Moody not part of BT’s MotoGP team

In what is quickly turning into a year of bizarre decisions, Toby Moody has confirmed today on Twitter that he will not be part of BT Sport’s MotoGP team this season.

Moody, writing in a series of tweets, said “I wanted you to hear direct from me that I will not part of the UK commentary line-up for MotoGP in 2014. I’ve worked on MotoGP for 18 years, something I’m very proud of. I’ll still be around so will see more great racing. I will return to a TV screen near you very soon; you guys will know first when I do. Thank you for all your support. Plenty of voice left!”

What this does mean is that a BT Sport official line up announcement is presumably pretty imminent, although as with all of these things, a date has not been announced beforehand. I assume BT had the final say, rather than Moody ruling himself out. If that is the case, then it is immensely disappointing to see that someone else has been chosen over Moody. However, there could be mitigating circumstances. In the past few seasons, Moody has not commentated on every single race for Eurosport. BT Sport may well have been looking for someone to commit to every weekend, of which Moody was unwilling to do. I don’t know, I’m just speculating there, because I can’t think of any other logical reason for someone else to be chosen over Moody.

I think this announcement means that we are getting either Charlie Cox and Steve Parish as commentators, or Julian Ryder alongside Keith Huewen. I could probably flip a coin here and guess, but I have no idea which pair it could be. The view points here suggest that Ryder and Moody were high up on people’s list, including mine. Ryder and Huewen have been commentators together back in the early 1990s, on Sky.

Looking ahead to 2014

The first four parts of the 2013 verdict looked back at the year gone by and analysed both the BBC and Sky Sports F1 products, along with their respective teams. But of course while Formula 1 plays a large part in this blog (hence the blog name), it is easy every so often to get wrapped in the Formula 1 bubble. Which in why in 2013, I have been trying to cover more than just Formula 1 on the blog, on both two and four wheels.

Sometimes, in the broadcasting and media world, you have to look at the bigger picture to see what patterns are emerging, to see where the landscape is heading, to see what could be the next big thing. Enter BT Sport. Launching on August 1st, 2013, BT has only been on air for five months. March 2014 will signal the beginning of their MotoGP coverage. Sitting here, writing this at the end of 2013, we still do not know who will form part of the line-up. Obviously first impressions are vital, so it will be interesting to see who is announced, no doubt within the next month I imagine.

I hope that viewing figures are good for MotoGP, but we will only get the full picture after a few races of the season. Critically, they need a championship battle to last for the majority of the season to prevent viewing figures dropping. Of course, the figures will be lower than BBC, I just hope by not a huge amount. Another story in 2014 will be the Formula E rights announcement, which will be make up break for the series. If it is not on terrestrial television, then it will simply blend in with the rest and won’t stand out, simple as. If they want the concept to be successful in this country, it needs to be easily accessible. Time will tell.

And then of course we have all the usual Formula 1 discussion, from both BBC and Sky, home and abroad. Year three of a seven year contract means that both sides should have firmly settled in, although like last year, we could well see some surprising changes. Along with that there will be the usual ratings analysis, will the draw of the ‘2014 formula’ bring viewers back to Formula 1 again, or will viewing figures slip down a notch further? A lot of questions ahead for 2014, some bigger than others, and it looks set to be another interesting year on the broadcasting front.

North One wins BT Sport MotoGP production deal

North One Television will produce BT Sport’s coverage of the MotoGP World Championship for the duration of the contract, it was confirmed today.

The five year contract, worth £30 million according to Broadcast, works out at approximately £6 million a year, which is not too far away from the Formula 1 production rights for BBC and ITV respectively pre-2012. North One of course were the company that produced ITV’s Formula 1 coverage before 2009, so are definitely experts in the field.

North One’s chief executive, Neil Duncanson said: “It’s nice to be involved in a big name motorsport again. It will give the business a bit more scale and enable us to bring some youngsters on board too.” Head of BT Sport Simon Green said: “North One has a wealth of experience in motorsport production and we look forward to working with them to develop ground breaking MotoGP coverage in the UK.” It is worth noting that the news itself is not too surprising, and is expected given that North One helped BT get the rights in the first place.

Another point that I need to make is that the production documents will include the details of the talent that will be involved in the coverage, should they win. Now that North One have won, it won’t be too long before we find out who those talents named in the brief are. Two plus two equals four, and yesterday eagle eyed people may have spotted an interesting tweet from a well known face who has covered two wheels and four wheels. I’m not going to link to it (just in case I am barking up the wrong tree), but yesterday was apparently an “exciting day” with “exciting news”, and a wink at the end. Related, possibly? We shall see soon find out…

Poll Results: Do you plan on following MotoGP in 2014?

A few weeks ago, I asked blog readers a simple question, baring in mind the broadcasting changes in the UK from 2014: “Do you plan on following MotoGP in 2014?”

Almost 200 people responded, thanks to each and every one of you. There are a few headlines in there, but here are the poll results:

– Yes, I do not have access to BT Sport but will continue to follow MotoGP via other means: 30.2% (57 votes)
– No, I won’t be following MotoGP in 2014: 30.2% (57 votes)
– Yes, I will continue to follow MotoGP via BT Sport: 26.5% (50 votes)
– No, I don’t currently follow MotoGP and have no interest in doing so: 8.5% (16 votes)
– Undecided: 2.6% (5 votes)
– Poll does not apply to me: 2.0% (4 votes)

Ignoring the people who don’t currently follow MotoGP, and those that the poll does not apply to brings the amount of respondents down by twenty. Hence, the percentages, and probably more accurate percentages are as follows:

– Yes, I do not have access to BT Sport but will continue to follow MotoGP via other means: 33.7% (57 votes)
– No, I won’t be following MotoGP in 2014: 33.7% (57 votes)
– Yes, I will continue to follow MotoGP via BT Sport: 29.6% (50 votes)
– Undecided: 3.0% (5 votes)

I always post disclaimers whenever doing polls that, because of the nature of this site, polls are clearly not reflecting of the general public. But hey, they are interesting to look at and analyse and also generate some good discussion.

The interesting thing is that a lot of people have decided already whether or not they are going to follow MotoGP in 2014, only three percent is undecided which is very low. If you are not a fan of football, then the question is whether you are willing to add an extra few pounds to your existing package, or whether you can miss MotoGP and get yourself out of the habit.

I do have Sky, but am unwilling to fork out an extra £12 for just MotoGP and a few Premiership games I’m not interested in. If they added NASCAR and Formula E to their coverage I would be interested though! – @deanolatino

30 percent say that they will continue to follow MotoGP on BT Sport. That number probably is not too far off what will really happen, in reality though it would be nearer 20 percent. I hate to think that viewing figures could average under 200,000, but we will only get a real indicator come Qatar.

I moved to BT Broadband from Sky last March after their broadband team proved to be completely inept when it came to customer service – I’m really happy with the TV station so far, so look forward to the MotoGP! – TMLS

There is a fairly even split too between BT Sport and ‘other means’ although ‘other means’ was deliberately such a huge parameter to see how many want to keep in touch with MotoGP, but just don’t want to switch to BT Sport.

Marquez MotoGP title victory peaks with 1.6 million

Marc Marquez’s title victory in yesterday’s MotoGP from Valencia was seen by 1.6 million viewers across BBC Two and British Eurosport, overnight viewing figures show.

As noted by @TVRatingsUK on Twitter, BBC’s programme from 12:30 averaged 1.21 million viewers (11.9 percent share), peaking with 1.49 million viewers (14 percent share) as Marquez clinched the crown.

Eurosport added 152,000 viewers at its peak for their delayed transmission, bringing a combined peak of 1.64 million viewers.

BBC’s figures increased slightly on the usual 1 million to 1.1 million average. Their figures have been broadly flat across the past six or seven years, so anyone expecting them to put it a bid double the previous amount to match BT Sport is in fantasy land. They probably would have increased the bid by 10 percent to cover themselves, but not much more.