planetf1.com

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/form ... ts-999391/

This seems like a really random change to me, I'd much rather they left things as they are.

They want to improve ratings?

Get the sport out from behind a paywall and let the masses see it on FTA.

As an Australian, its just another kick in the ar$e.

Make it earlier not later! On Grand Prix day I'm too excited to get anything done until it's over.

It's an attempt to improve television viewing in the US, this has nothing to do with F1.
If it "works", then F1 will become even sillier than it already is. If it doesn't, F1 will be up for sale in a few years time. But who will want it, after a number of fans have gone on to other Sunday interests?

It wouldn't bother me personally, being in the UK. Having said that, I am slightly annoyed that Liberty Media seem intent on trying to mend things that aren't broken.

I live in the Central time zone in the US, and have been getting up at 6:30am to watch/record the European races starting at 7am for decades. I don't mind this schedule at all, and don't think that Liberty Media should change it, if the goal is a wider US TV audience.

There are four time zones in the US, so shifting race start times one hour later will not make it more convenient for all time zones... Someone will always have to set the alarm for an early wake up if they want to watch the race live. Loyal fans on the west coast (4:30am get up) will simply "suit themselves" as they always have, and use DVR capabilities that they currently use... moving the start to 6am will not make LaLa Landers happier. Heck, the reputation is that some of them don't go to bed til 1-2am as it is (LOL)

So I don't get the point. It is what it is in the US, and the existing fan base here will NOT balloon significantly with such piddling. I agree with Underviewer that Liberty is trying to "fix things that aren't broken."

Silly really, in this age of the DVR.

The problem with watching it via DVR is that it makes trying to follow a replay of the live timing stream in sync with the race is a PITA. And live timing is half the fun for me especially with races where's there not much else going on in the race.

MB-BOB wrote:I live in the Central time zone in the US, and have been getting up at 6:30am to watch/record the European races starting at 7am for decades. I don't mind this schedule at all, and don't think that Liberty Media should change it, if the goal is a wider US TV audience.

There are four time zones in the US, so shifting race start times one hour later will not make it more convenient for all time zones... Someone will always have to set the alarm for an early wake up if they want to watch the race live. Loyal fans on the west coast (4:30am get up) will simply "suit themselves" as they always have, and use DVR capabilities that they currently use... moving the start to 6am will not make LaLa Landers happier. Heck, the reputation is that some of them don't go to bed til 1-2am as it is (LOL)

So I don't get the point. It is what it is in the US, and the existing fan base here will NOT balloon significantly with such piddling. I agree with Underviewer that Liberty is trying to "fix things that aren't broken."

Actually, for the most part, it will. The example you gave of watching races at 7am central basically means that people on the west coast see that race at 5am and people on the east coast see it at 8am. Everyone in that scenario would benefit from a later start time.

This is probably something that comes from an actuarial model of how to maximize their TV audience. They have to factor in the pay TV aspect of their European audience. For the last decade, F1 has tailored all of it's coverage and race start times to the European audience. During that time, the European audience has done nothing but shrink. They need to explore ways to grow the business and Europe may actually not be the growth market they're looking for.

RaggedMan wrote:The problem with watching it via DVR is that it makes trying to follow a replay of the live timing stream in sync with the race is a PITA. And live timing is half the fun for me especially with races where's there not much else going on in the race.

I agree live is more exciting, but not sure really whay you mean re the replay bit.

One thing I think may be an issue is that the 3:10 pm start time will now be a direct conflict with other sports events on TV, including INDY and Nascar. I like that it's in the morning and not a conflict.

as a viewer in the states, i used to enjoy getting up early in the morning and watching live. since the dvr and i have gotten older, i really like the dvr.
changing the start time a little isn't going to increase viewership in the states at all

Have to agree, I live in Florida, and getting up early is part of the ritual of seeing the races, it also leaves the rest of the day open for other activities.

The problem I saw was the adds, they showed mote add than the race itself, so I watched it on Mexican TV as they showed no adds during the race, I speak spanish also so I did not mind the spanish comentary.

Its not the time the problem, to me the ridiculous ammount of adds is something they should correct, it is so bad that most of the race was shown in picture in picture format as they show the adds.

Give no adds live showing and I will wake up early or stay late, just give me good quality viewing.

Start the Far East races so that it isn't the middle of the night in the US.

3 AM start times suck.

A one hour difference isnt going to change anything... good or bad. NASCAR races don't start untill 11am EST at the earliest, and other than the 500, Indy car starts are generally later than that. If F1 starts at 8 instead of 7, the race and post race will be over well before.

What I hope to see the end of is part of the broadcast on one channel and part on another... that I usually can't find. That also screws up attempts to record the race and post race.

Blake wrote:What I hope to see the end of is part of the broadcast on one channel and part on another... that I usually can't find. That also screws up attempts to record the race and post race.

MB-BOB wrote:I live in the Central time zone in the US, and have been getting up at 6:30am to watch/record the European races starting at 7am for decades. I don't mind this schedule at all, and don't think that Liberty Media should change it, if the goal is a wider US TV audience.

There are four time zones in the US, so shifting race start times one hour later will not make it more convenient for all time zones... Someone will always have to set the alarm for an early wake up if they want to watch the race live. Loyal fans on the west coast (4:30am get up) will simply "suit themselves" as they always have, and use DVR capabilities that they currently use... moving the start to 6am will not make LaLa Landers happier. Heck, the reputation is that some of them don't go to bed til 1-2am as it is (LOL)

So I don't get the point. It is what it is in the US, and the existing fan base here will NOT balloon significantly with such piddling. I agree with Underviewer that Liberty is trying to "fix things that aren't broken."

Well it will help. It takes it from 'horribly inconvenient' to 'slightly less horribly inconvenient'.

I don't the point about Liberty trying to fix things that aren't broken. They seem to have a coherent vision to make F1 exciting to the fans, and to open it up to as many new fans as possible. They can't go tearing up TV Contracts which were already in place (and the world is shifting to an exclusively Pay TV model anyway). Doing this doesn't mean its all their doing, all it means is they're trying to optimise everything possible as much as they can. This being F1, most of the 'broken' things are there for another reason and aren't so easy to change.

Makes no difference to me really after this year, because from 2019 I won't be watching a race live anyway. I've followed F1 for over 30 years now and next year will be the first year I will not watch a race live on TV.

I already pay enough for my TV subscription package, there is no way I am paying around £30 a month more just to watch F1.

It'll be a sad day for me as F1 is one of the few sports I do follow, but I'm sure I'll find something else to do

mmi16 wrote:Start the Far East races so that it isn't the middle of the night in the US.

3 AM start times suck.

i don't think there is anything they could, or should do about that. the paying customer at the gate should come before the viewers in another country. but yes, before dvr, it did suck staying up most the night to watch those

Exediron wrote:

Blake wrote:What I hope to see the end of is part of the broadcast on one channel and part on another... that I usually can't find. That also screws up attempts to record the race and post race.

Ive also experienced those wo's myself and what i did to counter that was set my dvr to record using keywords such as grand prix, f1, post race, etc and it will record any thing and everything with that in the discription or title. Yes u will get stuff u dont want but more often then not it was f1..... [Ex] 2 years ago in brazil the race ran extremely long and coverage was cut short on my reg recording searched the browser and f1 was no where to be found. Turned off the tv annoyed and when i came back the dvr was recording a program labeled "figure skating" lmfao i was like wtf is this but when i read the discription it read post race. Opened it up and was the remainder of the broadcast i had lost earlier. So it worked out.

Not sure this makes sense. Have they thought about their existing TV cash-cow of asian markets? Shifting the races to late Sunday prime time makes zero sense commercially. Not sure if TV broadcasters from Oceania, China, South east asia and India will be happy with this shift. Will clash with lot of local sports and Sunday special family television broadcasts.

SteveW wrote:Makes no difference to me really after this year, because from 2019 I won't be watching a race live anyway. I've followed F1 for over 30 years now and next year will be the first year I will not watch a race live on TV.

I already pay enough for my TV subscription package, there is no way I am paying around £30 a month more just to watch F1.

It'll be a sad day for me as F1 is one of the few sports I do follow, but I'm sure I'll find something else to do

There is another option

MistaVega23 wrote:

SteveW wrote:Makes no difference to me really after this year, because from 2019 I won't be watching a race live anyway. I've followed F1 for over 30 years now and next year will be the first year I will not watch a race live on TV.

I already pay enough for my TV subscription package, there is no way I am paying around £30 a month more just to watch F1.

It'll be a sad day for me as F1 is one of the few sports I do follow, but I'm sure I'll find something else to do

There is another option

Oh I know

It's what I do currently when I'm at home and a race isn't live on C4 (just didn't think this was the place to discuss alternative methods )

The downside obviously is that I can't record it to watch in full at a later time with that option, so I have to make a point of being in

SteveW wrote:

MistaVega23 wrote:

SteveW wrote:Makes no difference to me really after this year, because from 2019 I won't be watching a race live anyway. I've followed F1 for over 30 years now and next year will be the first year I will not watch a race live on TV.

I already pay enough for my TV subscription package, there is no way I am paying around £30 a month more just to watch F1.

It'll be a sad day for me as F1 is one of the few sports I do follow, but I'm sure I'll find something else to do

There is another option

Oh I know

It's what I do currently when I'm at home and a race isn't live on C4 (just didn't think this was the place to discuss alternative methods )

The downside obviously is that I can't record it to watch in full at a later time with that option, so I have to make a point of being in

It isn't

Please leave that discussion there!

All in all
it’s just another
kick in the balls

For the Aussies here, remember the good ol’ days when Channel 9 had the FTA broadcast rights and Bernie ran the show? Back then I never thought I find myself typing out that sentence.

Cheers,
Noel

Strange things are afoot at the Circle K

SteveW wrote:

MistaVega23 wrote:

SteveW wrote:Makes no difference to me really after this year, because from 2019 I won't be watching a race live anyway. I've followed F1 for over 30 years now and next year will be the first year I will not watch a race live on TV.

I already pay enough for my TV subscription package, there is no way I am paying around £30 a month more just to watch F1.

It'll be a sad day for me as F1 is one of the few sports I do follow, but I'm sure I'll find something else to do

There is another option

Oh I know

It's what I do currently when I'm at home and a race isn't live on C4 (just didn't think this was the place to discuss alternative methods )

The downside obviously is that I can't record it to watch in full at a later time with that option, so I have to make a point of being in

We'll leave that there

Besides, what's happening with FOM's proposed new digital platform for 2018? It's gone quiet for the last couple of months...

MistaVega23 wrote: We'll leave that there

Besides, what's happening with FOM's proposed new digital platform for 2018? It's gone quiet for the last couple of months...

Now, IF (and it's probably a BIG if) they offered a digital streaming platform for say £10 or so a month, with the ability to start watching the race in full at any time in case you're busy for the first 30 mins for example, I'd probably pay it, and not even begrudgingly.

I used to have Sky before I had to switch to Virgin Media due to moving into a rented house that I couldn't put a Sky dish on the outside of. The subscription I had included the HD channels for an extra tenner a month and at the time it also included Sky Sports F1 HD so I didn't have to pay for the full Sky Sports subscription that would be a waste of money for me as I am not in the least bit interested in football, cricket, golf etc.

RaggedMan wrote:The problem with watching it via DVR is that it makes trying to follow a replay of the live timing stream in sync with the race is a PITA. And live timing is half the fun for me especially with races where's there not much else going on in the race.

This, for me watching without live timing isn't really watching it.

I do think they should leave the start times unchanged. I thought the "don't fix if it ain't broke" formula would apply with LM, but obviously it doesn't. I'm really starting to wonder what other garbage they are going to come up with next.

This is now official:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13417 ... e-for-2018

owenmahamilton wrote:This is now official:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13417 ... e-for-2018

A ten minute delay? Is that all we are getting uptight about?

What about the non-european races? The season was much easier to follow when they all had the same 2pm local time start.

Liberty is a US company, and it is logical to assume they would try out things more in step with US practices.

With this change in schedule, Liberty are (indirectly) addressing the Pay TV issue, that it serves a cornered and contained market, and is a dead end for any progress. You can not grow from Pay TV, you just reap the rewards. Free to air is the path for drawing in new viewers and fans, and offers growth.

I live in Canada and enjoy free to air. I have my entire life. I consider watching ads as reasonable compensation, because asking me to pay for a series is just plain nuts. No way.

And now on the the second question .. why is there so much favoritism towards Europe? Basically the schedule leans heavily towards pleasing the European TV audience with very convenient time slots. But if Formula One is to become truly global and draw in larger audiences by forgotten markets, then they must accommodate the local schedules.

Blake wrote:

owenmahamilton wrote:This is now official:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13417 ... e-for-2018

A ten minute delay? Is that all we are getting uptight about?

It's an hour and 10 minute delay from 14:00 local time to 15:10 local time

owenmahamilton wrote:

Blake wrote:

owenmahamilton wrote:This is now official:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13417 ... e-for-2018

A ten minute delay? Is that all we are getting uptight about?

It's an hour and 10 minute delay from 14:00 local time to 15:10 local time

Pushed back an hr only for the european and brazilian gp but everything else has only delayed the race start 10min. But the actual tv broadcast starts on the hr. This is to allow people to watch the "tense moments" leading to lights out

"European & Brazillian gp...... it has been decided to move the schedule of every session back by one hour across the whole weekend for each of the above-mentioned Grands Prix."

Source: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/head ... -2018.html

Jezza13 wrote:They want to improve ratings?

Get the sport out from behind a paywall and let the masses see it on FTA.

As an Australian, its just another kick in the ar$e.

Nail on the head.
I struggled to make it to 10PM starts, now that it's 11PM I won't even bother.

The real question is will there be any light at 6:30-7PM when the 4 hour race window ends? Considering most delayed races will be wet and dark, I have my doubts.

Seriously, what is it with 10 minutes delay?

Do we expect a mystery guest to show up before all the drivers do the warming-up lap?

Blinky McSquinty wrote:Liberty is a US company, and it is logical to assume they would try out things more in step with US practices.

With this change in schedule, Liberty are (indirectly) addressing the Pay TV issue, that it serves a cornered and contained market, and is a dead end for any progress. You can not grow from Pay TV, you just reap the rewards. Free to air is the path for drawing in new viewers and fans, and offers growth.

I live in Canada and enjoy free to air. I have my entire life. I consider watching ads as reasonable compensation, because asking me to pay for a series is just plain nuts. No way.

And now on the the second question .. why is there so much favoritism towards Europe? Basically the schedule leans heavily towards pleasing the European TV audience with very convenient time slots. But if Formula One is to become truly global and draw in larger audiences by forgotten markets, then they must accommodate the local schedules.

F1 is a global sport blinky that is European centric as the sport began in Europe, most teams are based in Europe and most races are in Europe.

If Liberty really want to grow the sport I would have thought they'd manipulate the start times to better cater for the Asian market. China has over 1 billion people and so does the country on the other side of the Himalayas. S/E Asia has a population of over half a billion. That's about what, 35 odd % of the global population that's ripe for the picking where's there's pretty much no motor racing competition. The US has predominantly NASCAR and Indy already well established as the major motor racing competitions, plus other sports such as NFL, MLB, NBA & NH and lets not forget Monster trucks.

Also, if LM have decided to get in step with US practices, can we now look forward to drivers thanking 48 sponsors at every interview, oval racing and parts of the race being sponsored e.g,"Now Vettel will serve his drive through penalty, sponsored by McDonalds. McDonalds drive through, getting you back on the road quicker"

**Disclaimer**

To all our friends States side, take most of the above post, particularly the last paragraph, not as a hostile belittlement of your culture but as a humorous critique only. I wasn't going to add this but I really can't be bothered defending my post to those who may have temporarily misplaced their sense of humour.

Jezza13 wrote:Also, if LM have decided to get in step with US practices, can we now look forward to drivers thanking 48 sponsors at every interview, oval racing and parts of the race being sponsored e.g,"Now Vettel will serve his drive through penalty, sponsored by McDonalds. McDonalds drive through, getting you back on the road quicker"

**Disclaimer**

To all our friends States side, take most of the above post, particularly the last paragraph, not as a hostile belittlement of your culture but as a humorous critique only. I wasn't going to add this but I really can't be bothered defending my post to those who may have temporarily misplaced their sense of humour.

Nope, I can't defend that practice at all. The whole sponsorship jargon here is totally out of control.

"This overtake replay is brought to you by Bud Light"

Aaargh I hate the phrase "brought to you by"! I hope I'll never hear it in a F1 broadcast.

Later start time surely means some circuits, in the wet especially could end up near dark at the race end? (Japan, Brazil etc)

2fast wrote:Seriously, what is it with 10 minutes delay?

Do we expect a mystery guest to show up before all the drivers do the warming-up lap?

Apparently, they want those broadcasters who start their transmission on the hour, to be able to show the tension and emotion that is supposedly there for us to see during the build-up. I can't personally say I ever feel much tension in what drivers say during the build-up, and even less when forced to listen to celebrities I have never heard of.

Yet I can see an opportunity for putting those 10 minutes to good use; allowing the grid girls to be seen along their respective cars, before marching off. Until they get the axe, obviously.

No, it all makes perfect sense to me!