Just read this at F1 News:
[quote]The major car manufacturers involved in grand prix racing have threatened to form a breakaway championship if the Kirche group goes ahead pay-per-view F1 coverage.
The German media giant is negotiating to purchase a 75 per cent of SLEC, the holding company that owns the television rights to cover F1 races.
Kirche are one of the prime movers in pay-per-view sports broadcasting and are known to have pay-per-view plans for coverage of the football World Cup.
However, the manufacturers involved in F1 oppose the Kirche takeover, fearing that pay-per-view will massively cut the sport's global audience. The car makers have also threatened to form a breakaway series if the deal goes ahead.
Speaking in his capacity as chairman of the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, Paolo Cantarella, Fiat chief executive, said the manufacturers would consider setting up "an alternative championship".
The carmakers will not accept assurances from Kirch that there are no plans to restrict F1 broadcasting to Kirch's digital pay-per-view operations.
However, Dieter Hahn, Kirch's managing director reiterated that the firm will not restrict F1 to pay-per-view
"We are interested in Formula 1 as a worldwide asset," he said. "It is a rights trading, rights development, and events business, which we understand a lot about and can fruitfully contribute to."
The manufacturers' group lobbying against the Kirche takeover is made up of Fiat (Ferrari), Ford (Jaguar), Mercedes, BMW and Renault. Honda and Toyota are also set to join this alliance.
My first thought was "Oh NO! This is terrible!" But then...
Think seriously for a moment. This could be the way forward. If the manufacturers were to run the show, we could just see a return to slicks and wide cars. I appreciate the FIA will still mandate tech. regs, but the drivers are ALL saying the same thing in terms of how to promote good racing: Lose the wings and return to slicks. And the team managers know this too...
I realise that Bernie Ecclescake has done an awful lot to promote the sport, but it could also be said that he's done a lot to stifle it too. Transmission contracts and pricing of tickets for starters. Kirche might well end up holding a large bag of 'Formula One Administration' nothing...
What do you think - would this be as bad as it sounds?
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