Formula One on UK TV - ideas on how to keep watching?

freeganneist

The BBC reneged on their 5-year contract to broadcast Formula One, and have announced a partnership with Sky, where Sky will show all the Formula One coverage and the BBC will show half the races live, with the other half as delayed highlights (possibly delayed races, but that's not clear yet).

If there are any Formula One fans out there, I think they'll agree that the reduced BBC coverage is insufficient to be able to follow the sport properly. Even if the BBC show the full race later in the day (which seems unlikely given the information so far), I can't use the interactive feeds from other organisation and websites at the same time. Formula One isn't like football or tennis - there's tons of technical information on the internet that ideally needs to be seen at the same time, and I wouldn't want to follow the sport if I can't have that.

It's not practical for me to have Sky - the cost for an HD Sports package (seems to be what I'd need, according to info so far) seems to work out between £50 to £60 a month, on top of the normal licence fee. I wouldn't watch anything else on Sky (I tend to watch about an hour of TV a week on top of F1, being the family multi-tasker trying to keep a lot of balls in the air), so that's £50-£60 a month just to follow F1 on TV, with no other benefits. Also, I spend a lot of my weekends looking after elderly relatives who don't have Sky. If we were to get Sky at their home too, so I could watch the races in the same way that I currently watch the BBC coverage, it would mean two subscriptions!

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to continue to watch F1 live, on TV or on the internet, without spending a fortune? Because the alternatives seem to be to a) stop helping my relatives so I can stay at home watching F1 on an expensive Sky contract or b) give up the only sport I watch, after a long and enjoyable relationship with it.

bengalknights

http://www.myp2p.eu/channel.php

something like that site should allow you to view F1,Sky sports is extra £10.25 on top of your existing sky package, HD will be an extra £10 if you wish to have it.You can use the sky website to view sky sports though if you have a subscription so can view it anywhere.

freeganneist

Thanks. Will investigate those links.

I hadn't thought of watching it on Sky via the internet at relatives house. Might be a bit anti-social (we currently all sit round the TV); I can't mess too much with their TV setup because it's confusing enough for them to use one simple remote control, and they stick to the 4 main terrestrial channels because the others confuse them. Internet's a bit dodgy there too. But maybe I can hook my laptop up to their TV, and see if mobile broadband will be able to stream it live.

Inner_Zone

The cheapest way would be a FTA satellite receiver* and dish and a DAB radio or Freeview box for Radio 5 sound. Set the dish to Astra 19.2 east** tune in RTL Germany and watch for free with Radio 5 audio.

* Currently about £50 but often on offer for £25, just a suggestion better kit is available.
** Not the same satellite cluster that Sky and Freesat use.

davemurgatroyd

bengalknights wrote: »

http://www.myp2p.eu/channel.php

something like that site should allow you to view F1,Sky sports is extra £10.25 on top of your existing sky package, HD will be an extra £10 if you wish to have it.You can use the sky website to view sky sports though if you have a subscription so can view it anywhere.

Yet another person believing on-line streaming is legal. That site is illegal in streaming broadcast channels without the broadcasters permission - as are any person using P2P software to view those channels. Note also that viewin of subscription channels via sites such as these is theft of Pay TV and yes there a lot of subscription channels listed on that site.

Is this forum now turning into a site for promotion of illegal sites and activities?

ncfc1902

bengalknights wrote: »

Sky sports is extra £10.25 on top of your existing sky package, HD will be an extra £10 if you wish to have it.

Not sure where you've got those prices from?

Single Sky Sports Channel (1 or 2) is £12.25 or All Sky Sports Channels (1, 2 , 3 and 4) is £20.25 a month.
HD is another £10.25 a month.


http://www.sky.com/quickbuy/build

bengalknights

ncfc1902 wrote: »

Not sure where you've got those prices from?

Single Sky Sports Channel (1 or 2) is £12.25 or All Sky Sports Channels (1, 2 , 3 and 4) is £20.25 a month.
HD is another £10.25 a month.


http://www.sky.com/quickbuy/build

If you add the HD Pack its £10.25 a month as the OP mention HD sports.

http://www.sky.com/shop/tv/sports/

ncfc1902

bengalknights wrote: »

Sky sports is extra £10.25 on top of your existing sky package, HD will be an extra £10 if you wish to have it.

bengalknights wrote: »

If you add the HD Pack its £10.25 a month as the OP mention HD sports.

http://www.sky.com/shop/tv/sports/

HD Sports is an extra £10.25 on top of the £20.25 Sky Sports costs on top of a Sky package!
Total monthly cost for a Sky Package with Sky Sports Collection starts at £39.75 or £50 with HD.

knightstyle

Just had this reply from Sky so it looks as if half the races will be Sky exclusive and will cost a lot. You will have to buy a package and then add Sky sports, probably at least SP1 and SP2 to maximize the cost. what a rip off!!!

Thank you for your email concerning the F1.
I can advise that the F1 will be shown on the Sports channels but at the moment we do not know which Sports channel.
Unfortunately customers will not be able to purchase race by race. I have enclosed recent information below:
Even more great news for our customers – today we found out that Sky Sports will be broadcasting Formula 1TM from next year. We’ve been awarded the live rights alongside the BBC to show uninterrupted coverage till 2018. Racing fans will get to watch every race of the season in glorious HD.
The broadcasting partnership will include:
All races, qualifying and practice sessions live on Sky Sports across TV, Online and Mobile and Tablet devices.
Extensive BBC highlights on TV, Online and Mobile , of all races and qualifying sessions that BBC is not covering live
Build up coverage of each Grand Prix on BBC News, Sky Sports News and Sky News
Extensive multi-platform coverage including red button, bbc.co.uk/sport and skysports.com
Be aware though that half the races and qualifying sessions remain live on BBC TV, Online and Mobile . This includes key races such at the British Grand Prix, Monaco Grand Prix and the final race of the season.
As well as unrivalled build up to each race on Sky Sports News, we will broadcast in-depth live coverage of every session. Sky customers with Sky Sports will also be able to enjoy F1TM across multiple platforms and devices, including Sky Go.”
I hope this information has helped with your enquiry. If you require any further assistance, you can respond to my email. You can also contact our Customer Service team on 08442 41 41 41, where one of our advisors will be happy to help.
Kind Regards
Susan
Customer Support Team

To answer the thread, the cheapest way to watch all the races is to buy a French satellite box and a dish aimed at the French satellite. Then watch on TF1 and listen on 5Live.

Oh and sign the petition... http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/keepf1onthebbc

BlondeHeadOn

I'm a big F1 fan too, never miss a race, and all our holidays are usually arranged around the f1 season so we don't miss any of the TV coverage (how sad is that!)

I'm really hacked off at the BBC deal, as this leaves F1 fans in a much worse position to follow our sport - and it's much more expensive if you want to watch on Sky. I refuse to get Sky TV on principle, I intensely dislike the Murdoch empire and ethics, and so will not pay them any money to watch F1. I don't want Sky for any other reason.

We're looking into the German channel option, with radio 5 live for commentary (I quite often listen to that commentary anyway at the moment, and all the time when Jonathan Legard was still commentating on BBC1!) That looks like a cheaper solution, and one that doesn't involve lining the pockets of Sky TV.

I'm a diehard F1 fan, but there is no way I will pay between £400 and £600 a year to see just 10 races (the other 10 will be on the BBC anyway) !!

Oh, an I've alreday signed the petition - I hope it has some effect !!!

prowla

Sky is a great service, but I don't pay for Sports (I used to but stopped when they kept showing poker and other things that don't interest me).
I won't be taking it up again, so I guess I'll skip F1.
I'll survive without it.