New F1 Television rights deal

[s130]

I'm 5x years old and have been with F1 on BBC & ITV since they first screened F1 and I was old enough and keen enough to watch. The rub with this deal is that us older bods are far more critical of our financial expenditure and the return that it gives.

I'll probably watch what the BBC have to offer but when that dries up I'll do more useful stuff on GP weekends. Call me a boring old *art (you won't upset me). F1 is the only sport I regularly watch on TV, I don't have SKy or Virgin and I'm not going to shell out hard earnt money on subscribing to any TV media supplier just to watch F1 and some occassional other stuff.

An additional factor is that in recent years F1 one has gone global. I like watching LIVE so getting up a 5am/6am/7am etc to watch does not appeal to me. In addition we have lost some great traditional F1 GPs to higher fee paying countries that provide cash and income but little else. No real spectators as such. Just F1 / Brand advertising outlets.

Actually this all may be a good omen and allow motor sport to get back to a much more basic grass roots level.

One thing that would really shake things up is if Ferrari were to pull out of F1 and return to Sports Cars/GT/LeMans etc with real works cars. Wether you love or hate Ferrari they have been one of the major backbones of worldwide and country level motorsport. In F1 since the start and depsite bads years of performance, when other teams pulled out when faced with similar poor results, they have stayed with and invested the sport, especially F1. I don't think any other team can match this committment.

IMHO people in the UK who do not have Sky or Virgin with Sky will slowly turn off F1 during the next couple of years. Like cricket F1 will be in the wheeler and dealer domains of offshore viewing. Kerry Packer / Murdoch trash.........

 

[Mr Wild]

Has anyone else noticed Eddie Jordan slurring his words?

First time I noticed it was last week in Germany and he mentioned something about champagne the night before, then how cold it was on race day, but he was really messing up his sentences. He's been doing the same this week in Hungary.

 

[jnoiles]

An Irishman drunk? Surely not.

 

[TJ07]

I may begin to simply refuse to pay my TV license, I will simply tell the court when being prosecuted: "Taking F1 away was one thing but taking away my David Attenborough was the last drop, you can go *** yourself if you think you will ever get another penny from me for a TV license"

 

[pooroldcodger]

I can see the point. But my point was that F1 isn't the be all and end all of the sport that everyone makes it out to be. It's Bernie's freak show. And maybe this is a door opening to exposure for more interesting categories of racing to get some attention.

And LeMans is easily more challenging than an F1 race.

Agree, perhaps there is an opportunity for other lesser known series to get an airing.
But F1 is the pinnacle - technically that is indisputable, but it is a bit like cricket, the more you take time to understand it the more you get out of it.
People of short attention spans look elsewhere probably don't appreciate it as much.