BBC Formula One TV coverage
| BBC Formula One TV coverage | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sports |
| Presented by | Steve Rider (1990–1996) Jake Humphrey (2009–2012) Suzi Perry (2013–2015) |
| Opening theme | "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Production location | Worldwide |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC1 BBC2 BBC3 |
| Related | |
| Grand Prix | |
F1 BBC was a British television programme dedicated to the coverage of Formula One motor racing and was broadcast by the British broadcaster BBC between 1990-1996 and 2009-2015.[1]
History
1985-1996
BBC gained the rights for Formula One coverage for 1978 for their Grand Prix programme, By the late 1980s BBC F1 had the European races live while Grand Prix had highlights of all the races and the main programme for the long haul races. The commentary team was Murray Walker and James Hunt. By the 1990s all of the races were broadcast live, shown as part of Sunday Grandstand, with highlights on the Grand Prix programme. Many of these live races were fronted by Steve Rider. In 1990 Jonathan Palmer joined in as a pit reporter, in June 1993 Hunt died fron a heart attack and the 1976 Champion would be succeeded by Palmer for most of the races excepting the 1993 British Grand Prix (Jackie Stewart) and the 1993 Australian Grand Prix (Alan Jones). In 1995 it was announced that the BBC had lost the television broadcast rights to Formula One to ITV for the 1997 season.
2009-2015
BBC regained the rights for Formula One coverage for 2009. They had Jake Humphrey to host, David Coulthard, Eddie Jordan and Martin Brundle as pre race analysts, Jonathan Legard and Martin Brundle as commentators, and Ted Kravitz and Lee McKenzie to do pit reporting. Legard left at the end of 2010 and Brundle would take the lead commentary role with David Coulthard. The BBC initially had exclusive UK rights from 2009 until the end of the 2013 season,[2] having regained the rights from ITV. However, because of the licence fee freeze and resultant review of cost constraints, it was believed that BBC were to leave F1 after the 2011 season. A new broadcast rights deal was announced on 29 July 2011, stating that Sky Sports F1 would cover all races live, (half of which, BBC would be exclusively live). Both Sky Sports and BBC would cover the remaining races live including the British Grand Prix. It allowed BBC to show highlights of all races, (including the other races that BBC did not have live rights to cover).[3][4] Martin Brundle and Ted Kravitz left to join Sky for 2012, Ben Edwards replaced Brundle and Gary Anderson replaced Kravitz. Jake Humphrey was part of the BBC Olympic coverage in 2012, he was replaced by Lee McKenzie alongside Tom Clarkson as pit reporter. At the end of the year Humphrey left BBC for BT Sport and Suzi Perry replaced him and Tom Clarkson joined full time as a pit reporter. In 2014, Anderson left and Allan McNish replaced him. On 21 December 2015, the BBC announced that it would end its deal with Formula One three years early due to budget cuts[5] and would transfer the remaining 3 years to Channel 4. Channel 4 will be showing 10 selected races live without advertisements while the rest of the races will be seen as highlights. Channel 4 will be the first free-to-air station that will not run commercial breaks during its 10 live races.[6]
References
- ^ "BBC F1". The F1 Broadcasting Blog.
- ^ "Formula One Administration Ltd announces new BBC Agreement". Formula1.com. 20 March 2008. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
- ^ Gallop, Ben (29 July 2011). "New F1 deal explained". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
- ^ Plunkett, John (29 July 2011). "BBC and Sky to share F1 broadcast rights". guardian.co.uk. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
- ^ "BBC to end F! contract". BBC. BBC. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
- ^ "Channel 4 becomes terrestrial home of F1". Channel 4. Channel 4. Retrieved 21 December 2015.