SKY TV extends its deal with F1

[John S]

Anyone in Britain living in hope that F1 would return to Free to air TV will be disappointed, we're in for 7 more years of pay to view live. 
Guess it also means we will also continue to be shut out of the cheaper F1 TV Pro subscription live feed in UK for all that time. 

Formula One announced today that they have extended their partnership with Sky in broadcasting F1 races in the markets they serve.
Sky UK & Ireland will retain their rights through 2029.
Sky Germany and Sky Italy will retain their broadcast rights through 2027.

[Andy B]

Unfortunately Sky NZ lost the contract to Spark Sport who are useless so in my frustration I dumped them and now only read about F1.

[rmassart]

I know this is not the most straightforward idea, but I watch F1 on Bulgarian TV (my wife is Bulgarian...) using https://neterra.tv/.  It's about €7 / month (cheaper if you subscribe for a whole year). I get to watch all the Formula 1 and Football across Europe, including the Premier League. Admittedly the commentary is in Bulgarian, but they are usually not saying anything worthwhile anyway!

You will probably need to use Google translate to use the site but getting to live TV and then finding the correct channel (one of the Diema Sport channels) is quite straightforward. You can then stream it to a chromecast or other such devices.

[Andy B]

My problem here is that very few of the races are on at reasonable times and my preference is to watch live but not at 2 and 3 in the morning.

[Robem64]

My big beef with the Sky deal is the fact I have to take out a subscription to watch ALL the Sky Sports channels - I only watch the F1 and they really need to offer an F1 channel only deal. I pretty much enjoy all the presenters and I enjoy Crofty's commentary and Ted's notebook. I wish they'd get rid of Simon Lazenby - he's hopeless and the amount of times I've heard him ask a question of someone that they've answered 30 seconds before is countless. It shows he's not really listening and he adds nothing to the coverage whatsover - in fact, for me he detracts from it!

I've caught a little bit of the official F1 TV - it might be cheaper but the bits I saw suggested the presenters are even more annoying!

[cosworth151]

ESPN's new 3 year contract with F1 calls for "a number" of the races to move to their ESPN+ pay streaming channel. We'd have to pay for a year's worth of soccer, bubble gum card flipping and other junk I wouldn't ever watch. It's about the same price as F1TV Pro.

[Alianora La Canta]

One of my friends has Sky, so I will end up getting a version of qualifying on it, but I strongly dislike Sky's takes on things - I think it has resulted in a weakening of the sport's integrity as Liberty tries to pander to its tastes. I'd much rather Channel 4 got the full season - or indeed any free-to-air channel. Liberty needs to realise the highest bidder isn't necessarily the best bidder for F1 in any given market. (I dare say Andy B, despite preferring Sky, would agree with me on that point).

[Andy B]

One of my friends has Sky, so I will end up getting a version of qualifying on it, but I strongly dislike Sky's takes on things - I think it has resulted in a weakening of the sport's integrity as Liberty tries to pander to its tastes. I'd much rather Channel 4 got the full season - or indeed any free-to-air channel. Liberty needs to realise the highest bidder isn't necessarily the best bidder for F1 in any given market. (I dare say Andy B, despite preferring Sky, would agree with me on that point).

I would as Sky was out bid by Spark Sport.