BT Sport to show MotoGP testing live

BT Sport are to show MotoGP testing live, it has been confirmed today. BT Sport 2 will air live coverage on Monday 11th November from 13:00 to 15:00 and then from 10:00 to 12:00 the next day. This will also be simulcast on the channel’s app.

This is an interesting development. The difference between Dorna and Formula One Management (FOM) is huge where testing is concerned. Dorna produce a live feed for testing, whilst FOM produce a highlights package and that is about it. Remember that earlier this year, Sky filmed Formula 1 testing with their own cameras, which will cost significantly more than BT’s coverage of MotoGP on Monday. As confirmed by Mark Coyle, the channels Head of Digital Production on Twitter, BT will be taking the World Feed with commentary from the usual pairing of Gavin Emmett and Nick Harris, but BT themselves will be shooting other material in the paddock for online and supplementary programming.

Also, it is worth a reminder too that this is not the first time MotoGP testing has been broadcast live in the United Kingdom. Back in the mid 2000’s, Eurosport broadcast a one hour mini ’round 0′ session where I think the prize was a BMW bike. Very impressive and promising nevertheless to see BT Sport pulling out all the stops, only a day after the 2013 MotoGP season ends.

Scheduling: The 2013 Valencian MotoGP

All good things, come to end. The 2013 MotoGP World Championship comes to a close next weekend with Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo fighting for the crown. But so too does BBC Sport’s and Eurosport’s coverage of the championship. From next year, the series (along with Moto2 and Moto3) will be broadcast exclusively live on BT Sport. Whatever you, or I, think of BBC’s current coverage, the fact of the matter is that as of 2014, MotoGP will no longer be attracting the masses across the airwaves. I’m definitely looking forward to see BT Sport’s coverage of MotoGP, but at the moment, the previous sentence remains true.

Nevertheless, the show must go on, and with that in mind, here is a special schedule piece for Valencia, as the curtain comes down on MotoGP’s current coverage, as BT Sport ushers in a new era, from 2014.

Friday 8th November 2013
12:05 to 15:00 – Practice (British Eurosport 2)

Saturday 9th November 2013
11:20 to 13:00 – Moto2 and Moto3: Qualifying (BBC Red Button)
11:30 to 15:00 – Qualifying (British Eurosport 2)
13:00 to 14:00 – MotoGP: Qualifying (BBC Two)

Sunday 10th November 2013
09:15 to 09:45 – MotoGP: Warm Up (British Eurosport 2)
09:45 to 12:25 – Moto2 and Moto3: Race (British Eurosport 2)
09:45 to 12:30 – Moto2 and Moto3: Race (BBC Red Button)
12:30 to 14:00 – MotoGP: Race (BBC Two)
14:00 to 14:30 – MotoGP: Extra (BBC Red Button)
14:00 to 15:30 – MotoGP: Race (British Eurosport 2)

I will update this blog post if any of the scheduling details change.

Scheduling: The 2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

With both championships now over, the last three races are probably more of a formality. The first of those three races takes us to Abu Dhabi, where both the GP2 Series and GP3 Series come to a conclusion.

Sky are also screening in full the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix’s in the build-up to the weekend’s race. A reminder too of their new format, first implemented in India, where the race show will be split into three: track parade, race and Paddock Live. Paddock Live is fifteen minutes longer this week, meaning that the ‘race show’ is fifteen minutes shorter. Clearly someone up high has decided that three quarters through their second year doing Formula 1 is the perfect time to tweak it. Right…

Tuesday 29th October
20:00 to 22:15 – F1: 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Jonathan Legard and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Friday 1st November at 18:00

Wednesday 30th October
20:00 to 22:15 – F1: 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Jonathan Legard and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Saturday 2nd November at 15:20

Thursday 31st October
11:00 to 11:45 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
19:00 to 19:15 – Gear Up for Abu Dhabi (Sky Sports F1)
21:00 to 22:00 – F1: Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
20:00 to 22:15 – F1: 2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Martin Brundle and David Coulthard
– repeated on Sunday 3rd November at 20:15

Friday 1st November
06:15 to 06:50 – GP2: Practice (Sky Sports F1)
08:45 to 10:50 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
08:55 to 10:35 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
12:45 to 14:55 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
12:55 to 14:35 – F1: Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
14:55 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)

Saturday 2nd November
06:00 to 06:35 – GP3: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
08:05 to 09:30 – GP2: Race 1 (Sky Sports F1)
09:45 to 11:10 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
09:55 to 11:05 – F1: Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
12:00 to 14:30 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
12:55 to 14:05 – F1: Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
14:30 to 15:20 – GP3: Race 1 (Sky Sports F1)
17:10 to 18:15 – F1: Qualifying Highlights (BBC One)
19:45 to 20:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Sunday 3rd November
07:55 to 08:45 – GP3: Race 2 (Sky Sports F1)
09:10 to 10:15 – GP2: Race 2 (Sky Sports F1)
11:30 to 16:15 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
=> 11:30 – Track Parade
=> 12:00 – Race
=> 15:15 – Paddock Live
12:50 to 15:00 – F1: Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)
16:15 to 17:15 – Architects of F1: Jo Ramirez (Sky Sports F1)
16:30 to 18:00 – F1: Race Highlights (BBC One)

Wednesday 6th November
19:00 to 19:30 – Midweek Report (Sky Sports F1)

Sky Sports F1 to split race day programme in three?

Sky Sports F1 are to split their race day programme into three, schedules today show, for India at least. Before today, the Indian Grand Prix race day programme was simply listed as:

08:00 to 12:45 – Live Indian F1 GP

That has now changed. Instead, the EPG now lists:

08:00 to 08:30 – Live Indian F1 GP: Track Parade
08:30 to 12:00 – Live Indian F1 GP: Race
12:00 to 12:45 – Live Indian F1 GP: Paddock Live

What I don’t know, and what will only become clear on Sunday is if Sky have made the move to create three distinct programmes, with opening titles and close for all three. Considering we are three quarters of the way through the season, I’d be incredibly surprised if a drastic change was made to the structure.

The other possibility, and the one far more likely is that this has been done only for EPG purposes, and therefore ‘rating inflation’ purposes. Thankfully, Formula 1 blogs such as this one paint a full picture of Sky Sports F1’s ratings, giving not only a full slot rating, but also a ’12:10 to 15:15′ viewership number for European races, to bring it in line for BBC. For those of you that are wondering why this has changed, I quote from August: “Further analysis shows that, versus the same races last season, BBC’s Formula 1 ratings have increased 21 percent, whilst Sky Sports F1′s ratings have dropped 9 percent.”

Of course, the above split could be human error, but I doubt it. We will soon find out on Sunday if it is purely for EPG purposes, if it is, then it is fairly clear to see that there is some concern internally with Sky about Sky Sports F1’s race day ratings.

Thanks to gillw72 for the tip.

Update on October 24th – The EPG description for ‘Track Parade’ is as follows: “The build-up to the 2013 Indian Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit. Plus, a review of the qualifying session and interviews with drivers ahead of the race.” Whilst the EPG description for ‘Paddock Live’ is as follows: “Simon Lazenby reports on all the breaking news, views and reactions following the 2013 Indian Grand Prix. Plus, Ted Kravitz gives his analysis of the race.”

Scheduling: The 2013 Indian Grand Prix

It may not have happened in Japan, but the chances are significantly higher in India for Sebastian Vettel to clinch his fourth consecutive Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship. If you happen to be reading this and work for the BBC F1 team, chances are you want to be there and on-air live when Vettel wins the title. So, they probably want it wrapped up this weekend. On the other hand, Sky will definitely want the title race to continue to Abu Dhabi or USA, which are both Sky exclusive races.

There is also MotoGP from Motegi as the series completes its triple header, with coverage live on BBC Two, the team presenting their penultimate race before the championship moves to BT Sport. My plan is to watch the MotoGP on iPlayer whenever I get up, and jump into the middle of the F1 build-up. After all, MotoGP’s title race is now firmly in the balance, whilst F1 is now a foregone conclusion. And a reminder that the clocks go back one hour in the early hours of next Sunday morning.

Thursday 24th October
10:30 to 11:15 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
17:00 to 17:15 – Gear Up for India (Sky Sports F1)
20:00 to 22:15 – F1: 2011 Indian Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Martin Brundle and David Coulthard
– repeated on Sunday 27th October at 20:30

Friday 25th October
05:15 to 07:20 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
05:25 to 07:10 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Two)
09:15 to 11:30 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
09:25 to 11:15 – F1: Practice 2 (BBC Two)
11:30 to 12:15 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
13:30 to 14:30 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Saturday 26th October
06:15 to 07:40 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
06:25 to 07:35 – F1: Practice 3 (BBC Two)
08:30 to 11:15 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
08:30 to 10:45 – F1: Qualifying (BBC One)
13:00 to 14:00 – F1: Qualifying Replay (BBC One)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

NOTE: Clocks go back one hour, with the change from British Summer Time to Greenwich Mean Time. The times below are GMT…

Sunday 27th October
04:30 to 06:00 – MotoGP: Motegi (BBC Two)
08:00 to 12:45 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
– please see for possible format changes
08:30 to 11:45 – F1: Race (BBC One)
11:15 to 12:00 – Slicks-0-Six (BBC Radio 5 Live)
12:45 to 13:00 – GP Uncovered: BRM Beginnings (Sky Sports F1)
13:00 to 14:30 – MotoGP: Race Replay (BBC Two)
14:00 to 16:00 – F1: Race Replay (BBC One)

Wednesday 30th October
19:00 to 19:30 – Midweek Report (Sky Sports F1)

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