F1 on SPEEDTV
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This might sound as a stupid question, but will SPEED TV be broadcasting Formula 1 in 2012? I know F1 will no longer be free-air, and the Sky deal is done. But does this affect North American viewers? Will SPEED TV still broadcast F1 in 2012?
F1 is pretty much the only TV I watch nowadays, otherwise I’m surfing on the internet or playing PS3.
I can’t see how the Sky deal would affect North American viewers. Sky doesn’t operate in the United States, I know that BBC does, but I still don’t see any reason to why the deal would affect you.
The free to air issue only applies to the UK. The BBC pays FOM (Formula One Management ie. Bernie) from the TV license fee’s payed by British residents to broadcast in the UK only. SPEED channel (owned by News Corp) in the U.S. pays FOM for the rights to broadcast in the United States. Thus what contract BBC or Sky has with FOM has no effect on what happens in the U.S. Also SPEED or SPEED HD is far from free to air!
Are all British F1 viewers now switching to SPEED? It’s much cheaper than Sky Sports. Bob Varsha, David Hobbs, and Steve Matchett are great. The only downside are the commercial breaks, but they’re very short anyway.
Frankly, the commercials are what turn me off of SPEED. It’s why I torrent the BBC broadcasts and watch them a bit late instead of catching the races “kind of” live.
The only way it would make a difference in the US is if you get the BBC coverage. Here in Australia the races are shown on One HD but it’s just the BBC coverage with a local pre and post race show and the same half a dozen ads played over and over again. I still have no idea what we’re going to get next year. I suppose it depends on how the BBC does things. If they’re going to record all the races live and show some of them delayed in the UK then it’s shouldn’t matter here since they could transmit it live. If not then I hope we get the sky coverage since I’d rather not be jumping between broadcasters each round.
It’s pretty frustrating not knowing what’s going on but considering what’s going to happen in the UK I can’t really complain.
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