Murdoch Takeover of F1?

[Eric Estes]

Ok, UK friends, is this paper legit?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...s-News-Corp-considers-Formula-1-takeover.html

 

[Dave Stephenson]

jeez I hope not. Better the devil you know.

It's about the only paper he doesn't own so I guess so, but who knows.

 

[Adam Eggbeer]

Newspaper is indeed legit and one of the major ones.

I seriously hope it doesn't happen, mainly because it will most likely mean F1 in the UK will go to the subscription channel, however I believe there is a law saying that F1 and other major sporting events must remain free to air on UK TV. Plus this guy is like Bernie mkII. Not sure if that is a good thing or not but I can't see the teams liking it (apart from the one that is rumoured to help out, and maybe Sauber)

 

[Rob Butler]

The Telegraph is a respected paper.

Murdoch has ruined association football, don't let him do the same to F1.

 

[Eric Estes]

Newspaper is indeed legit and one of the major ones.

I was afraid of that...

 

[Dave Stephenson]

however I believe there is a law saying that F1 and other major sporting events must remain free to air on UK TV.

There is something that they brought out after all the crap with the cricket, it covers to some extent the football, mainly cup stuff, champions legaue, facup etc. I believe cricket worldcup is in there too. Not sure about F1 though. For a lot of sports I think it only requires that suitable highlights be made available.

I think in regards to a take over I think Id rather see the teams run it than murdoch, and that could be a whole plate of bad stuff too, but not as bad as Murdoch.

 

[Ryan Callan]

Murdoch has not ruined association football. Before Sky appeared it was the seedy retreat of hooligans and hardcore fans in the main. Sky helped, with it's gloss, helped open it up to a wider audience. There have been many bad things, but also good, he wouldn;t be a successful businessman if he wasn't good at his job.

I don't think F1 is protected, I think it is Bernie himself who prefers it to be on 'terrestrial TV' (is that phrase even in use nowadays? Or is just 'freeview'?)

 

[Brendan Crosby]

That would suck, the things he does are a menace to society.

 

[Yann Laprevotte]

I believe there is a law saying that F1 and other major sporting events must remain free to air on UK TV.

Not sure how it works in UK. But I do know there's a similar law in France, but it only protects "special" events, which are listed there: http://translate.google.fr/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jurisexpert.net%2Fquels-evenements-sportifs-majeurs-a-la-television%2F&sl=fr&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8. As you see, only the French GP is protected over there, except it doesn't exist anymore(the law was voted in 1986).

Anyway, Bernie was seriously considering moving F1 to paying channels like a decade ago, before the idea was fortunately abandonned. So I guess there is a legal possibility to implement this in most countries.

 

[Chris Butcher]

I hope it doesn't happen. We have enough greedy people running it as it is. If News Corp. took over, it would be even worse

 

[Paul Hamwa]

Aux armes citoyens!

This cannot happen! If F1 goes off the Beeb it'll be the end of an era!!! :frown:

 

[Adam Eggbeer]

I don't think F1 is protected, I think it is Bernie himself who prefers it to be on 'terrestrial TV' (is that phrase even in use nowadays? Or is just 'freeview'?)

There is something that they brought out after all the crap with the cricket, it covers to some extent the football, mainly cup stuff, champions legaue, facup etc. I believe cricket worldcup is in there too. Not sure about F1 though. For a lot of sports I think it only requires that suitable highlights be made available.

After a little bit of research, it turns out F1 isn't mntioned on the list, so I guess you are both right A full list can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofcom_Code_on_Sports_and_Other_Listed_&_Designated_Events

This cannot happen! If F1 goes off the Beeb it'll be the end of an era!!! :frown:

Rumour has it that the BBC are trying to cut back on the money spent on F1 to meet up with the 25% cuts in spending (i think) they had to do. I believe we have seen some of those cuts already with DC joining Brundle in the box and them needing one less person to front the coverage. I've heard a few small rumours that they may pull the plug as well but nothing major has been announced yet so we will have to see.

 

[Dave Wild]

This could be interesting.

I am near the end of "No Angel: the secret life of Bernie Ecclestone" so I now see F1 in a completely different light.

The reason F1 never went to pay TV is because it would not bring in enough revenue to the already very rich owners of FOM.

If you are passionate about F1 I strongly suggest you read the above book.

 

[Mike Sterckx]

Surely it cant be worse then Berny. Hes been ruining the sport for decades.