German Sky dropping F1

[beelsebob]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/s ... ula-261100?

Who wants a bet this is to stop british people tuning into the german broadcast?

[richard_leeds]

I don't think so. RTL are continuing with coverage. RTL will be bale to bid lower fees without Sky in competition in Germany.

I wonder if the same scenario would have played out in the UK if the BBC had held its ground?

[MrBlacky]

Who wants a bet this is to stop british people tuning into the german broadcast?

Hm? I bet even more germans are tuning into the BBC coverage currently

[Shrieker]

I think Bernie has just decided to suck the life out of tv channels. I'm hearing the tv broadcasting F1 over here is also dropping it for next year...

[kalinka]

Yeah, I don't know what's Bernie's plan, but since I watch F1 (and it's since mid '80s ), 2011 was the first year that there's no F1 on tv in my country. Also I watched Hungarian broadcast mostly because that's my native lang, but that's a disaster for a country that hosts F1 since 1986. The hungarian channel is also owned by german RTL (RTL Klub), and they're dropping it to a state TV next year. Also they're dropping significant amount of programs + people, so maybe the whole RTL is in a bad shape...

[atanatizante]

Does anybody know what resolution has the FOM feed? I mean they broadcast F1 races in full HD (1920*1080p) or just HD ready (1280*720p)?

[mep]

Sounds just like the regular poker games to get the costs a bit down for the new contract. It would be ridiculous if F1 is not broadcasted in pay TV because the fans actually pay exactly for that.
Btw. a F1 race can't be watched on RTL when you are seriously interested in the sport. There are way to much interruptions for commercials.
If some of you English guys are looking for an alternative to BBC I recommend you ORF1. It's the Austrian free TV and they don't do any commercials during the race.
These days are the commentators at least as good as the ones from RTL especially when Wurz is there. The old Heinz Brüller was sometimes a bit confused about the on track action.

[raymondu999]

Does anybody know what resolution has the FOM feed? I mean they broadcast F1 races in full HD (1920*1080p) or just HD ready (1280*720p)?

From what I understand, it's actually a very weird 1440x1080; but they do some stretching and aspect ratio magic to make it look 1920x1080

[lebesset]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sky-deutschland-getting-race-formula-261100?

Who wants a bet this is to stop british people tuning into the german broadcast?

british people couldn't get a subscription to watch sky germany , so it can't be that
frankly I think that Sky UK have made a huge error in buying it in the UK , people will probably watch the BBC when it is available , and how many people are going to join Sky UK at their prices just to watch the rest of the races ? not so many I would think ...how many who don't currently have Sky are going to pay about £700/per annum to watch the other 10 races live [ especially if some of them are in the middle of the night !]

me , I'll watch on RTL germany , free , just wants a cheap set up on Astra 19.2

RTL just show FP3 delayed and Qually and race live but that will have to do ...at lesat they will be able to pronounce vettel correctly [ Sky germany shows all sessions live currently ]

mep ...tks , nice idea , but unfortunately ORF1 and 2 are encrypted on the satellite

[WhiteBlue]

Does anybody know what resolution has the FOM feed? I mean they broadcast F1 races in full HD (1920*1080p) or just HD ready (1280*720p)?

From what I understand, it's actually a very weird 1440x1080; but they do some stretching and aspect ratio magic to make it look 1920x1080

No that is not true. The Sky Deutschland feed is in 1920x1080 format and it looks beautiful. No reason to think that the FOM feed is worse in quality. That would be very strange.

I think that the article was a negotiation plot. Sky can't afford to loose any subscribers like me who only watch F1. The moment they drop F1 I will cancel my subscription. They are struggling to get to the break even point and you are not getting there by saving money and cutting services.