Murdoch Might Take F1 Pay-Per-View

[Ian]

I pay £145.50 for a tv licence, this goes to the BBC who at the moment screen F1 so in effect I am on PPV. If F1 goes to Sky, I not only still have to pay £145.50 for the tv licence I also then have to pay Sky to watch it, so I am paying twice for the same thing. If that happens they can stick F1 where the sun does'nt shine. Sky has ruined football for the fans by dictating to the clubs when they play. A pox on Sky.

[John S]

Not to pick on Cos in particular, but what's the hate on PPV?  Watching a 2 hour race for the same price as a two hour movie strikes me as fair.  I wouldn't pay the same rates as boxing PPV, but $5 or $10 a race, with a proper pre/post race show and no commercials would be fine.

It's more about the principle Jeri, F1 coverage has always been on terrestrial TV in Britain funded either from the licence fee or adverts when commercial TV showed it. There does not appear to be a sound reason behind a change, e.g. F1's financial health, so most of us over here can't see any merit in PPV. Indeed the big downside is we shall all have to pay for something we take for granted is already funded by us, either directly or indirectly. Any extra charge, however small it start's off at, will cause most of us to desert the official TV coverage  and maybe even F1. 

Now if F1 does go PPV the much hyped idea of a rival series, especially if it's on the so called 'free to air' channels could become an unstoppable force. Ferrari, Mercedes McLaren and almost certainly Red Bull would all gain a lot from such a breakaway. The first three would most likely do it to free themselves from the FOM & FIA constraints and keep their high income from sponsors, RBR for more straight forward commercial reasons - you can sell more cans if many more people see the racing.




   

[Scott]

The last part of what John said is exactly why F1 will not become PPV.  Boxing works because there are hardly any sponsors (and not many WANT to be sponsors) to see during a match.  They needed PPV to survive as a broadcast sport. 

F1 is the exact opposite.  If there is a second in F1 where you can't see a logo of some kind, someone has not done their job properly.  If F1 goes PPV, the sponsors will desert the sport and look for something else.

In the mean time, if somehow clear thinking doesn't understand that, and Murdock actually is able to bring it in until the breakaway series gets up and running, we will all have to wait for the pirate version of each race to pop up on the internet a day or two later.

[cosworth151]

What's to like about PPV. I'd have to almost double my monthly cable bill just to be able to get PPV. I'm already paying Time Worthless a small fortune every month. Why should I double that just so I can pay even more for what I'm already paying for.

If most people stopped paying for PPV, what would they do? Stop televising the sport or take it free again.

Back in the 90's, they tried to take the NASCAR race at Pocono PPV. The fans not only boycotted the broadcast, they boycotted the race, the race's title sponsor and anyone else involved. That was they end of NASCAR PPV.

[Canada Darrell™]

For what its worth our local NHL hockey team had about 12-15 of their 82 games/year as PPV events. You had to call your local cable company and pay $12 for Slum-Def or $16 for HD to watch the game. They had been doing this for about the past 10 years I think.

Then suddenly this year there were no more PPV games and all 82 games were televised on regular cable. The games that would have been PPV were moved to a channel that required me to add another tier to my cable package but that only added about $4 to my monthly bill. Still a huge savings for me rather than purchasing 12 games @ $16 each!

So Cos is right. Stay away. Don't pay. They'll eventually see the light and come crawling back. They might control the media but we control them through our money.

[Jeff Benson]

Absolutely right! I am also paying double and now I’ll not do it

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[Dare]

I'd be willing to pay the Speed Channel a fair price for
monthly streaming,say $7 a month.They'd receive extra
income and many make many F1 fans happy,but it
won't happen

[lkjohnson1950]

Bernie now says that he has an agreement with the EU to block this sale, though a couple of commentators already said the EU probably wouldn't permit it. What is being discussed is adding a PPV for a small fee that would provide extra coverage like more in car, more pit coverage etc. You might even be able to choose for example, a McLaren feed which would highlight the Mclaren Team. All very what if so far.

Lonny

[Scott]

As long as starting down that road doesn't lead to poorer coverage for the free-to-air version and more extensive for PPV.

[Canada Darrell™]

As long as starting down that road doesn't lead to poorer coverage for the free-to-air version and more extensive for PPV.

Yeah, like "if you want the HD you gotta pay for it!" 

[cosworth151]

I heard this on the way to work yesterday morning. NPR sports correspondent Frank Deford on how PPV killed boxing.

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/11/136149104/pacman-last-of-the-great-boxers

[Jericoke]

I heard this on the way to work yesterday morning. NPR sports correspondent Frank Deford on how PPV killed boxing.

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/11/136149104/pacman-last-of-the-great-boxers

PPV works fine for Wrestling and MMA.  (Not that I'm suggesting it would work for F1... just pointing out that PPV isn't the problem with boxing.)

[cosworth151]

It looks like this idea died with Murdoch's bid for B-sky-B.

[markfarrell9572]

Hopefully Murdoch and F1 is a thing of the past.  There are times when F1 doesn't cover itself in glory, and selling out to News International or News Corp or any Murdoch group at the moment wouldn't help.  It seems to be a group without any conscience or sense of Justice.

[John S]

It seems to be a group without any conscience or sense of Justice.

Sounds like a perfect fit for the FIA and Bernie.