Motor sport ratings (week ending 1st September, 2013)

Another seven days has passed which means it is times for the weekly BARB update, with MotoGP and IndyCar being the main highlights.

Live coverage of the MotoGP race from Silverstone officially averaged under 1.00 million viewers on BBC Two. This is not as surprising as it first seems given that it was longer than your typical MotoGP broadcast, with BBC live on air from 12:00 to 14:30 compared to usually 12:30 to 14:00. The overnight average from 12:00 to 14:30 was 856,000 viewers, with a 15-minute peak of 1.26 million at 13:30. The 12:30 to 14:00 overnight average was 1.04 million viewers, which is really not higher than your typical MotoGP race. As always, BARB have not reported ratings for Eurosport which is why I am unable to report their official ratings on here.

There was a motor sport double for ITV4 this week, with the Ulster Grand Prix highlights on Tuesday (27th August) averaging 250,000 viewers, whilst the Classic TT a day later averaged 243,000 viewers, both comfortably inside its top ten. On Sky Sports F1, there was a very unusual occurrence as The F1 Show was not the highest rated show of the week. That honour went to a repeat of the Midweek Report which averaged 28,000 viewers on Saturday evening (although I’m not entirely why). The F1 Show itself had 25,000 viewers, with the first airing of the Midweek Report recording 25,000 viewers. I think this is a combination of The F1 Show doing poorly by its standards this season, and the Midweek Report doing very well – which is an interesting anecdote considering the latter is filmed against a green screen and a shoe string budget.

Over on ESPN, live coverage of the IndyCar Series from Baltimore brought 12,000 viewers to the channel.

BT Sport to broadcast classic MotoGP races this week

In a positive sign of things to come for 2014, BT Sport are to broadcast five classic MotoGP races this week, it has been confirmed.

The BT Sport website will be uploading the 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997 and 2000 MotoGP races, with the first two already online, and free to view for anyone to watch. The 1992 and 1994 races will also be shown on BT Sport 2, 1992 on Monday at 21:30 and 1994 on Tuesday at 21:30.

Considering their rights don’t kick in until 2014, I’m pleasantly surprised to see these turn up this week, although I imagine the broadcasting rights are not as ‘tight’ as Formula One Management’s control over what current or future rights holders can or cannot do.

Monday 26th August
21:30 to 22:30 – 1992 British MotoGP (BT Sport 2)
– repeated on Tuesday 27th August at 09:00
22:30 to 23:30 – 1993 British MotoGP (BT Sport 2)
– repeated on Tuesday 27th August at 10:00

Tuesday 27th August
21:30 to 22:30 – 1994 British MotoGP (BT Sport 2)
– repeated on Wednesday 28th August at 10:00

Wednesday 29th August
21:30 to 22:30 – 1997 British MotoGP (BT Sport 2)
– repeated on Thursday 29th August at 10:00

Thursday 30th August
22:00 to 23:00 – 2000 British MotoGP (BT Sport 2)
– repeated on Friday 30th August at 10:00

Scheduling: The 2013 Belgian Grand Prix

After a four week Summer break, F1 is back! The drivers and teams head to the Ardennes forest in Belgium for the Belgian Grand Prix from Spa. The race starts the second half of the Formula 1 season with nine races in 13 weeks. Before you know it, it will all be over. Both BBC and Sky are live this weekend, so expect the usual full line-ups from both sides.

Alongside their usual Classic races, Sky are also broadcasting a three-part Lost Generation series, which I have outlined below. Also, in a moment of brilliance, MotoGP clashes with the F1 again, it is not a direct clash as the MotoGP race is in the F1 build-up, but still frustrating if you want to keep track of everything. The day is rounded off with the IndyCar Series from Sonoma, with coverage on ESPN UK.

Saturday 17th August
20:00 to 20:40 – F1: 1985 Belgian Grand Prix Highlights (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Murray Walker and James Hunt
– repeated on Friday 23rd August at 12:05

Sunday 18th August
20:00 to 22:15 – F1: 1998 Belgian Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Murray Walker and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Sunday 25th August at 06:05

Monday 19th August
19:30 to 20:00 – The Lost Generation (1/3) (Sky Sports F1)
– focussing on Roger Williamson
20:00 to 22:00 – F1: 2000 Belgian Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Murray Walker and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Friday 23rd August at 18:00

Tuesday 20th August
19:30 to 20:00 – The Lost Generation (2/3) (Sky Sports F1)
– focussing on Tony Brise
20:00 to 22:00 – F1: 2008 Belgian Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from James Allen and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Saturday 24th August at 17:15

Wednesday 21st August
19:30 to 20:00 – The Lost Generation (3/3) (Sky Sports F1)
– focussing on Tom Pryce
20:00 to 22:00 – F1: 2010 Belgian Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Jonathan Legard and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Sunday 25th August at 20:15

Thursday 22nd August
14:00 to 14:45 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
19:45 to 20:00 – Gear Up for Belgium (Sky Sports F1)

Friday 23rd August
08:45 to 11:00 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
08:55 to 10:35 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Two)
11:00 to 11:35 – GP2: Practice (Sky Sports F1)
12:45 to 14:50 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
12:50 to 14:35 – F1: Practice 2 (BBC Two)
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)
21:00 to 21:45 – F1: 1955 Belgian Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– repeated on Saturday 24th August at 11:15

Saturday 24th August
08:45 to 09:20 – GP3: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
09:45 to 11:10 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
09:55 to 11:05 – F1: Practice 3 (BBC Two)
12:00 to 14:35 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
12:10 to 14:15 – F1: Qualifying (BBC One)
14:35 to 16:00 – GP2: Race 1 (Sky Sports F1)
16:15 to 17:05 – GP3: Race 1 (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Sunday 25th August
08:20 to 09:05 – GP3: Race 2 (Sky Sports F1)
09:30 to 10:35 – GP2: Race 2 (Sky Sports F1)
11:30 to 13:00 – MotoGP: Brno (BBC Two)
11:30 to 16:15 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
12:10 to 15:15 – F1: Race (BBC One)
15:15 to 16:15 – F1: Forum (BBC Red Button)
16:15 to 17:00 – GP Uncovered: 1958 Belgian Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
21:00 to 00:00 – IndyCars: Sonoma (ESPN)

Wednesday 28th August
19:30 to 20:00 – Midweek Report (Sky Sports F1)

As always, if anything changes I shall update this blog if necessary.

BT Sport launches tomorrow

It is a big day for BT tomorrow (August 1st) as they launch their two sports channels in an attempt to take on BSkyB’s supremacy in the market. The launch, which will be fronted by former BBC F1 presenter Jake Humphrey from Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, takes place at 18:00 and will be live on both BT Sport channels. For those ordering the channel, today is your last opportunity to order BT Sport with high definition at no added cost for a year. The cost there after is an additional £3.00 to watch BT Sport in HD. More details about the cost can be found here.

In terms of motor sport, BT Sport will be providing live coverage of the IndyCar Series from this Sunday onwards, whilst they will also be providing NASCAR coverage and exclusive Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP coverage from 2014. A lot of people may be judgemental about BT Sport early on, but as I noted two weeks ago, it is not the first month that matters, instead it is more so about the first half a year where trends may emerge.

BT Sport 1 and 2 can be found on channels 58 and 59 on BT Vision, 507 and 508 on YouView and channels 413 and 414 on the Sky platform. ESPN UK’s channel number will be remaining the same, but as a result of the transaction, ESPN America and ESPN Classic will cease broadcasting today. As of writing however, no carriage deal has been announced with Virgin Media. I will update this blog if that changes.

Details for first IndyCar race on BT Sport revealed

Scheduling details for the first IndyCar race on BT Sport have this evening been revealed. The fourteenth round of the season from Mid Ohio will air live on BT Sport 2 on Sunday 4th August from 20:00 to 23:00. BT Sport formally take over from ESPN UK as part of their acquisition of the group, as announced back in May.

In another announcement this evening, it looks like that Georgie Thompson will be part of the new BT Sport channel after all. Thompson, who left Sky Sports in February and announced a move to America last week, is currently listed on DigiGuide as one of the hosts of the BT Sports Panel on Saturday mornings alongside Tim Lovejoy. A mistake? We shall see….

Update on July 29th – The Georgie Thompson listing is still there on DigiGuide. At this stage, it has to be an error, I cannot see it being anything else. I do find that interesting though, because it shows that BT Sport were definitely in advanced stages of bringing her on board, but for whatever reason, original plans fell through. Rather amateurish though of BT Sport not to notify DigiGuide and rectify it.

As for the IndyCar Series, a repeat airing is scheduled for ESPN UK on Monday 4th August from 17:30 to 20:00, whilst Indy Lights Series highlights are scheduled for the Tuesday at 21:30, so it seems nothing is changing on that particular front. I’m not going to list each individual airing, but both are repeated several times throughout next week.