why is anger being directed at the BBC?

I don't understand why there has been so much uproar over the BBC/SKY deal.

everyone knows that the BBC has had cuts imposed upon it by the government. why is anger not being directed at them instead?

also the deal that the BBC has done looks good. half of all GPs STILL live and extensive highlights of the rest.
I wish that half of all cricket test matches, half of all premier league football games, half of all major golf tournaments were on free to air TV.

ok I am not a F1 fanatic and only have a passing interest in the sport but I think there has been an over reaction to what compared to a lot of sports these days is actually a good deal

I AM an F1 fanatic, and from my point of view there are plenty of other programmes the BBC could cut. How about one of many cooking shows, or house hunting/renovation shows???

I would have thought that the F1 would bring in lots of views and therefore money.

Maybe its not as simple as that. Still i have sky myself, but dont realyl want to have to spend £30 a month for 5,000 sports channels for the sake of watchign one sport.

I don't understand this either.

If Bernie Ecclestone has asked for too much then the BBC are not going to pay.

The damage has been done by Ecclestone. Formula 1 is a rich sport and surely doesn't need the Sky money? Surely Formula 1 is a sport that could put the fans first. In most sports events covered by terrestial tv and sky, the terrestial tv channel , on average, gets six times more viewers. So if 6m people watch F1 on BBC then 5m will likely not bother/ miss out with Sky next year.

This deal is not only bad for the fans but will also hugely impact on sponsors like Vodafone, Santander and Red Bull who will find the total view covergae over the season drop by around 50%.

f BBC could afford the whole package then maybe Ecclestone & the Beeb could have looked at other options first rather than make F1 fans fork out £45 per race. Could a deal have been done with ITV? How about a Sky deal that would have shown the races on a free-to-view platform like Sky 1 etc?

Ecclestone obviously doesn't care one bit about the fans.

Rather it go to ITV then sky, but i cringe when i say that urrrgh.

F1 probably has that much money they could have their own channel to broadcast the races, which would be available on freesat and terrestrial.

well one thing is certain - the Hungarian Grand Prix won't be on the BBC next year as it will clash with the Olympics.

probably be something like the first round of the Handball event or Archery

No I don't get the anger to the BBC either. It is common knowledge they are in financial cutbacks mode and that even includes their big name presenters.

I solely blame Bernie Ecclestone. He would sell his mother if he could to line his wallet and protect his glamorous lifestyle hence why he has totally disregarded the everyday bloke in the street F1 fan with this deal.

He doesnt need MORE money though, he's loaded enough.

It could be that the BBC are spending big money elsewhere like the reported £900 million on their Salford move.

Whereas the F1 rights for a year are a relative small sum of £45 milion.

Murray Walker's honest view of the situation:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/14367183.stm

Critical Mass - I totally agree.

GeeMonkee - See Murray's view which is pretty much spot on with regards to the BBC.

steveo77 wrote:I don't understand why there has been so much uproar over the BBC/SKY deal.

everyone knows that the BBC has had cuts imposed upon it by the government. why is anger not being directed at them instead?

also the deal that the BBC has done looks good. half of all GPs STILL live and extensive highlights of the rest.
I wish that half of all cricket test matches, half of all premier league football games, half of all major golf tournaments were on free to air TV.

ok I am not a F1 fanatic and only have a passing interest in the sport but I think there has been an over reaction to what compared to a lot of sports these days is actually a good deal

I think you summed it up in your last paragraph. You're not really a fan and have only a "passing interest" therefore it doesn't mean as much to you as it does avid, long-time F1 fans.

The anger and criticism of the BBC stems from the fact it is happy to waste money in other areas, such as the £900m relocation, despite it coming at a time when it is so desperate to save money. F1 has been a high-ratings flagship show for the last 2 years, so you would think they would make more of an effort to come to an agreement which keeps all races free to air.

Further anger comes from the way the BBC has treated our complaints, giving us the usual corporate spin and rubbish, trying to tell us its a good deal when we can all see its anything but. It may be the best deal they could come up with, but don't try and tell us its GOOD!

However I think at least half the resentment is actually directed squarely at Bernie Ecclestone, who only last season told us that selling to Sky would be bad news for the sport.

Its fine if you already subscribe to Sky Sports, but what about if you happen to be outraged at Mr Murdoch and his media empire in the wake of the phone hacking scandal and refuse (or simply can't afford to) give him your hard-earned money?