F1 on BBC from 2009

Zaphod

The BBC has secured the television rights to show Formula One in the UK from the 2009 season.

The five-year deal marks the return of the sport to BBC screens 12 years after ITV began broadcasting Grands Prix.

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone said: "I am delighted to conclude this new deal with the BBC.

"It is an exciting time in Formula One and the BBC has some innovative new ideas to consolidate and expand our UK fan base."

The deal covers all platforms and will see F1 broadcast on the BBC Sport website, as well as on TV and radio.

Dominic Coles, BBC Sport director of sport rights, said: "The biggest motorsporting event in the world is returning home after 12 years.

"We were delighted when Bernie Ecclestone approached us about the return of F1 to the BBC.

"F1 is a crown jewel of sports broadcasting, so to bring the rights back to their traditional home from 2009 is tremendously exciting.

"Fans will be able to enjoy uninterrupted, state of the art and innovative coverage from BBC Sport, across all of our TV, radio and new media platforms, for the first time since 1996."

Might get to see it in HD sooner rather than later.

Doodah7

I was delighted to see this news this morning. No more ad breaks during races!! It will be interesting to see what interactive features they employ on satellite. I would hope that they would have a couple of streams based on the in-car camera of a couple of drivers, pitstops etc.

dmeehan

excellent, no more ad-breaks in the middle of a race. i will be tempted to ditch setanta when this starts

jhegarty

Now if only they can get Murray back......

Ozzie

That's funny, I was just watching the last BBC Grand Prix programme on Youtube! Well worth a look!

Mint Sauce

great news, no adds, shame no murray though, although might get, think her names suzi perry, she presents the moto gp or superbikes on the beeb

Mossy Monk

At least the BBC might show all the practice sessions live.

god's toy

Mossy Monk wrote: »

At least the BBC might show all the practice sessions live.

Someone told me you can see those live on itv.com/f1




Anyone know if this means the end of F1 on ITV?

Mossy Monk

I'd assume it is if the BBC have the rights.

I'd rather watch sport on tv if the choice is there instead of the internet.

channelsurfer

on a related topic itv have secured the first pick of wednesday night matches for the champions league. (the reason they dropped the F1 seeminly).

cant see rte ending up with their current first pick on both nights when the irish rights are decided. setanta will blow them out of the water as sky did in the uk to pick up all the other rights. expect a joint tv3/setanta bid with tv picking up probably the wednesday and setanta everything else???

Mossy Monk

If Setanta are going to be offering all other games then they better sort themselves out.

kaizersoze

god's toy wrote: »

Anyone know if this means the end of F1 on ITV?

Yes. They ended their contract 2 years early to pave the way for the BBC

DMC

god's toy wrote: »

Anyone know if this means the end of F1 on ITV?

They will show the rest of this season. 2009 will be on the BBC.

I would say that live practice etc, will be red button goodness.

The details of the contract were that ITV had the chance to opt out at this point, and it appears in order to ensure it had the funds to secure the Champions League deal, ITV told Bernie.

kbell

Spotted something on sky news as i was leaving this morning that the beeb are interested in using Clarkson, May, and Hammond for the race commentry.

Mental Mickey

kbell wrote: »

Spotted something on sky news as i was leaving this morning that the beeb are interested in using Clarkson, May, and Hammond for the race commentry.

AFAIK, Hammond will definetly be involved. It would be soooo cool to have the 3 of em doing commentary. Jim Rosenthal and Steve Rider were just soooooooo........................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

DMC

Yes..... if the Top Gear lads weren't to present it, I expect them to do an F1 special.... Monaco?
Most people are keen to see Martin Brundle kept on, but use Ben Edwards or David Croft (5 live) as the main commentator.

And can we got back to calling it Grand Prix again? It was never F1 when the BBC last had it. Grand Prix ftw

god's toy

DMC wrote: »

They will show the rest of this season. 2009 will be on the BBC.
.....
I would say that live practice etc, will be red button goodness.

Oh that would be so darn cool! I have high hopes for red button action but that would be the dogs nuts!

dulpit

Top Gear lads via red button maybe? Like when sky do some sports you can red button to access different commentaries... BBC do it already with their sports (able to listen to 5 live commentary)