In a shock move the BBC have lost the right to show the full F1 season from 2012 onwards. But what does this mean?
Simply put, the BBC has the rights to show half of the F1 season with the other half being shown as highlights. With that die hard F1 fans are now faced with the choice – pay for Sky Sports or watch just half the Formula One season live. Hardly a great option at around £20 per month on top of your basic Sky subscription (at time of writing).
F1 fans are understandably angry at the sport they love moving from years of being free to watch to being a premium sport alongside football where it will no doubt play second fiddle. At F1Seasonreview.com we are no different. We think it’s a disgrace that Bernie Ecclestone has sold out, F1 has sold out and the F1 fans are left to pick up the bill. Many people who can’t afford sky will simply miss out.
This isn’t the first time Bernie has cheated the F1 fans. In 1996 Ecclestone moved the coverage from the popular BBC coverage to ITV and subjected viewers to annoying adverts. This coupled with the frankly boring F1 from 2000 to 2004 made fans pull their hair out in frustration especially when key events were missed.
The move back to the BBC was seen as a great move and the BBC did a fantastic job in improving the coverage. Sadly Ecclestone has forgotten about the viewers yet again and F1 has moved backwards.
Just as well there is P2P coverage of Sky free on the internet then….
Agreed, it’s a sad time for F1. Imagine them trying to do this on the early 2000′s when it was boring.
I will not be switching to Sky. Why does everyone sell out to either Sky or ESPN. BBC are doing a fantastic job with F1. Its a joke
What a load of rubbish. I for one won’t be switching to Sky. I refuse to pay £60 per month to watch a sport I’ve watched for twenty years free.