 a year. This is no longer available. To watch Sky Sports F1 in HD, you now have to have the Entertainment Extra+ Pack, at a cost of £22.00 for six months and then £32.00 per month. Whilst the offer may sound good, the website actually does not explicitly state that this is an offer, so the amount could go up to £32.00 from day one permanently from tomorrow for all I know. Anyway, aside from the Entertainment Extra+ Pack, you need the Sky Sports Pack and the HD Pack. The cost? Across the year, a whopping £651.00 a year. If the Entertainment Extra+ Pack price increased to £32.00 a month, the cost would be £711.00 across the year. And people wonder why Formula 1’s viewing figures are going down? Another one for the paddock journalists out there – lets not put all the blame on Sebastian Vettel, and look at the wider, bigger picture that stretches beyond four tyres on a track.

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, instead like with TV you have to add the Entertainment Pack 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. With that in mind, the 2014 calendar is as follows:

– March 16th – Australia (Melbourne) – Sky
– March 30th – Malaysia (Sepang) – BBC and Sky
– April 6th – Bahrain (Sakhir) – Sky
– April 20th – China (Shanghai) – Sky
– May 11th – Spain (Barcelona) – BBC and Sky
– May 25th – Monaco (Monaco) – Sky
– June 8th – Canada (Montreal) – BBC and Sky
– June 22nd – Austria (Red Bull Ring) – Sky
– July 6th – Britain (Silverstone) – BBC and Sky
– July 20th – Germany (Hockenheim) – Sky
– July 27th – Hungary (Budapest) – Sky
– August 24th – Belgium (Spa) – BBC and Sky
– September 7th – Italy (Monza) – BBC and Sky
– September 21st – Singapore (Marina Bay) – Sky
– October 5th – Japan (Suzuka) – BBC and Sky
– October 12th – Russia (Sochi) – BBC and Sky
– October 26th – USA (Circuit of the Americas) – Sky
– November 2nd – Brazil (Interlagos) – Sky
– November 16th – Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina) – BBC and Sky

If you want to watch every race live:

– ticket 1 can be used from March 7th to April 7th (Australia and Bahrain)
– ticket 2 can be used from April 15th to May 15th (China)
– ticket 3 can be used from May 22nd to June 22nd (Monaco and Austria)
– ticket 4 can be used from July 1st to August 1st (Germany and Hungary)
– ticket 5 can be used from September 1st to October 1st (Singapore)
– ticket 6 can be used from October 16th to November 16th (USA and Brazil)

Six tickets at £35.00 is £210.00 at most – the same amount as last year, but when you consider the alarming increase of the Sky HD option, this actually works out to be one of the better options. 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 £9.99, identical to last year although I am surprised that they have no reduced the price. I said at the time that it is too steep, and I haven’t changed my thoughts a year on. What this means is that you can watch the ten Sky exclusive races for £99.90. If you want to add Qualifying to that, however, this will increase to £199.80. The final option from Sky comes from their Sky Sports TV service for iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android. It was £4.99 a month. Bad news. It has since doubled, and is now £9.99 a month. Nevertheless, £9.99 multiplied by six tickets means that you arrive at £59.94. 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 £59.94 for the year?

Over on Virgin Media, their Sky Sports Collection pack is available for £27.25 (up £1.50 a month). Add the TV M+ package with V HD Box on top of that and you are looking at £46.75 a month, or £495.00 a year. There is another option with Virgin Media, and that is the Starter Collection, however there are not any singular options there. Instead it is mostly triple play, so therefore is difficult to compare the prices with any of the other options. Note that Sky Sports F1 is not available to Virgin Media customers in HD.

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:

– £651.00 a year – Sky TV – Entertainment Extra+, Sports + HD Packs (up £270.00)
– £522.00 a year – Sky TV – Entertainment + Sports Packs (up £12.00)
– £495.00 a year – Virgin Media TV – V HD Box + M+ + Sky Sports Collection (up £24.00)
– £299.70 – NOW TV – Practice, Qualifying and Race
– £210.00 – Sky Go Monthly Ticket
– £199.80 – NOW TV – Qualifying and Race
– £99.90 – NOW TV – Race
– £59.94 – Sky Sports TV App (up £29.97)

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, 2014 will be the most expensive year yet, and the situation does not appear to be changing any time soon. 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 £12.00 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.

– £831.00 a year – Sky TV – Entertainment Extra+, Sports + HD Packs + BT Sport in HD
=> this will get you Formula 1 in HD and MotoGP in HD [if you have no BT Broadband]

– £795.00 a year – Sky TV – Entertainment Extra+, Sports + HD Packs + BT Sport
=> this will get you Formula 1 in HD and MotoGP in SD [if you have no BT Broadband]

– £702.00 a year – Sky TV – Entertainment + Sports Packs + BT Sport in HD
=> this will get you Formula 1 in SD and MotoGP in HD [if you have no BT Broadband]

– £687.00 a year – Sky TV – Entertainment Extra+, Sports + HD Packs + BT Sport in HD
=> this will get you Formula 1 in HD and MotoGP in HD [if you have BT Broadband]

– £666.00 a year – Sky TV – Entertainment + Sports Packs + BT Sport
=> this will get you Formula 1 in SD and MotoGP in HD [if you have no BT Broadband]

– £651.00 a year – Sky TV – Entertainment Extra+, Sports + HD Packs + BT Sport
=> this will get you Formula 1 in SD and MotoGP in SD [if you have BT Broadband]

– £558.00 a year – Sky TV – Entertainment + Sports Packs + BT Sport in HD
=> this will get you Formula 1 in SD and MotoGP in HD [if you have BT Broadband]

– £522.00 a year – Sky TV – Entertainment + Sports Packs + BT Sport in HD
=> this will get you Formula 1 in SD and MotoGP in SD [if you have BT Broadband]

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:

– £675.00 a year – Virgin Media TV – V HD Box + M+ + Sky Sports Collection + BT Sport
=> this will get you Formula 1 in SD and MotoGP in HD

– £633.00 a year – Virgin Media TV – V HD Box + XL + Sky Sports Collection + BT Sport
=> this will get you Formula 1 in SD and MotoGP in HD

A depressing picture and a sad state of affairs, and it also helps show why fans are the real losers here. Other than your traditional television packages, you can do a mix and match for significantly less, for example buying the Sky Sports TV App, along with BT Broadband, thus giving yourself access to the BT Sport app in the process. 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. I have never used it, but given the amount of content that is on there, this may be an affordable option for those not wishing to have BT Sport. An F1 equivalent, as of writing, is unavailable.

All prices correct as of Friday 7th February 2014. Information contained in this blog post is subject to change.

World Rally Championship hits a high note on ITV4

Highlights of the first round of the 2014 World Rally Championship on ITV4 performed better than any of its coverage from 2013, unofficial overnight viewing figures show. With that, the rating would also be the highest for a rally since at least 2010, given the low key seasons that followed broadcasting wise.

The programme, broadcast on Tuesday 21st January at 20:00 and focussing on the Monte Carlo rally, averaged 278k (1.8%), peaking with 358k (1.5%) as Sébastien Ogier secured his victory. The rating is impressive for the coverage, when you consider that the majority of the overnight ratings in 2013 were between 100k and 200k. The weekend marked an adjustment in the broadcasting rights here in the UK, with BT Sport coming on board, broadcasting the series exclusively live.

BT Sport’s live coverage started solidly, if unspectacular. The highest number was for live coverage on BT Sport 2 on Saturday (18th January) afternoon. The one hour programme from 14:30 averaged 41k (0.4%), peaking with 65k (0.6%). Sadly the evening coverage on BT Sport 1 did not average as much, only bringing 22k (0.1%). I do think that it is a good starting block for BT, it was never going to storm out of the blocks. With an influx of motor sport subscribers (including myself) to the channel for the MotoGP coverage, there is room for improvement.

The numbers emphasise for me why it was important for ITV4 to retain its highlights coverage, which has happened. The two now compliment each other nicely, and hopefully the numbers for the highlights continue to remain high as the season progresses.

News round-up: Roberts joins Eurosport; Sky extend Speedway deal

There’s a few bits of news this week that are not worth covering as individual articles but are worth noting anyway, so I’ve bundled the bits into one post for future reference.

The main piece of news is that Matt Roberts is joining British Eurosport as their World Superbikes and British Superbikes presenter. Personally I’m very happy to see Roberts get the role, he was a fine presenter presenting MotoGP on the BBC. What the announcement does mean is that he is eliminated from the running for a place on BT Sport’s MotoGP team. Keith Huewen appears nailed on for a role, presumably commentator alongside Julian Ryder, but outside of that it is anyone’s guess. Azi Farni has gone quiet on Twitter lately which makes me wonder if she is part of the team. I’m not too familiar with the two wheels broadcasting picture outside of MotoGP so there are probably more obvious picks which are not obvious to me at this moment in time!

Sky Sports have renewed their Elite League Speedway contract for five years, alongside five other contracts. This is important for speedway to thrive in the country as there was the possibility that Sky could have decided to dispose of this contract, as they did with the Speedway Grand Prix championship before last season. Viewing figures tend to be around 100,000 to 200,000, nothing spectacular but enough for Sky to keep it. There is also the BT factor in all of these contracts, Sky wanted to get these wrapped up early to prevent BT Sport snapping any up.

Talking of BT, and I’ll have more on this at the weekend, the ratings for their live coverage of the World Rally Championship were solid if unspectacular. It is a good starting block, especially when considering that more motor sport fans are liking to subscribe to BT for MotoGP in the forthcoming months (team still TBC for anyone wondering). I haven’t looked in detail at ITV4’s World Rally Championship ratings yet, but the coverage appears to have done better than the majority of 2013, which is a positive sign going forward.