If you’re a motor racing fan and you happen to have Foxtel, then you’re probably as happy as a pig in you-know-what, for the subscription television provider announced on Friday morning that they had secured broadcast rights to the entire formula one season, beginning in 2015.
This means every practice, qualifying run and race live and in full high definition.
If you don’t have Foxtel, this is probably more akin to a kick in the guts.
There had been some suggestion that a Foxtel deal was in the works, but conventional wisdom suggested it would be completed in time for the 2016 season. Instead, pay television subscribers will get to enjoy the excellent Sky Sports UK coverage via Foxtel, and what a treat that will be.
In the context of the countless hundreds of hours of motorsport Foxtel will be showing in 2015 and beyond, it seems rather strange that they elected to axe their SPEED channel halfway through last year, but you can’t argue with their commitment to ensuring viewers see all of the best motorsport in the world.
Of course, their V8 Supercar deal has been much ballyhooed, and also includes complete coverage of everything going on over the course of a V8 race weekend, including live and in-full broadcasts of all support series.
Don’t forget exclusive coverage of the World Endurance Championship (including it’s crown jewel, the 24 Hours of Le Mans), the IndyCar Series (including the Indianapolis 500), World Rally Championship, NASCAR’s three national series, as well as two-wheeled MotoGP and World Superbike action.
A large chunk of this coverage will be live and uninterrupted, and that is fantastic for those who have Foxtel.
The flip side is that there are many who do not, and it seems to be one blow after another for those who rely on free-to-air television for their motorsport fix. First came the news that they would only see six live V8 Supercar events over the next five years, with the rest condensed highlights on delay, which came on the heels of losing free-to-air coverage of the Moto2 and Moto3 support categories for the big boys of MotoGP.
Now, another blow. The announcement that Network Ten’s live quota of Formula One races will be cut in half – from 20 down to 10 – is bad enough, but the devil is in the detail.
Those other 10 races won’t simply be shown on delay, but instead condensed into a one-hour highlights show. Throw in a few minutes’ worth of ad breaks per hour, and the usual on-camera stuff at either end of the broadcast, and viewers without Foxtel will be lucky to see 30 minutes of a race that runs for around triple that time.
Anyone who pays even cursory attention to the world of television and broadcast rights knows that things such as MotoGP, Formula One and V8 Supercar rights do not come cheaply. And Foxtel is right there, happy to snap up what the free-to-air networks cannot afford.
It’s hard for Channel Ten to compete with Foxtel, who obviously have the money that subscribers pour into their coffers each month.
Strictly from a business standpoint, you can’t fault Ten for doing what they’ve done.
Nor can you really fault Foxtel for stepping into the breach to claim those broadcast rights and deliver what is unquestionably going to be the best motorsports coverage Australia has ever seen. Obviously, those in control of broadcast rights will go where the money is, as the AFL, NRL, Cricket Australia and Super Rugby folks have previously done.
This broadcast model is similar to what has been in place in Europe and North America for some time. Take NASCAR for example: since the turn of the millennium more than half of their Cup Series races have been shown on cable. BBC and Sky share formula one in the United Kingdom in a similar fashion to the deal in Australia. In many ways, Australia was one of the last bastions of full and free coverage of motorsport.
The losers here are the motorsport fans around the country who cannot afford pay television. First they lost the majority of the V8s and now they’ve lost the majority of the formula one season. That’s after losing MotoGP support categories. Once upon a time, too, NASCAR was on free-to-air (via One-HD) and going back further, IndyCar. Now, they are exclusively pay TV properties.
There was a huge backlash on social media and elsewhere when the V8 Supercar-Foxtel deal was announced, and that came well out from the start of their deal. The Formula One season is just weeks away from commencing in Melbourne, and there are many fans who will feel cheated. Some simply will not be able to switch over to Foxtel, and face the prospect of missing most of the season.
If Formula One is your favourite sport and you can’t afford Foxtel, you’re going to be filthy. Social media will be interesting over the next few days.
With the world’s premiere categories, both two- and four-wheeled, now either completely or mostly ensconced on pay television, motorsport coverage in Australia has changed forever. While some will herald this as a great day/week/month for motorsport, for many, this is a sad day, the end of viewing habits as a lot of people know them.
Paul whofealscheated
Guest
As a devoted motor racing fan and participant , on a small scale, I feel like the big brass at ~10 don't give a ---- about the people who were involved from the start let alone all the fans who are pensioners that genuinely can't afford the cost of it all . Can't they try to get a package just for Motorsports and nothing else ?even delayed by half an hour. Shame on channel 10 for leaving us out , ; : wrong attitude.
Stu1
Guest
Yep the foxtell deal sucks! It all comes down to money & greed.
Prenty
Guest
I'm 63. Went to Bathurst first in 1969. I have always followed Group N (J), ATCC, (V8s), NASCAR and American sports car racing. I n past decades I have been an active sponsor in several G.C. based teams. Thanks to the Foxtel deal I have not watched one race in 2015. Nor will I watch any in 2016. I ask any sponsor if they REALLY THINK they are getting value for money with closed television. There are OBVIOUS massive limitations for sponsors who have non motor racing/car parts product. On the personal side, I think it stinks, and, I have no doubt, will lead to the loss of the no only viewers, and sponsors, but to Australian racing in general. Coming up to 20 weeks since this was written, I see there are no figures being offered on viewer participation/ratings. Incongruously it will help the unattached classes and my family will be supporting the Shannons series in person and with sponsorships to young drivers. Totally ridiculous decision by the V8 Management and teams...they're gone, not if, but when. Very sad.
William
Guest
Look don't act and realise that you have know this now, its been out for quite a long time (December 2013) for V8s when it was released that Ten had gotten the rights (March 2014) as to what Ten is televising for V8s and MotoGP. Formula 1 is a 'recut'. TEN only cares about the Clipsal 500, Australian Formula 1, Townsville 400, Sandown 500, Bathurst 1000, Australian MotoGP, Gold Coast 600 and Sydney 500. If you don't watch Ten whatever televises then they could takeaway the non-live events, but if the viewers watch the highlights then Ten could air SuperSprint rounds live. V8, F1, MotoGP deal is a lot better then what AFL has served up at least we get every round covered where as AFL is only 3 matches live and NRL is 2 matches live. So in terms its a better deal then what people realise. Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if FOX Sports use Ten in all kinds of deal like soccer, AFL and NRL just so that FOX Sports can have everything and Ten have limited amount. At some point Foxtel will buy Ten and Foxtel can do what they like with the network including stripping all sports rights from Ten
Wendy and Robert Hatch
Guest
We are absolutely disgusted about Ten advertising that they had secured the rights to broadcast all motorsports for this year free only to find that it had gone to Foxtel. My husband has a disability which keeps him pretty much house bound and we can't afford to subscribe to Foxtel and even if we could afford it we won't be forced into subscribing to Foxtel just to watch motorsports. Well done Chanel Ten you have lost another watcher because we wont be watching anything on Ten from here on. Yours disgustedly Wendy and Robert Hatch
jay danny
Guest
They will start charging money for the channel F1 is on anyway. I guarantee it.
jay danny
Guest
Andrew Kitchener, I know you believe what you say here. However, give yourself 20 odd years and you might understand the world as well as I do. Without any warning, channel ten has dumped half the races and now insists that fans buy Foxtel. Now, here's the bit you don't seem to understand. Once people have bought Foxtel, they will start charging people to watch he F1. When people complain, 10 will say the exact same thing they're saying now. I have had foxtel before. The basic package is a waste of money. So everyone will have to get a more expensive package. This is not counting whatever they start charging for the channel F1 is on.
Mr T
Guest
I have to say, after watching the first race of the F1 in 2015 on free to air I'm quite happy not to pay Foxtel to watch the rest of them. There's no team that can remotely challenge Mercedes for the championship because their cars are so much quicker everyone else's. What boring racing that is. Perhaps next year will be better? I wouldn't mind seeing the other disciplines but it's not worth the price of admission just for a few races. Anyway, I now get more free time to do other hobbies I enjoy which is actually a good thing (when I stop and think about it).
doc
Guest
There is no FOXTEL in my rural area... what choice then NONE this is s major kick in the guts for you live streaming city wankers with broadband that's great but theres a lot of V8 fans out in the bush without access to the stuff not just about you man
Greg
Guest
If I didn't hate ol' Rupert so much I probably wouldn't be so disappointed.. The aussie gp on free to air was abysmal.. both in commentary (barring webber) and in execution. At the very least there'll be no more Greg Rust saying "we're endeavouring to return you to the sky broadcast, there's a slight issue in transmission at the moment" not too mention ads, right when something is about to happen on track... at any rate... virtual private network... what was that again? ;)
David Ling
Guest
What do we do to convince Foxtel NASCAR was not all about Marcos Ambrose. Need the Australian NASCAR fans to get on board and send a message to Foxtel!!!!!
William
Guest
Yes unfortunately
David Ling
Guest
I have been searching all of the various Australian TV Guides and cannot find NASCAR events anywhere. We had good coverage for Daytona and now it appears there is no more NASCAR on Australian TV. Was it all about Marcos Ambrose????
Anton Zeleznik
Guest
Foxtel wouldn't be so bad if you didn't have to buy 40 channels of garbage just to get the 3 channels you want ....
Andrew Kitchener
Roar Guru
There was a time when free to air showed Formula One, MotoGP, Work SBK, NASCAR (Cup and Xfinity), IndyCar and V8 Supercars, plus rally highlights and RPM. I'd call that "full and free" coverage.
Andrew Kitchener
Roar Guru
Whoops, I'm getting confused with the deals in America. Thanks for the clarification.
Peter
Guest
This is extremely disappointing. So we are going to be paying a minimum $750 for 10 races!! Thats $75 a race!!! Christ what bloody grandstand am I in? oh i forgot its only on TV. $75 each race to watch it on bloody TV!!!!! For that $75 I still have to put up with ads aswell!!!!! Add to all this that F1 is not nearly as exciting as it use to be. The engines no longer sound good and this years championship will only be between 2 drivers, Hamilton and Nico. At a time when F1 audiences wordwide are dropping, the number of cars on the grid are dropping this just stinks. Screw you Bernie and FOM. A sport that has made all of these punks filthy rich and now they just sit back and screw us all. After 25 years of watching F1 this year im going to give it a miss in protest!
William
Guest
NASCAR started in 2008 on TEN HD, before it moved to ONE in 2009. TEN/ONE was on a 7 year deal.
Andrew Kitchener
Roar Guru
Apparently their 5-year contract, signed when One-HD started as an all-sports coverage - remember those heady days? - ended at the end of 2014.
Ben
Guest
Although Foxtel may gain a few subscribers the overall viewers in Aus will certainly decline. I am a huge F1 fan however am not given the option to buy what i want. I would be happy to buy just the sports content however Foxtel force me to buy an entertainment package that i don't want. Foxtel also are complete rippoff with their Foxtel Go only option as well. For substandard streaming they charge the same amount as a fixed line. Basically that means i'll use P2P streams and get the sky coverage for free. Or use Geo blocking and various other ways to buy the races directly from sky. I used to watch V8's religiously as well however refuse to be forced into buying content i don't at all want for that. The short term solution for money will be a detriment to sponsorship money for both sports (especially V8's)