ITV to air F1 races and extras online!

[Wizzo]

ITV has agreed a deal to broadcast Formula One races, qualifying and Friday practice sessions on its website. 

The agreement with Formula One Management will see the practice sessions aired in the UK for the first time. ITV.com will also carry highlights packages, interviews, a 30-day catch-up service and clips from post-race press conferences.

ITV director of news and sport Mark Sharman said: “We know from listening to our viewers that there is great demand from motor sport fans to watch F1 practice sessions and press conferences.

"This is yet another example of how we are using ITV’s digital channels and new media platforms to extend our award-winning coverage of sport to complement the big events on ITV1."

The last F1 season achieved its biggest audiences in recent years for the channel thanks to the success of Lewis Hamilton.

[Steven Roy]

I watched the ITV feed. The first session was a complete disaster with very low frame rates and constant crashes.  The second session was pretty good.  A few minor problems but nothing major.  I guess this was a combination of them learning from the first session and reduced demand due to a lot of people going to bed between sessions.  It will be interesting to see how they cope with demand for the first European race when the audience will be much bigger.

[CrazyHorse]

thanks for the info, i wouldnt have known nothing about it otherwise. I have to agree with steven, i'm not that impressed with the coverage/ commentary, i'd rather read what he's saying in a fraction of the time it takes him to say it and watch some decent onboard coverage and listen to the engines

anyone know if they are going to show practice live ?

[Steven Roy]

There is no commentary on the internet video feed and no advert breaks.  They cover every session so 11pm for free practise then qualifying on TV and internet.  You get engine noise and lots of team radio.  If only they had a little bit of Brundle it would be vastly superior to their TV coverage.

For some reason the ITV coverage was running 2 mins 20s ahead of the TVU Wheels coverage.

[Steven Roy]

ccording to the ITV site they are not covering practise only qualifying

[Dare]

There is no commentary on the internet video feed and no advert breaks.  They cover every session so 11pm for free practise then qualifying on TV and internet.  You get engine noise and lots of team radio.  If only they had a little bit of Brundle it would be vastly superior to their TV coverage.

For some reason the ITV coverage was running 2 mins 20s ahead of the TVU Wheels coverage.

when I watch Speed live on TVU and switch to Wheels the coverage is about
1 minute behind

[Steven Roy]

It's normally 45 seconds to a minute behind ITV's TV coverage that is why I was surprised that there was such a gap.

[Steven Roy]

http://www.tvlizer.com/content/view/203/335/

If there are any other hopeless addicts looking for a video feed try the above link.  You can only get a small screen and the commentary is in French

[cosworth151]

I think TVU comes out of the far east, so there is sat. delay in both directions.