# Off-Topic Discussion > Sports >  Formula 1 - Season 2012

## Perdita

The BBC and Sky Sports will broadcast Formula 1 in the UK between 2012 and 2018 under a new rights deal.

The BBC has been the exclusive broadcaster of F1 in the UK since 2009 but its contract with Formula One Management was due to expire after the 2013 season. 

Sky Sports will show every race, qualifying session and practice live. 

BBC Sport will broadcast half the races live, as well as the qualifying and practice sessions from those races. 

Both companies will broadcast in high definition. 

Races screened by the BBC will be live on the BBC Sport website for UK users. 

The BBC will have highlights on TV, online and mobile for any race it is not showing live, and all races will be broadcast on BBC Radio 5 live. 

Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport, said: "We are absolutely delighted that F1 will remain on the BBC. 

"The sport has never been more popular with TV audiences at a 10-year high and the BBC has always stated its commitment to the big national sporting moments. 

"With this new deal not only have we delivered significant savings but we have also ensured that through our live and extended highlights coverage all the action continues to be available to licence-fee payers." 

Races shown live on BBC TV will include the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the Monaco GP and the concluding race of the season. 

Barney Francis, managing director of Sky Sports, said: "This is fantastic news for F1 fans and Sky Sports will be the only place to follow every race live and in HD. 

"We will give F1 the full Sky Sports treatment with a commitment to each race never seen before on UK television." 


BBC News

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## Siobhan

That is just pants.. half the races on BBC... Sky will have a million ads and you have to get sky sports to see it.. that is totally not fair

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Chloe O'brien (30-07-2011)

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## alan45

******* this. Bloody SKY. I have no intention of subscribing to Murdoch just to watch my favourite sport. Bernie Ecclestone is as greedy as Murdoch.  Lets hope there is some internet channell we can log in to so as we can see this :Angry:  :Angry:  :Angry:

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Chloe O'brien (30-07-2011), Siobhan (29-07-2011)

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## Chloe O'brien

F1 belongs on the bbc.  I don't want to see endless adverts, which is what will happen from next year.  I can see it now Hamilton and Alonso will be battling for pole like last week and there will be be bloody adverts right in the middle of one them overtaking.

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## Siobhan

I missed yesterday race cause I was flying so caught highlights (if you can call it that) here on Germany TV... 10 mins, then ads for 10 mins.. another 5 mins and then ads for 10.. it went on and on.. I only found out from the BBC site that Hamilton got a penalty... yet they showed 20 laps of Schumacher and massa...

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## alan45

Long story short. 

Hamilton put Vettel under pressure from the start and as usual vettel lost it going wide on corner. Tit for tat between Hamilton an Button. Lewis made a bad pit call for a tyre change which wasn't needed. He got a drive through penalty for causing someone to leave track when he did a doughnut. Jenson won

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## Siobhan

thanks alan for that... I did catch some of it... some of the up front battles were great...

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## Chloe O'brien

Oh we have found a weakness in young Mr Vettel  :EEK!:  Three races without a win.  Brilliant result for Jensen after the fiasco at Silverston.

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## Siobhan

> Oh we have found a weakness in young Mr Vettel  Three races without a win.  Brilliant result for Jensen after the fiasco at Silverston.


Was reading Webber's blog yesterday and he made a good point, if you actually look at a lot of the races that Vettel did win, he was not miles ahead of everyone.. look at Monaco and Turkey.. he was been pressured the whole time.. McLaren and Ferrari have improved but the Redbulls are still there.. any of the races this year could have been won by any of the top teams.. you just don't see it that way cause Vettel did win 6 races out of the first 8.... He will be back and he has company with him.. even if rest were won by Hamilton, button or Alonso, Vettel only once finishe outside the podium this year(and that was a 4th place).. he keeps that up, he is world champion again


and also Webber is second in the championship, he has never won a race.. they are consistent those RB

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## Siobhan

(courtesy of the BBC)

Wonder if I can get away with photoshopping myself in the middle of this?

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## alan45

And there was me thinking it was you

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Siobhan (26-08-2011)

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## Chloe O'brien

I was just thinking that about myself Shiv.  That female has to be the luckiest woman alive COW!!!

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## Siobhan

That lucky cow is Vettel's PR guru and she gets to hang out with him all the time... I don't like her  :Angry:  :Angry:  (only cause it really should be me and she is pretty)

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## Chloe O'brien

Well it's about time she was hit by a bolt of lighting so I can get her job.  I would be so much better as a PR Guru  :Big Grin:

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## alan45

Seb doesnt know what he is missing. If I was F1 world champion I would hire the two of you as my PA/PR Guru  :Big Grin:

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Chloe O'brien (03-09-2011), Siobhan (03-09-2011)

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## Perdita

The BBC has announced the 10 Formula One races that it will show live next season as part of its new joint broadcasting deal with Sky, while Jake Humphrey has confirmed he is staying with the corporation.

Today, Sky confirmed that it will launch its first channel dedicated to just one sport next March, with Sky Sports F1 to broadcast live coverage of all Grands Prix, practice sessions and qualifying, along with associated programming. 

This follows a controversial F1 broadcast rights deal earlier in the year, in which the BBC agreed to half the amount of race meetings it shows live from 2012 to 2018 as part of its cost-cutting drive.

The agreement attracted widespread criticism from viewers at the loss of exclusive F1 coverage on free-to-air television.

As part of the new arrangement, the BBC will next year show 10 Grands Prix, including Monaco, Silverstone and the season finale from Brazil, plus extended highlights of the other 10 races aired on Sky. All 20 Grands Prix will be covered live on BBC Radio 5 live, or 5 Live Sports extra.

Jake Humphrey, the BBC's lead presenter for F1, has also today confirmed that he is staying with the corporation, tweeting: "I'm staying with the BBC, the best production team I've ever worked with."

The BBC's head of F1 Ben Gallop said: "We're really looking forward to 2012 and what promises to be another great year of Formula One on the BBC. With presentation from the track at every race, we'll be there every step of the way to tell the story of the season.

"Through a mix of live coverage and extended highlights, we'll have the best of the action from both on and off the track, plus all the news, analysis and big-name interviews."

In 2012, the BBC will broadcast live coverage of the Grands Prix in China (April 15), Spain (May 13), Monaco (May 27), Europe (June 24), Britain (July 8), Belgium (September 2), Singapore (April 23), Korea (October 14), Abu Dhabi (November 4), and Brazil (November 25). The coverage will be available on BBC One and in high definition on BBC One HD and BBC HD 

However, this means free-to-air television viewers will miss out on live coverage of various key races, including the season opener in Melbourne, Australia, on March 18, and the return of F1 to America for the race at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on November 18. 

The BBC said that for any races it does not show live, it will endeavour to "bring the best of the action to viewers through extended highlights on BBC One and BBC One HD".

Qualifying highlights will be 75 minutes long for each race, while early morning Grands Prix (such as in the Far East) will be recapped in two hours of highlights at 2pm on the day. European time zone races will be shown in 90 minutes of highlights at 5.30pm.

Highlights and qualifying of the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 29 will be shown on BBC Two as this falls during the London 2012 Olympics. Selected coverage will also be available on the BBC Sport website.

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## alan45

SKY say Formula One will have its own dedicated channel from next season.


The broadcaster, which struck a deal with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone through to 2018, will launch Sky Sports F1 HD in March.

They will show all 20 races without adverts, as well as qualifying and practice sessions – so we'll be seeing more of this year's F1 champ Sebastian Vettel.

There will be brand new analysis and highlights shows and extra coverage through Sky's red button interactive service.

Sports chief Barney Francis said: "Formula One followers are hungry for more and we want to give them the ultimate experience. It's not just every minute of every race but a channel devoted to Formula One."

There will be no extra charge to viewers who take both Sky Sports 1 and 2 or the HD pack of channels.

The BBC will broadcast the British, Monaco and Brazilian Grands Prix as part of their ten live races

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## Chloe O'brien

The end of another season  :Crying:   :Crying:

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## Siobhan

> The end of another season


I know.. but I am not paying for Sky...  anyone who wants to keep watching, do so with RTL.de and Radio 5 live commentary.... (I am ok as I have RTL here)....

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## alan45

> I know.. but I am not paying for Sky...  anyone who wants to keep watching, do so with RTL.de and Radio 5 live commentary.... (I am ok as I have RTL here)....


Wonder if we will be able to watch it online. Mush as I love F I am not going to pay Sky for the privilege even though Lewis will be the champion next year

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## Siobhan

> Wonder if we will be able to watch it online. Mush as I love F I am not going to pay Sky for the privilege even though Lewis will be the champion next year


Yes.. RTL.de has a live stream... loads in the UK does this.. put on RTL but english commentary on 5 live.. and I don't think so re Hamilton

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## alan45

Thanks Shiv

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## alan45

LEWIS HAMILTON last night ended his bitter feud with F1 rival Felipe Massa.
The warring duo hugged and made up after the final race of the season in Brazil.

Hamilton spotted his Ferrari rival in the paddock and went up and put an arm around the Brazilian.









The McLaren racer, 26, said: "I wanted to make things up with Felipe. It's been a long hard year for all the drivers and I hope they all have a good winter.

"It was good to have a nice chat with Felipe. I have great respect for him and I'm already looking forward to racing him again next year."

Hamilton's hopes of finishing a roller-coaster of a year on a high in Sao Paulo were left in tatters by a gearbox failure.

He could only watch from the sidelines as McLaren team-mate Jenson Button clinched the runners-up spot in the championship with third place at Interlagos.

The Frome flier bagged his eighth podium in nine races as Mark Webber took advantage of fellow Red Bull racer Sebastian Vettel's own gearbox issues to score his first win of the season.

But Hamilton felt the need to apologise and wipe the slate clean for next year after the series of on and off track bust-ups that have blighted his season.

Hamilton, who finished fifth — 43 points behind Button — said: "I want to apologise to my team for the number of mishaps.

"There have been times this season when I have not performed as well as I could. But I got that out of the way and made sure they know that I am aware of it.

"My intention is to rectify that next year when I will come back stronger.

"This was not the way we wanted to finish but there was nothing we could do about the gearbox leak.

"The team apologised to me for letting me down but I don't feel they let me down. Its motorsport. We win and lose together."

Hamilton apologised to his fans and the race stewards following his infamous 'Is it because I'm black' barb after being hit with a double punishment in Monaco.

And he said sorry to fellow racers Felipe Massa, Pastor Maldonado and Kamui Kobayashi after various crashes with them this season.


Hamilton and Ferrari foe Massa came close to crashing for the SEVENTH time as the Brazilian fiercely defended fifth spot in front of his home-town fans.

But any fears of another bust-up ended after Hamilton was forced to park up off the circuit on lap 48. He added: "I was still able to compete with Massa despite the problems I had which is good. It shows I've still got it."

Webber's victory after being blown away by double champ Vettel all season will have given F1's conspiracy theorists a field day.

The Aussie ace, 35, blasted past Vettel before the midway point after the German had been told to nurse a gearbox problem.

But Vettel — who broke Brit legend Nigel Mansell's record of 14 poles in qualifying on Saturday — was still able to comfortably hold on to second place.

Webber had said he did not want any gifts from his team-mate who wrapped up the title with four races to spare, but accepted a much-needed boost to go into the winter break.

And the Bucks-based driver insisted: "This is a win I will take because I have had enough bad luck.

"It is how motorsport goes. But it is an important win for me and it is a good tonic."

Button's tally of 270 points was 14 MORE than Vettel's winning total last year, but just showed the Swiss-based racer's dominance as he finished with 11 wins from 19 attempts.

Button said: "It was good to get my 12th podium of the year.

"It has not been a perfect season, but it has been a good one. I can take a lot of positives from it."

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## Chloe O'brien

> Wonder if we will be able to watch it online. Mush as I love F I am not going to pay Sky for the privilege even though Lewis will be the champion next year



HA!  HA! Your such a comedian Alan.  There is no way Lewis is going to win next year.  Vettel again or JB for champion next year.

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## Chloe O'brien

Formula 1 bosses clarify blocking rule

Formula 1 bosses have changed the rules to prevent drivers 'blocking' a rival who is trying to pass them.
The move was prompted by an incident involving Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton in Italy last season.

The new rule, officially published on Wednesday, forbids drivers from moving back on to the racing line if they have moved off it to defend.

It formally enshrines what had previously been an agreement between the drivers.

The new rule is article 20.3 of the F1 sporting regulations.

It says: "More than one change of direction to defend a position is not permitted.

"Any driver moving back towards the racing line, having earlier defended his position off‐line, should leave at least one car width between his own car and the edge of the track on the approach to the corner."

It is this that so incensed Hamilton about Schumacher's driving in Monza - there was one incident between the second chicane and the first Lesmo corner which prompted the Englishman to get on the radio to his team and say: "I thought you were only allowed to make one move."

Schumacher's Mercedes team received a number of warnings from race director Charlie Whiting during his defence in Italy, and team boss Ross Brawn went on the radio to remind him to "leave room" for Hamilton when he was defending.

The previous rule that forbids drivers from forcing rivals off the track remains.
It is article 20.3 and it reads: "Manoeuvres liable to hinder other drivers, such as deliberate crowding of a car beyond the edge of the track or any other abnormal change of direction, are not permitted."

The new sporting regulations also forbid drivers from "leaving the track without justifiable reason", an attempt to stop them taking shortcuts back to the pits during practice and qualifying to save time and fuel - as Sebastian Vettel did in Korea.

And in article 40.12, they lay out circumstances under which lapped cars can unlap themselves during a safety car period.

The epic 2011 Canadian Grand Prix, which ran for four hours and four minutes following a two-hour mid-race stoppage for torrential rain, has led to a new rule restricting the maximum length of races, including stoppages, to four hours.

And the penalties against which teams are not able to appeal have been laid out in the rules.

These are any drive-through or time penalty imposed for a driving infringement during the race, a driver being excluded from the race on the grounds he did not set a time within 107% of the fastest in the first qualifying session; and not having all the wheels on the car three minutes before the race.

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## alan45

About time too

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## Chloe O'brien

> About time too


Aw come on. All's fair in love and blocking especially when a certain German driver is in the thick of it  :Big Grin:

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## Chloe O'brien

List of Drivers and Teams for 2012

1) Red Bull  Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber

2) McLaren Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton

3)Ferrari Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa

4) Mercedes Michael Schumacher and Nico Roseberg

5) Lotus Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean

6) Force India Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg

7) Sauber Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi

8) Torro Rosso Daniel Ricicardo and Jean-Eric Vergne

9) Williams Pastor Maldonado

10) Caterham Heikki Kovalanien and Jarno Trulli

11) HRH Pedro de la Rosa

12) Virgin Timo Glock and Charles Pic

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## Siobhan

Think Williams are taken Barricello back... seems they are in talks at the moment.. Nice to Hulkenburg and Rakkonen back for 2012

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## Perdita

Sky Sports has signed up ex-Formula One World Champion Damon Hill to join its team to cover the motorsport on the new Sky Sports F1 channel. 

Hill, who competed in F1 between 1992 and 1999, will provide expert analysis on Sky Sports F1 as part of Sky's controversial rights deal to show the motorsport from 2012 to 2018 with the BBC. 

Sky's first channel dedicated to one single sport will launch in March, offering live coverage of all Grand Prix, practice and qualifying sessions in standard and high definition. 

Alongside launching on Sky's pay-TV platform, Sky Sports F1 will also now become available on Virgin Media's cable television service, but only in SD. 

Hill joins a new Sky presentation team made up mostly of ex-BBC talent, including Martin Brundle, David Croft, Anthony Davidson, Ted Kravitz and Natalie Pinkham, backed up by the likes of Georgie Thompson, Simon Lazenby and Steve Rider.

The ex-Williams driver will be on air for ten of the season's 20 Grand Prix, including the curtain-raiser in Australia, along with Bahrain, Monaco, Silverstone, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, India, USA and Brazil.

In a statement on the Sky Sports website, F1 executive producer Martin Turner said: "Damon Hill is a British motor racing legend and has incredible Formula One knowledge and insight. 

"He will provide our viewers with not just a driver's eye view, but also that of a world champion. There aren't many around and I'm delighted we'll have Damon with us during the season."

Hill, who previously appeared on ITV's F1 coverage in 2007 and 2008, said that the chance to join Sky Sports F1 was too good to miss.

"The plans Sky Sports have for Formula One are very impressive, particularly the dedicated Formula 1 channel and I couldn't resist becoming involved," he said.

"There are so many reasons to be excited about the new season and I can't wait to get started."

Sky Sports F1 will launch in early March, offering exclusive live coverage of the Australian GP beginning on March 16.

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## alan45

Jaime Alguersuari will join Radio 5 live’s Formula 1 commentary team as an expert summariser, completing the experienced BBC presentation line-up that will bring the 2012 season to fans through a mix of live coverage and highlights, across TV, radio, red button and online.

Alguersuari started his racing career at 15 years old, competing at the Italian Formula Renault 1600. He subsequently moved on to win the Formula Renault 2.0, before winning the British Formula 3 Championship, racing for the Carlin Motorsport team at the age of 18 and graduating to the Renault World Series the following year.

He received the call to join Toro Rosso’s F1 team in 2009 and became the youngest Formula 1 driver in history, at the age of 19, at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. He continued to race for Torro Rosso through the 2010 and 2011 seasons, beating all the Toro Rosso records since the team became independent from Red Bull. In the 2011 F1 season Jaime built his reputation further, qualifying in a career best 6th position at the Belgian Grand Prix and finishing 7th in both the Korean and Italian Grands Prix and 8th in the European Canadian and Indian GP's with a total of 26 points.

Jaime Alguersuari said: “It’s great to be part of the BBC’s F1 commentary team on Radio 5 live. It will be interesting to look at the action from a different angle and bring that excitement and insight to listeners. Given that I’m still only 21, this agreement permits me to return to F1. It promises to be another exciting season and I can’t wait for it to start.”

BBC Radio 5 live Controller Adrian Van Klaveren said: “We’re delighted to have Jaime on board, his engaging personality makes him a great addition to 5 live for the 2012 F1 season. We are going to make the most of Jaime's first-hand experience right now knowing he could well be driving for one of the teams again in the near future.”

Jaime will follow the F1 season for Radio 5 live offering his expert analysis to complement the commentary team of lead commentator James Allen, who as F1 correspondent will also report on F1 across the station throughout the season and pit lane reporter Jennie Gow.

The signing completes the BBC team for 2012. As previously announced, Jake Humphrey leads the BBC’s Formula 1 coverage on television, with Eddie Jordan as primary analyst and David Coulthard combining the role of analyst and co-commentator. Ben Edwards joins as lead commentator, Gary Anderson as technical analyst, with Lee McKenzie once again reporting from the pit lane.

The BBC will bring all the key action from the season including live commentary of all 20 Grands Prix live on Radio 5 live and live TV coverage of ten Grands Prix (including Monaco, Silverstone and the season finale from Brazil) and extended highlights of the other ten races.

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## Siobhan

Hamilton stripped of Pole.. I knew that would happen.. they were fined the last time this happened so just knew it would be a mistake for them to do it again.. silly mclaren

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## Chloe O'brien

Schumey out again. Come on Michael screw the nut, what are you doing Man!!!  Great race for the Williams team & Lotus.

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Siobhan (13-05-2012)

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## Siobhan

Loved that Maldanardo won but was super excited when Vettel overtook the two Maclarens at the end... super racing this season

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## Perdita

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has suggested that coverage of the world's premium motorsport could end on the BBC following Sky's successful debut as broadcaster of the sport. 

Yesterday, it was announced that the rights to air live F1 races in Italy have been sold to Sky Italia, the pay-TV giant owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

Many commentators are viewing this as a sign that the days of free-to-air (FTA) coverage of Formula One in Europe are numbered. 

In Britain, this year marked the first time that not all Grand Prix are available live on FTA television, after the BBC agreed to share the rights with Sky, the satellite broadcaster 39.1%-owned by Murdoch. 

Sky is showing every practice, qualifying and race session live on its new Sky Sports F1 channel, while the BBC has rights to show half the races live, with delayed highlights of the others. 

Formula One fans reacted with anger to the deal, as many faced the prospect of stumping up nearly Â£500 a year to get the Sky Sports package to watch all the live coverage. 

Ecclestone reassured fans in other regions that the sport will remain on FTA, in part at least, but refused to give the same assurances for UK viewers. 

"We will never move all countries to pay‑per‑view only, though it wouldn't make any difference here in the UK," he told The Guardian.

Ecclestone praised Sky for doing a "super job", and noted that the BBC showed complacency in letting the live rights slip through its grasp. 

"The Beeb were sure we wouldn't be able to go anywhere else," he said.

Ecclestone said that Sky is able to reach 10m UK homes, which the sport doesn't get with the BBC.

"Sky reaches over 10 million households," Ecclestone said. "We don't get 10 million on the BBC, normally about six or seven million". 

The BBC's viewing figures have also suffered from the arrival of Sky's coverage, as the corporation's opening live race, the Chinese Grand Prix in April, was down around 1m on the 2011 audience. 

Grand Prix coverage on Sky Sports F1, Sky's first channel dedicated to just one sport, has averaged 1m viewers over the first four races of the 2012 season, noted The Guardian. 

Sky is also more able to flex its financial muscles in picking up live rights to sport, as the BBC recently suffered a 15% cut in its budget for sports rights bidding. 

"The thing that TV stations want to buy most is live sport," said Ecclestone. "People don't want to watch delayed stuff because nowadays it's hard not to know the result if you don't want to."

The BBC has not commented on the report.

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## Siobhan

really funny and Seb is sexy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsc_6...ature=youtu.be

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## alan45

> really funny and Seb is sexy
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsc_6...ature=youtu.be



But Lewis is the one to beat   :Smile:

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## Siobhan

> But Lewis is the one to beat


for now.. on the track but for sex appeal and 100% niceness, SEB has it all!!!!

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## alan45

> for now.. on the track but for sex appeal and 100% niceness, SEB has it all!!!!


Obviously their SEX appeal is of no interest to me

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## Siobhan

and so it goes to the final race!! Seb 13 points ahead and only needs 4th to secure 3rd world title. Very dubious tactics from Ferrari for King Alonso. Brilliant race in America from Hamilton. He and Vettel were in a class of their own. Come on Vettel.. you can do it

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## Chloe O'brien

Tomorrow's race can go two ways.  One Vettel/Alonso do a Schumacher and do what they can to drive take out the opposition or Webber let's Vettel in front and cruises around the circuit like he's on a road trip admiring the view while keeping the prancing ponies behind him.   Whatever happens tomorrow there will be tears shed in the Logan household. Tears for Seb's  & Rocky's 3rd title and tears for the 2nd and finale departure from F1  for Schumacher.  Love him or loathe him you can't deny he is the greatest F1 driver.

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Siobhan (25-11-2012)

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## Siobhan

It didn't go like that at all.. what a fecking brilliant race.. edge of my seat... yeah baby yeah 3 in a row for the main man!!

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## aliceblair

Love to see the F1 but hate to watch the endless adverts on Sky. Even tried few internet channels but there are quite slow. It's nothing like to watch it live if could get a tickets or coupons in discount rates.

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## Siobhan

> Love to see the F1 but hate to watch the endless adverts on Sky. Even tried few internet channels but there are quite slow. It's nothing like to watch it live if could get a tickets or coupons in discount rates.


What most people in UK are doing that don't have sky is using RTL (german tv station) live stream with Five live commentary...

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## Siobhan

> Love to see the F1 but hate to watch the endless adverts on Sky. Even tried few internet channels but there are quite slow. It's nothing like to watch it live if could get a tickets or coupons in discount rates.


What most people in UK are doing that don't have sky is using RTL (german tv station) live stream with Five live commentary...

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