The Bahrain Grand Prix will be the first shown live by Channel 4 in its new role as Formula One’s terrestrial television outlet. When the channel’s three-year deal expires at the end of the 2018 season the only place to see live F1 will be through Sky’s paywall. It is part of a trend in sport and is a worry for Stephen Lyle, Channel 4’s commissioning editor and its head of F1.
Lyle, 46, said: “The broadest possible audience a sport can reach the better it is. And free-to-air television gives you that. It is a double-edged sword. And you can argue that there is a pretty successful England cricket team out there at the moment, and that team is well financed. Would they be doing so well but for the injection of cash from Sky? But, as a sports fan, when I heard the news last week [about Sky signing a six-year deal from 2019 to become the sport’s exclusive right-holder in the UK] I was disappointed. And a lot of fans have expressed their disappointment too.
“The new Sky deal with F1 doesn’t make a huge amount of difference to us. We have signed a three-year deal which is concentrating wholly on those three years, and this is our first live race this weekend.
“So all of our energy and attention has genuinely been focused on getting on the air inside three months – a ridiculously short amount of time after picking it up from the BBC.”
Channel 4 will cover 10 races live, advert-free, with 11 highlights packages, replicating the BBC deal. BBC Sport is expected to make a saving of £35m by backing out of its TV deal, though BBC Radio 5 Live has extended its radio deal to 2021.
When the deal was done with Channel 4, Bernie Ecclestone, F1’s chief executive, said he was pleased the sport would continue to be broadcast on free-to-air. He said: “I am confident that Channel 4 will achieve not only what the BBC carried out in the past but also with a new approach, as the world and Formula 1 has moved on.” Sky has said it will continue to show the British Grand Prix live on a separate channel, together with highlights, though details have not been announced.
Meanwhile, Channel 4 is confident it can bring to its coverage some of the innovative flair that has been a feature of its involvement with cricket, Italian football, NBA basketball and the NFL.
It has kept a number of the BBC team on board, including the popular David Coulthard and Ben Edwards commentary partnership. On live weekends such as this, the core team of presenters will be joined by the former Red Bull driver Mark Webber and Williams test driver Susie Wolff as expert analysts.
A key element of its plans involves in-depth features ranging from bespoke interviews in the paddock by Murray Walker, to celebrity and lifestyle pieces to engage a younger audience.
Lyle joined Channel 4 from the BBC, where he produced coverage of both cricket and football World Cups. Before that he worked on the Panorama programme.
He added: “We want to maintain the integrity of the sport but add our touch to it, and you could see that coming through [the opening race] in the highlights from Melbourne.
“But we still like to look to the future and dream about having an even longer relationship about doing the live races. So the fact that the free-to-air option appears to have gone is disappointing.”