It could be worse I suppose, the BBC will still be allowed to show half of the races live including the two important ones - Monaco and Britain. They also get the season-finale race but that may or may not be worth seeing because, like this year, the championship may have been decided earlier.
It could also have been worse in that as recently as this month, there was much talk of a possible take-over of the whole of F1 by Murdoch. I think and hope that the phone-hacking scandal has put pay to all that.
That ESPN article article claims that Bernie is very good friends with the Murdochs but it's apparently impossible to find a photo of them together - I wonder why?
My main objection to Sky taking over another sport though is that I (and there are many others too) am too stingy, poor and Murdoch-hating to pay and will not be able to see as much live action.
It also means we will see less of these guys
which is a shame.Still, Bernie here will have done a good deal, he always does.
Mind you, Rupert is also known for his hard-dealing - I guess the best businessman will have won out - I'm sure there wouldn't be any dirty tricks involved.Hang on, isn't Bernie using a mobile phone in that picture?
I hope no-one's hacked into it.
This story has moved on a pace since I posted. The BBC's head of F1 has tried to justify it in his blog here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sporteditors/2011/07/f1_coverage_to_be_shared_betwe.html
and received to date 2400 angry replies and counting.
Meanwhile there is a petition here
http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/keepf1onthebbc
with approaching 10000 signatures (including mine) and counting.
Being an arch Murdoch despiser I'm rather put out by this but why is the BBC agreeing to a half-arsed coverage. F1 is a hugely expensive and exclusive sport and without mass media coverage it would not exist. There are many other motor sports that could be covered and many of these will be more accessible to your average petrol-head whether this at Oulton Park, Knock Hill or the Isle of Man. Anyway, all I can say for anyone who wants to watch F1 without paying that Yankee-Australian c*n7 for the privilege is *cough* German Satellite *cough*.
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