Bernie Ecclestone, Martin Whitmarsh say splitting Formula 1 broadcast will be beneficial – Formula 1
Formula 1 chief Bernie Ecclestone and Chairman of Formula One Teams Association Martin Whitmarsh claim that splitting the broadcast rights for Formula 1 will help improve the viewership of the sport.
Ecclestone said, “It's good for Formula One. For sure there are going to be a lot more people viewing, and a lot more opportunities for people to view, so from that point I'm very happy. I've been finalising this all night long and one or two things might
change a little.”
Bernie added that Sky Sports will live telecast all the races and everything else of F1. On the other side BBC will air 50 percent of the weekend live and after the race weekend is done, it will show the highlights. He also said that BBC might use delayed
transmission of the sport.
It is said that from the 2012 half of the F1 season, it will be aired live at Great Britain via the BBC network. In order to watch the complete season live, the viewers will have to get a full subscription of Sky channel. It is the first time ever that the
UK viewers will have to pay to watch the season live.
Whitmarsh said, “From what Bernie has said its better than expected. The BBC will show every grand prix in full, half of them live and half of them deferred, so free-to-air is available to everyone. Sky sound like they are really going to commit to it as
well, so it sounds like there is a little bit of competition between the BBC and Sky.”
Whitmarsh quoted Bernie that his claim reveals that the viewers will not suffer and instead it will help to increase the number of viewers in UK. He said the delayed race coverage will also be a great full race broadcast rather than the highlights.
The deal also risks the sponsors to suffer from lack of exposure as the restricted broadcast can be a critical situation. However, let’s see how the viewers in UK react to this news and to what an extent they are willing to pay to watch Formula 1.
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