Would you pay to watch F1 if it wasn't FTA?

[icemachine]

I'll just continue using the streaming websites as I do now. If I could get just the sports channels I wanted for a reasonable price ($20-30/mo) I would do it. But since they want me to pay for 300 channels I don't need, I'll just keep hitting these gray market sites.

[Piglet]

Hmm interesting question. My initial response was "no, not a penny" but I then went for £1 per race

I paid for the occasional races when it was available on PPV, usually for weekends where I was home on the Friday and there was a lot of coverage over and above the usually televised Q & Race.

If I'm home for F1 weekends I do quite like to watch the full Qually and Race programmes but if I'm away racing then I only ever watch a very small amount of the race assuming that I've remembered to record it.

If I could subscribe on a PPV I probably would do if I was home but I wouldn't want to pay a lot for the season as I'm often out playing with real cars!

[steve nielsen]

I don't think the team sponsors and manufacturers will like that so the teams will probably vote against it

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

I am unsure. I might be happy to pay. But I have things to consider.

I work all day Fridays and Sundays, I have other money concerns, I already pay for NASCAR coverage which I have to record and watch later.

F1 itself is different to 2002. There are less practice sessions, no warm-up, very little running due to the endurance components that ruin the events nowadays.

On the plus side, it is now HD.

So it wouldn't be a straightforward yes from me, even if it was as good as F1 Digital. And you just know it would not be priced all that nicely. And if it had adverts, no chance of me paying!

How much was it in 2002? Prohibitively expensive IIRC? A great service, but is that kind of price viable nowadays?

I wouldn't pay for it. I already pay for a sports channel that shows the thursday and friday tests, but I rarely watch it - most of the times I'm working - and there's nothing "new" or worth that the aerial TV already shows on the weekend, so I guess there'll be no real addition to what we already have.

[Ralf's Girl]

I love F1, but I wouldn't pay for it. I love football too, but I manage without paying for that. Particularly if it went onto Sky, because chances are that you wouldn't be able to just buy an F1 package - Sky would want to squeeze every possible penny out of you so you'd have to subscribe to some astronomically expensive premium sports package full of stuff that you'll never watch, just for a few hours of F1 every fortnight. No thank you, and I don't think Bernie Ecclestone, for all his faults, is stupid enough to let it happen.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by mikenunn-78

Would anyone?

Worryingly this could have a bigger effect than people not paying to watch F1.

I was exposed to F1 on TV at a young age and developed a strong interest in all forms of motorsport, attending all types of race events at local tracks and I've not too long ago become a marshal.

Anyone can tell you that attendance figures at all types of domestic race meetings with the exception of the BTCC are at a dangerously low level. If F1 had been on Pay Per View back then I'd certainly never have been exposed to motorsport, I'd never have gone to a race track.... multiply that by the hundreds of thousands of people that are exposed to F1 and you could have problems that don't even bear thinking about.

I think you have hit the nail on the head with this post.
It is not in the addicted market where the impact will be, but in the recruitment of new enthusiasts.

I used to be interested in cricket, but since it has gone to pay TV I have lost interest and no longer watch it at all! It is a game I played as a youngster and was brought up with all my life and it is no longer of any interest at all, despite being able to see coverage of local test matches on FTA, the black hole in the international coverage has somehow terminated my interest entirely!

[BertMk2]

As a simple comparison - the WRC moved to ESPN this year. I haven't watched it at all this season. If F1 went to pay tv then I wouldn't watch that either.

[Super Hans]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

As a simple comparison - the WRC moved to ESPN this year. I haven't watched it at all this season. If F1 went to pay tv then I wouldn't watch that either.

That sums it up. I'm a casual rally viewer, so since it switched to ESPN I've just stopped watching it. Most F1 viewers probably fall into this bracket, but as I've said, I'd definitely rather pay than miss a Grand Prix.

[Sodemo]

Gone are the days when I used to get really excited before a race, my heart beating faster as they lined up for the start etc. I now watch the race whilst reading the paper, glancing up when something happens. Perhaps thats a slight exaggeration, but I certainly wouldn't miss it if it disappeared from free to air TV. My interest in boxing has turned to zero now all the matches are box office material. I enjoyed the days of Bruno, Benn, Eubank etc when it was on ITV with some fights on normal Sky Sports.

Knowing Murdoch, you would probably need to subscribe to Sky Sports AND pay for the race individually.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by Woolley

I barely watch it now, just the odd highlights package now and again. For me F1 ceased to have much to do with motor racing years ago and is now more of a reality/celebrity fest with cars, presided over by another unpleasant rich bloke (Bernie/Simon Cowell/Alan Sugar) who's judgement over anything other than earning money I doubt.

I might start watching it again if it becomes interesting, but if it goes PPV, how will I know? And more importantly, how will people yet to discover it do so? In fact the only good thing about it going PPV is I won't be subsidising it through my licence fee any more.

For all of the reasons that Woolley has given above this thread should stay on the F1 forum all these issues including FTA are crucial to the success of F1.

[Adam43]

I didn't realise we charged for Armchair?

[Bononi]

I just saw that right now also...

[NaBUru38]

In Hispanic America, F1 has been on pay television for about a decade (first the defunct PSN, now Fox Sports). We don't have terrestrial digital television yet - in my 1.5M people city there are four air channels. So anyone who like to watch any good television and can afford cable television and its US$ 42 /mo (minimum wage is US$ 300), they get it.

F1 is the leading motorsport championship worldwide. If it ends in pay television, motorsport will slowly die as a mass sport.

[Deleted]

It's been on pay-tv ever since 2007... not that I care. If for some reason I want to see the grand prix (and that reason can only be rain), I just get my precious UK proxy and head to iplayer. I wouldn't watch the finnish "quality" broadcast even if they'd pay me!