Your F1 questions answered - part III

Um I think the wrong video has been put up - this is Murray's 9 drivers that he think could win that was put up last week.

@1.

You have to subscribe to SKY to see the correct video.


Boom-tish

Whoops wrong Murray video. Whoops wrong Murray video. Ah well at least its not half of the wrong video and then delayed 45 minute highlights of the right one. That would be INCREDIBLY frustrating.

Another day another blog closed. And now a new blog to fill up with comments relating to BBC and Sky Television (owned by Rupert Murdoch) jumping into bed together. You better get used to this BBC.....

@2 Surely we can watch half of it on the BBC?

Anyone who is against the BBC loosing half the races from next year sign this petition!

If the petition recieves more than 100,000 signatures, MPs may discuss the matter in the house of commons!

https://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/57

Another week and still no responce from the BBC.

Surprised, NO. Disappointed, YES,

As for the rest of the 2011 season the only important question is will the last season we can enjoy following the races in full.

Speaking personally the big question for me in the remainder of the 2011 season is will this be the last season i will be able to call myself a F1 suppoerter, if i cant follow the whole season in full, i wont be following any of it at all.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Where have all the comments gone??? This is getting ridiculous BBC! WE DON'T WANT F1 ON SKY!

Whats the point? The BBC and the government have sold us down the river! Get used to it! This is the thin edge of the wedge! If you knew what i know about how corrupt this EU state is then you would be as angry but blasé as me. DON"T ASK i would tell you but then someone would have to silence you!

thanks for answering my question Murry , enjoy the rest of the season

Maybe we could have repeats of half of the Soprano's on the BBC in the time slot left vacant by F1 instead of the 50% of the F1 we wanted to see. At least it would give us all ideas how to deal with our anger and frustration with the 'movers & shakers'!

Of course the BBC is a propaganda regime, they love pushing their left-leaning cobblers out as "news" and this obsession with the World Service propaganda machine (you really need to remember who actually pays your keep BBC). They won't respond to criticism as they believe they are untouchable.

I would like to apologise to Murray for using this comments section to criticise something that is completely outside of his control. I have utmost respect for you but I'm sure you appreciate that this situation has angered and upset a lot of people and the way the BBC are dismissing our concerns borders on scandalous.

Is the video above in full or do I need to subscribe to Sky for the other half?

Hello to Martin Gough. It is very nice to hear from someone at the BBC who is not on holiday.
I am very sorry to Murrey for commenting on your blog but the BBC keeps making it very hard to contact them. Probably due to the entire sports department being on holiday!
Martin as you are watching this blog, please could you help us F1 fans who do not fully understand the BBC/Sky deal and why it had to be done. There are many questions that have been raised on other Blogs that have now been closed and ignored.
Will the BBC be answering any of the points in any of these blogs or will they just be ignored as the whole subject has been ignored by the BBC in general?
We are you paymasters. We pay your wages. Surely it is not too much to ask that the BBC at least take some time to go through its blogs and respond to posters. Closing them is paramount to sticking two fingers up at anyone who might have the audacity to comment on a subject that might not be conducive to the BBCs viewpoint.

There can't be an F1 fan out there who doesn't have the utmost respect for Murray but needs must and all that and it's important to get the comments out there on whichever blog we can. Let the BBC know that we won't be going away just yet!

It may have been the wrong video but when they managed to get the right on here it was then complete thing and not just the highlights, and it was free to air!

Oh, sorry, I forgot we’re not allowed to mention that on the BBC are we.

Still no comment BBC?

Thanks Martin but that blog is closed to comments ("This entry is now closed for comments"), so where are we supposed to air our views?

I realise this isn't your fault - I'm sure you'd give us any extra info if you had it - we are directing our anger at the BBC Management who signed this ridiculous deal and refuse to answer our questions. They seem to forget that we pay their salaries.

Not good enough Martin!

My feeling is that the BBC could quell some of this unrest by coming out and commiting to showing the non-live races in their entirety. Even if it is onloy going to be highlights confirmation of that would be good so at least we know where we stand.

I know we will never get a response from you on why you feel it is better to fund another talent show or keep BBC3 running rather then maintaining your BAFTA award winning F1 coverage but providing us with more details of your cosy deal with Murdoch isnt too much to ask......

Oh, and keep signing the petition everyone!! Get everyone you know to sign it too!

https://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/57

13,0000 signatures and counting!!

Good video Murray, but at 5:23 you faltered as you obviously anticipated this and several other messages as you spoke - to paraphrase (and sorry to cherry-pick your words) "....F1 is what it is because of Bernie AND SUPERB TELEVISION COVERAGE....", superb television coverage - hmmmm - I think we all know F1 has been given a leg-up by years of BBC 'superb television coverage'. Despite F1 being a global brand it isn't major in the USA so the UK via the BBC must remain one major power base 'foundation' that could be relied upon. Yes, I'm sure that other european countries with their passionate fans are other blocks in that foundation, but I bet on any pie chart of coverage and support (plus income) the UK stands out. But it was Bernie's decision to squeeze until the proverbial pips squeaked, it's just a shame those pips didn't have the nerve and intelligence to say, "NO Bernie, bye bye". But the BBC has backed itself into a corner with its move to Salford which I'm sure has blown its budget manyfold (did execs remember to budget for huge staff relocation costs, AND the need to promote key staff as an incentive to move I wonder?) and its coverage of other important events such as following the Olympic torch: oh yes, and To the Manor Reborn had to be funded, didn't it? And still the BBC is silent on this subject and blogs are closed early. A Freesat dish aimed how many degrees to the east for RTL? I've watched F1 abroad with a Chinese or Dutch commentary before and the words don't make that much difference.

Hello Martin,
Thank you for your prompt reply. Unfortunately you have failed to understand my question and just put a link to a post that I have already read.
My question was a simple one:
“Will the BBC be answering any of the points in any of these blogs or will they just be ignored as the whole subject has been ignored by the BBC in general?”
I was asking about the BBCs very silent treatment of this whole issue. Normally when complaints happen at the BBC some can get blown way out of proportion, the Jonathon Ross – Andrew Sacks issue springs to mind. The F1 issue has been met with a wall of silence, closed blogs, even replies to emails that have no bearing on the matter!
So my question again: Are we likely to have any answers to the questions raised in any of the BBC Sports Blogs and comments, that have now been closed or will the whole subject be ignored by the BBC?

@18 Martin Gough - BBC sport

Thank you for the decency of a comment.

Martin, the problem is until you (BBC) have added to your early statement (BBC) the questions and complaints wont stop.

What all this actually means is the BBC have been told to cut back so instead of losing out completely to Sky or altogether a compromise has been made. I pay a subscription to sky already for SkySports you can bet your bottom dollar the subscription will go up next year to enable F1 to flourish (ha Ha) I still receive Motorsport on Sky Indie Championship etc and the football coverage is pretty good too so why should I have to fork out extra for additional F1 coverage answers on a postcard please to Bernie and Rupert!

Very sorry to have to use your blog Murray, but for how much longer can the BBC keep ignoring the issue. The SKY deal is a joke, but the BBC response has been to hide behind a wall of silence and censorship! Please Martin do not keep directing us back to Ben Gallops blog as you must know the comments section has been closed for days! WHEN WILL WE GET ANSWERS??????????????

Martin, thank you for at least being here and making a direct response, although, sadly, it is only to say that you have nothing more to add at the moment. My second complaint to the BBC said something similar, along with something about confidential negotiations. Can you tell us roughly when we can expect to have a more meaningful and detailed response from the powers that be? Days, weeks, next month perhaps..?

I hope you can understand how frustrating and infuriating this is for the likes of us. Well, there are already many thousands of comments spread around the blogs which make this clear!

I understand that the BBC feel they have nothing more to add but this is part of the problem.

I would still be upset but not so frustrated if somebody came out and tried to justify why it is the best deal for the licence fee payer, but instead all we get is 'due to cutbacks this is the best deal for the licence fee payer'

Is an answer to 8,000 comments really not possible, and why are you constantly closing blogs while debates are ongoing? The more the BBC stay silent the more the deal stinks!

thats quite funny.

I can't watch the vid 'cos i'm at work, but i guessed the comments would let me know if old Muzza answered any of the questions people actually wanted answers to...

At least that question has been answered - No

Honestly i think every one is miffed to say the least about the deal , but im sure alot of us would just like confermation that the BBC will be showing a full deferd race. any one who knows any thing about f1 will understand disjointed highlights are abosolutly no way a substitute to a live race. i realise the BBC have diceded to cut costs in cetian areas , i do think its a little unfortunate BBC went with sky , but in doing so u are forcing people to pay for 1/2 the live season , if the deal was done with a terestial channel this wouldnt be the case . so being as we cant have it live , can we at the very least have a full belated race , not highlights...

Just emailed ITV letting them know of all that's happening in terms of petitions, blog comments, silent treatment and ultimately asking for some coverage of something that is actually rather big news.

We'll wait and see!

This is starting to get embarrassing for the BBC. Our only avenue is now to complain avidly on a video blog of a broadcasting legend. The disrespect stops for noone!

I hope the fury doesn't cease or dissipate over the coming weeks.

@32 Barksie - you've summed it up in one! 1 til 5am on BBC3 on a Monday morning following a highlights show on BBC1 would fill in the gaps - a full re-run with forum. It isn't ideal, but the BBC is on the rack as are others. But as we keep saying - SENIOR BBC PEOPLE SAY SOMETHING! I suspect BBC execs have disappeared up Sky's 'dish' though (bbots only showing) so we'll get an 80s style 'highlights' that miss the 'minor events of little interest' that are actually interesting sometimes. Let us fast forward ourselves - VCRs are free these days afterall as more are dumped in favour of DVRs so nobody should be left out, and a 4-hour tape should do.

i've got a feeling the Beeb might think they are winning. Ben's blog was closed with 8000+ comments, and then Jakes was closed with under 2000. Im sure the real reason for this is people are getting a bit bored of asking questions when we don't get answers - but lets make sure we don't give up!

ps everyone sign the petition which i believe has already been linked to

Just had this back from ITV:

Dear Mr xxxxxxxxx

Thank you for your recent email regarding F1

I can confirm that your comments have been noted here at ITV Viewer Services.

May I take this opportunity to thank you for taking the time to contact us here at ITV Viewer Services.

If we can be of further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards

Mike

ITV Viewer Services

------------------------------------------------------------------

Maybe others could write to them too?

"If we can be of further assistance"
?
What 'assistance' did they provide?

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

All they provided was that email. I guess the assistance is that they have noted it and perhaps with enough people writing to them, they'll act on it.

Come on - no need to bash Martin guys, I'm sure he wants to know what is happening as much as us. Jake said in his blog he didn't know about the news until the day it was announced.

I'm sure all of the bbc f1 team want to know the details just like us - so don't blame them, it's the top bbc bosses that are responsible for what has happened.

@31 what questions are you talking about? Murray has already given his thoughts on the TV deal, and he isn't under any contract by the BBC so he isn't exactly going to know any more than what we know.

How about:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/you-and-yours/contact-us/

They're always reporting on companies whose customer service isn't up to scratch.

For my money the people running this service have done everything they could. It’s the Managers who are at fault because they aren’t clarifying their poor statement – what do they say ‘lions led by donkeys?’

.

Wrong vid Murray !!

But to pick up on your questions:. . .Is Vettel cracking? or Are the others ctaching up faster?

Vettel has such an healthy lead he can well afford to relax a bit but still try and finish in the first four and that should guarrantee him the title.

The big 'But' of course is if one of the other drivers notches up four wins on the trot, then Vettel will definitely come under severe pressure. But I doubt that will happen given the sometimes erratic performances of Red Bull's rivals.

I think Sebastien knows he only drive at 90% till the end of the season to become WDC. Why risk crashing out in a race? And when you're not at 100%, you will get 2nds and 3rds. Pity Lewis didn't use this tactic last season. He could have been WDC.

Come on BBC. Is it not clear now that you are losing face by simply not replying to the many thousands of comments on this subject?

Frankly it is disrespectful. For any other broadcasting company, or any service based company for that matter, you would be ignoring your customer base - something that would not be allowed to happen for fear of decreased revenue. Yet because the licence fee is compulsory and not voluntary, the whole ethos of customer service seems lost on you. There have been many intelligent comments posted around various avenues on the BBC site, and they warrant a respectful reply - not thousands of ignored comments, then a link to an article that we were all complaining about anyway.

why do people keep saying the licence fee is compulsory? you dont have to pay.
If it wasn't for Mrs TimmyNorfolk, i would definately be cancelling mine

@TimmyNorfolk

You're right, the licence fee is technically not compulsory. But if you wish to watch TV then it is compulsory. So in the sense that I own a TV, and wish to watch TV, then I have not choice but to pay a licence fee.

For some reason a licence fee must be paid, even though it only funds a handful of channels out of thousands - which would be fine if said BBC were to listen to the public and broadcast shows that we want to watch. Instead it is committed to showing programs like 'Cash in the Attic' and 'Wanted Down Under' - programs which I am guessing would not provoke such a fierce response should they be cancelled (or rather half shown on BBC then you flick to Sky for the other half)

I see this is questions answered part III. Will part IV be on BBC blog or Sky?

All this user's posts have been removed.Why?

On August 8th the spoof Barbara Slater wrote

Why aren't you all "absolutely delighted" with the BBC selling out to Sky. I love Tennis, The Olympics and Horses (best of all the animals).

I just recieved this....

Dear Mr Turner,

Thank you for your email of 1 August. The Committee has received a large number of emails and letters on this subject.

The new licensing agreement for Formula One coverage is a commercial decision rather than a matter of public policy and as such the Committee has no remit to investigate it further.

I appreciate you taking the time to contact the Committee on this matter: your email will be kept on file in case it becomes possible to use it later. If you have any queries about this email, please contact Emily Commander, the Clerk of the Committee.

Yours Sincerely,
Louise Glen
Committee Assistant
Culture, Media and Sport Committee

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

GCSE Media Studies paper 2014 (with answers):

Q1: Where did BBC's F1 coverage money go?
A1: https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8536356.stm

Q2 Why did the BBC close down?
A2: As per A1....

You see Bernie isn't really at fault, the money was in the pot even to pay for his greed

Sweeny02 - i do see your point, but your argument is a bit flawed
"But if you wish to watch TV then [a licence] is compulsory"

If you want to watch Sky - a subscription is also compulsory

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

@ Pedro (55) Very interesting reading. The F1 rights money is insignificant in comparison. But then, F1 is insignificant to the Beeb, if not to its fans.

I do wonder if all this building now with licence money may be part of preparing for a licence-less future.

Come on BBC let us have a proper response.

It will not be long before the governments e-petition fills up with the required 100,000 before it discussed. I have signed it and I urge everyone else too as well, it is easy just click on the link below.

https://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/57

Well done to Thomas Wiseman for creating it in the first place.

Why doesn’t the BBC give the fans a better hearing and give us a more convincing explanation to why they will not show ALL live races?

The BBC could make cuts from other areas to enable this most popular sport to continue in the same excellent way that it has achieved since taking it back from ITV.

Come on BBC play the game.

The reason no one's replying is because they're all on holiday spending the money saved from the deal with Sky.

TimmyNorfolk

Valid point, but:

A) You only need a Sky subscription to watch Sky channels (and channels associated with Sky) whereas you need TV licence to watch ANY channels (not just BBC)

B) a Sky Sports subscription is vastly more expensive than a licence fee. To get Sky Sports it costs you £39.75 pm - equating to £477 a year. Compared with the licence fee of £145.50. If you wish to watch in HD (free on the BBC) it will cost you an extra £10.25 pm - or a total of £600 a year.

C) You cannot have a Sky package without first buying a licence fee. So in actual fact the total cost of watching F1 next year will be £622.50 (or in HD £745.50), compared to £145.50 this year.

Now I'm not arguing against the licence fee here. I'm arguing against the move of F1 to Sky. Would you not agree that it is out with the budget of many households to justify (or be able to) spend an extra £5/600 in this climate?

It seems as though sport is now not the pleasure of the everyday man. The only sports that are free to watch now are Golf, Wimbledon, Snooker and Rugby.

Max M - I wonder if there's a sketch of the new building with the Sky logo on the side instead of the BBC's? After all, at our expense the BBC builds things up then gives them away!

Why does the BBC not care about the fans? surely they will be losing a lot of ratings over a sat and sun afternoon.

Yeah sure roll out repeats of 'keeping up appearances' that will get the viewers in...........

sign the petition
https://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/57

boycott the indian GP!
Viva la resistance!

I see the link to Murrays Q&A video from the BBC Sport main page has the video but none of these comments on it. Hides the public feeling and a lot more subtle than just closing the blog...

Just written to my MP on the topic covering the best arguments from Jakes Blog, Bens Blog etc.

Er, why are you considering censoring a post where I indicated that I have a lot of respect for Murray Walker? What is wrong with these people doing the moderating?

Murray's common sense and long-term perspective is so reliable. He always sticks to the point. I also love the production values of these videos - they are edited cleanly and skilfully without over-fast cuts, the cartoons and the music are perfect, and although I could easily watch 10 times as much material I think their length is about right.

One of the reasons that this whole deal is a total fiasco and unworkable is that we've been promised Monaco, Britain and the final race. OK, fine, but if the race title is concluded before the last races then we potentially miss all the action of the actual race during which the championship is decided.

And what if the other races that the BBC kindly chooses for us are some of the most processional of the season?

I imagine most of us would have lost the will to live had Sky been responsible for covering the gap during the Canadian GP this year!

Incidentally, Jake's "Presenter" blog is still open so we should be posting on any and every F1 site for as long as we can.

I realise that the number of comments is slowing but if we can keep up the numbers we do keep the pressure on the Beeb to respond to us.

Still here and still gutted, BBC ditch The Chain theme tune and try this to John Lennon's classic Imagine:

"Imagine there's no F.One
It's easy if you try
No BeeBeeCee below us
Above us only Sky
Imagine all the people
Living for RaceSunday...

Imagine there's no Murdoch
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to hate or die for
And no Bernie Ecclestone too
Imagine all the people
Watching grand prix in peace...

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will all be able to watch F.One

Imagine no Brundle, DC; Jake, Eddie; Lee, Ted; Ant, Crofty or Murray Walker
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
We have a brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the World...(Championship)

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someone can undo this mess
And the world will all watch F.One "

Yes, I'm expecting Valencia and Bahrain to be among the BBC ten. As for Monaco, the original procession, great for the BBC staff who get to go, less so for fans watching at home.

According to the BBC's news people (in reply to a complaint) there is no policy to ignore BBC bad news stories like this one, so any report about the e-petition site that fails to mention the petition about F1 is factually correct - but (my thoughts) nevertheless incomplete due to normal [shoddy] journalistic practices. Phew, and to think I was beginning to become paranoid!

Everything I watch about formula one now Just leaves a sour and bitter feeling, YES I have sky sports BUT will cancel after my contract runs out at the end of this year. They - F1 et al think the UK fans have served their purpose - made the sport huge, now f1 have enough worldwide fans for it to continue we are now insignificant to sponsors teams etc.

Btw Murray you forgot to mention the LIVE part when you said it was why we love to watch F1. You've served your purpose too and can actually retire knowing a knighthood will be around the corner for being such a dutiful subject. How can you not see how the BBC swindled us from FTA by getting in bed with SKY ! They actually could have saved more money by giving it up and taking the £50mil for defaulting so don't feed me that cost cutting lark. If I'm wrong please point out which buts I am wrong in and I will apologise gracefully

Hi Murray... You were the voice of F1 simply because you were on BBC and so whether people were interested in F1 or not - they heard you... and you were heard.

How many other presenters will no longer get the chance to become household names because the vast majority of households do not waste £600+ on Sky Sports each year. ? You'e done really well out of F1 bing Free to View... it's all very well you saying there is some sadness involved with this - but I don't think, with all the best will in the world - anyone would ever have heard of you if F1 hadn't been FTV; and that would have been a huge loss - to us - but especially to you. Now that you've enjoyed your career based on FTV hosting of F1 - couldn't you please put a bit back into the sport - and be a bit more supportive of us? We all made you... if we hadn't watched - what would you have done instead?

@64 StevieBBC - isn't that just due to an earlier mistake rather than part of the BBC cover-up? Apart from perhaps closing blogs early I haven't seen any signs this site is deliberately hiding bad news. As the proverbial Dalek said as it glided away from the dustbin, wee awl maik miskates!

Take a look at the following and draw your own conclusions;

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14428914

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12771254

https://www.shine.tv/

Note they produce Masterchef.........A hit for the BBC (why are they incapable of making it themselves rather than feeding a nothing organisation and helping it become a company valued at over £400mil).

They also produce some of the less cerebrally challenging programs for BBC3 / aka the vacuous channel.

BBC..............You should be ashamed of yourselves!!!!!!

Regarding 'Shine', I wonder who will feature in Most Annoying People of 2011? Do the 13,000 e-petition people get to vote?

Another one bites the dust! Jake's production blog is now closed to comments! Thats three in as many days.

Apologies Murray for hijacking your blog, but I came to get a few things off my chest onto the F1 production blog only to find that it had been closed to comments. I for one am deeply disappointed that F1 fans keep having to jump from blog to blog to express their feelings over the new deal, but it would seem that the F1 fire burns deep within a lot of people - including me.

Murray, when you were commentating on a recent practice session on Radio 5 live it took me back to when I started watching F1 on the BBC back in the eighties and reminded me that your ability to bring F1 to life made watching F1 that much more enjoyable. In recent years my passion for F1 has been re-fueld by the BAFTA award winning coverage of Jake and his team and has even converted my other half! It seemed like F1 was back where it belonged and that it hadn't been this good since you and Martin had commentated together.

It is easy to understand why the new F1 deal has evoked so much feeling in the fans but in particular it is the idea that the coverage will most certainly change from it's current format and is likely to be considerably less than what it is right now.

I am disappointed that the BBC did not value it's F1 coverage higher than what it appears to have. Surely the fact that F1 on the BBC has between 4.5 and 6 million viewers on a sunday signals that it was onto a good thing with their coverage and didn't need to change it?!

For me if the BBC were to maintain their excellent coverage of the 2012 season with the same BAFTA award winning team, yet only delay the race shows by a few hours, then as a Licence Fee payer I could be fairly happy with the BBC/SKY rights sharing deal. I wouldn't have to even consider purchasing SKY as I would still be able to enjoy F1 to the same level as I do now and have opportunity to get the gardening done or the car washed BEFORE I sit down to enjoy F1! At the same time it would cost the BBC £20-25 million less than what it has done this season. A reasonable compromise? Perhaps - the fans still get to watch F1 in it's entirety to the same level as they do now (just a few hours later on 9/10 races of the season) and the BBC make a significant cost saving.

If that is the outcome then I would feel like as a fan I would have dodged the proverbial bullet as I wouldn't have to purchase SKY and watch their coverage of F1, whic

Murray

As a man of senior years, I would be fascinated to hear your thoughts on those pensioners who have followed F1 and motor sports for as long as yourself and are now being denied the opportunity to follow the sport they love in full as they lack the funds?

My Grandfather is a 90 year old war veteran who simply can't afford a SKY subscription and isn't interested in highlights, given the fantastic full coverage he has enjoyed for so many years now.

He's contributed to the BBC through his licence fee for all these years and shares the betrayal we all feel.

Another one bites the dust! Jake's production blog is now closed to comments! Thats three in as many days.

Apologies Murray for hijacking your blog, but I came to get a few things off my chest onto the F1 production blog only to find that it had been closed to comments. I for one am deeply disappointed that F1 fans keep having to jump from blog to blog to express their feelings over the new deal, but it would seem that the F1 fire burns deep within a lot of people - including me.

Murray, when you were commentating on a recent practice session on Radio 5 live it took me back to when I started watching F1 on the BBC back in the eighties and reminded me that your ability to bring F1 to life made watching F1 that much more enjoyable. In recent years my passion for F1 has been re-fueld by the BAFTA award winning coverage of Jake and his team and has even converted my other half! It seemed like F1 was back where it belonged and that it hadn't been this good since you and Martin had commentated together.

It is easy to understand why the new F1 deal has evoked so much feeling in the fans but in particular it is the idea that the coverage will most certainly change from it's current format and is likely to be considerably less than what it is right now.

I am disappointed that the BBC did not value it's F1 coverage higher than what it appears to have. Surely the fact that F1 on the BBC has between 4.5 and 6 million viewers on a sunday signals that it was onto a good thing with their coverage and didn't need to change it?!

For me if the BBC were to maintain their excellent coverage of the 2012 season with the same BAFTA award winning team, yet only delay the race shows by a few hours, then as a Licence Fee payer I could be fairly happy with the BBC/SKY rights sharing deal. I wouldn't have to even consider purchasing SKY as I would still be able to enjoy F1 to the same level as I do now and have opportunity to get the gardening done or the car washed BEFORE I sit down to enjoy F1! At the same time it would cost the BBC £20-25 million less than what it has done this season. A reasonable compromise? Perhaps - the fans still get to watch F1 in it's entirety to the same level as they do now (just a few hours later on 9/10 races of the season) and the BBC make a significant cost saving.

If that is the outcome then I would feel like as a fan I would have dodged the proverbial bullet as I wouldn't have to purchase SKY and watch their coverage of F1,%

This is totally, totally outrageous. Jake's blog has been open since 27 September 2010 and now they have closed that too.

This is absolute censorship so everyone get your formal complaints into the BBC.

This is supposed to be democracy BBC - freedom of speech and all that. You should find out what that means.

Copy of my first formal complaint on this particlar point - this cannot be legal in this country.

"The blog referred to has been open since 27 September 2010 and yet one day after you close down Ben Gallop and Jake Humphrey's latest blogs to comment and force people's compaints to move to the 9/2010 blog you close that too. This is outright censorship and a blatant suppression of this country's freedom of speech laws. This is not Libya - it is not Syria - but it is beginning to feel like it. You are a public service broadcaster but you are not allowing the public to broadcast their views of your actions. In many ways this is potentially more serious than the ramifications of your shoddy deal with Sky and I will be speaking to my colleagues tomorrow to find out the legality of your actions. I will also be complaining about this to Parliament."

OMG...Can someone please remind me what country we are living in...3 blogs shut in 3 days, or so.......

What has happened to our freedom of speech here. This is a healthy and passionate debate about a sport we all love and cherish...all 11,000 of us so far (comments posted...rough guess).

We will highjack the eastenders blog if this carries on i don't think the fans can be quelled this easily.

Rather than pretending we don't exisit Beeb, answer us. Don't hide. 108 complaints to sack Ross and Brand, for an overhyped "mistake". Double standards.

Hello BBC is there anybody there? I was just wondering as you seem to have gone very quiet!

Zebbers et al, this matter has shown the BBC up in a very bad light to say the least. In my 52 years I have never made an official complaint before and in just over a week I've made three, plus I've posted numerous times on these blogs (when they've remained open that is). The lack of response from anybody in a senior position in the BBC suggests there is something being hidden that is beyond the confines of this small issue. I can live without live F1 I believe (better no F1 than more money to Murdoch and would I give up eating or (heaven forbid) wearing clothes to pay for it anyway?), but I would like to know why I should have to and the explanations given so-far just don't hold water. Also there is a more effective suppression of reporting than when a D-Notice is issued by a Government department: I mean how could that reporter miss the fact that hanging/no hanging AND F1 dominated the e-petition website?

Hi Murray having watched F1 for 30+ years i consider you "The Father of F1", certainly not Bernie. What concerns me is that it was a closed deal. Neither Virgin, Channel 4 or ITV etc etc were offered a chance to join with the BBC. Also like www.motogp.com a subscription service was surely possible. Have you ever watched half of anything ? F1 is a passion not a dribs and drabs sport.

Like you, i'm sad, So it's the last year i'll support F1.

Sky is about Football and funding that habit.. £600 a year to F1 sorry no thanks.

this is china
dont complain about bbc or you get censored
yet another blog closed, yet more complaints sent to ofcom

by the time next season starts there wont be a bbc site you can comment on lol

WOW are ALL of Jakes blogs closed?

I've clicked a few but they seem to be closed!

British
Board of
Censorship?

buy second hand dish and box
point dish at 19.2e
watch races for free on rtl
tune into 5live for commentary

I can't believe they closed down Jake's blog...it's been open to comments since last year. That's absolutely disgraceful! BBC your behaviour is shameful. We have every right to express our outrage at you selling out on us and we will do so.

@87 arron1718
there is also a few on line streams wich u can use in conjunction with the 5 live comentry . i am still hopefull for a deferd race with martin & dc comenting, but failing that .....

Dear BBC- after 34 years of watching F1 I now no longer give a monkeys so if you make a mess of putting up a video then that is symptomatic of the BBC generally. I will no longer be watching the races and will only post here to voice my displeasure that you have sold us out. If I could still own a tv and have it modified to avoid all BBC channels I would.

Thanks to the BBC I've made time to post comments on this blog, make official complaints, vote on an e-petition and now write to my MP! I feel it's a little like a self-help Open University this BBC-showing-contempt-for-its-customers business!

Just as an aside, there's a John Cleese training video from the 80s I think "how to handle a complaint" (or something like that). When shown a broken widget the Cleese character says to the complaining customer snearingly, "You've been using this"......

BBC execs, you were supposed to play the second half of the video, which showed you how to handle complaints correctly (oh, I know, that half of the video available only via Sky Sports. ha ha ha)

I think it's important to mention that we should all avoid venting our collective spleens in the general direction of the presenting and production crews. As yet, none of them have actively (to my knowledge) supported the despicable actions carried out by their bosses. We are, after all, wanting to keep them doing what they do so well and to risk turning on them would be a huge mistake. We need to keep them onside until they declare otherwise. Unfortunately, they are in an unenviable position stuck between a rock (the BBC) and a hard place (the fans)

Barbara Slater and Ben Gallop your lack of the response to the thousands of comments made on these blogs over the past week is is totally disgusting.

Im sure that you do not need reminding that as licence fee payers we are your customers (whether we like it or not) and deserve to be treated with some respect.

Could you at least have the decency to respond to these complaints, and by respond I do not mean posting a link to previous comments, I mean provide full explanation to us all, on how the BBC / SKY F1 deal saves the BBC more money than if you were to get rid of both BBC3 and BBC4, which have low viewing figures and mainly show repeats.

Sticking your heads in the sand will not make this situation go away, it just makes you both look even more incompetent.

You can try to hide but we will not go away.When are you going to acknoweldge that you have made F1 fans livid with your stupid decision.Now busy trying to find alternative
satellite systemsNEVER sky.Martin and DC with Eddie and Jake's presentation can not be bettered

"On Wednesday 1st September 2010 at 3pm, at the Palm Court Rooms
The Waldorf Hilton, London, Formula 100 members will hear presentations from some of the leading international sponsors from the world of Formula 1."

"Formula 100 events will canvas and share the opinions of F1's biggest sponsors and some leading figures in the sport will provide presentations about how they activate their sponsorships and deliver a return on investment."

There's a contact e-mail address on their web site too
https://www.formula100.biz/

@magt1000

I would expect Jim Sheridan (MP for Paisley North) to receive the same response to his request for:

"...the committee to launch an inquiry into how the BBC came to buy the rights for Formula 1 and not the Scotland games"

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/61638/1/nauseating_bbc_deal_facing_political_probe.html

As a member of that committee he seems to either disagree with or misunderstand the scope and purpose of the committee upon which he sits.

The BBC can run from this ussue but they can not hide for ever. You will have to explain what lead to you selling out, (DONT MENSION THE BBC COST CUTS, okay) us fans know when something is fishy so tell the truth before you have no fans to talk to, OKAY.

YorkieDav. I think if you read through the 10k+ comments across the BBC blogs - and yes, I have - you will find that the majority have been very complimentary about the coverage of Martin and Jake - in particular - and the BBC generally. This is what makes it all the more ludicrous that the BBC should kill their cash cow and sell themselves to the lowest common denominator across the spectrum.

But this suppression of a blog that was hitherto open since 27/9/2010 and gets closed a day after a few of us find it in response to other blogs being closed is like saying F1 Fans Verboten and this is simply not acceptable.

Feeling more than a bit let down here Murray.....Not a single word on the only subject any of us actually care about right now.

Very, very disappointed!

Sooo, now Jake's blog is closed for comments too, I wonder how long this one will remain open for? Got a letter from my MP today, not a lot she can do of course but at least she took the time to send me a personal reply, which is more than I can say for the BBC. Still unsure about how precisely I'm going to watch F1 next year, all I can say for certain is that it won't be on Sky.