F1 viewership collapsed in France - Prost | Page 2 | FerrariChat

F1 viewership collapsed in France - Prost

Discussion in 'F1' started by william, Jan 18, 2020.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

  1. albkid

    albkid Formula Junior

    Jul 1, 2016
    318
    Full Name:
    Jim
    In the US, pay TV is sucking up important contests that were previously on free TV. For example, the college football national championship and the two semi-final games, were restricted to ESPN. If you had not subscribed to the sports bundle on DirecTV, you did not get an opportunity to see the games.

    It sucks.
     
  2. jjmalez

    jjmalez F1 Veteran
    Silver Subscribed

    Apr 8, 2005
    5,948
    Northern Illinois
    Full Name:
    Joseph
    #27 jjmalez, Jan 20, 2020
    Last edited: Jan 20, 2020

    The French Grand Prix was hard to watch last year. I mean visually hard to watch. The track, with all the red and blue stripes gave me vertigo. The circuit has all the ambiance of a bus station.

    But on a positive note, it's one Sunday on the calendar this year I can sleep in.

    :)

    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
    stavura, SimCity3, Hawkeye and 2 others like this.
  3. william

    william Two Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Jun 3, 2006
    25,447

    That circuit is not appealing from a spectator's point of view.
    They have revived the French GP there, but the place is really unattractive.
     
  4. stever

    stever F1 Rookie
    Silver Subscribed

    Apr 18, 2006
    4,067
    West. Wisconsin
    Full Name:
    Steve R
    The notion that 'sport' has become 'entertainment' is not a new one in the US. Racing, football...I won't comment on others as I don't follow, but.....
    I reject the notion that F1 does a good job of entertaining....most of what is interesting is hidden in the garage; we fans are supposed to be excited when we get a glimpse inside. That's a no go....
     
    SimCity3 likes this.
  5. Etcetera

    Etcetera Two Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Dec 7, 2003
    22,179
    Full Name:
    C9H8O4
    Bus stations are more interesting.
     
    stavura and SimCity3 like this.
  6. Nembo1777

    Nembo1777 F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Nov 4, 2006
    10,147
    opposite lock
    Full Name:
    Marc Sonnery
    #31 Nembo1777, Jan 21, 2020
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2020
    Very true but even though I live 2 hours east of Magny Cours I can't stand the place and never go there unless I strictly have to which is when I am headed to Paris, then my "special itinerary" happens to pass there but truly by coincidence.
    So then I stop to see what is going on on the main circuit -bumped into Sebastien Loeb signing autographs during a French GT championship race weekend once- and the school one next door -usually old F1 cars from the 1990's can be seen running, I do some karting at the nearby kart track...but it is a total dump in the middle of nowhere surrounded by farmland, the track has no character, there is nothing to do there other than some small Ligier museum and the drive from to Paris is 2 hours 40 minutes of very bring travel...in the case of a GP it would be at least four hours each way, leaving Paris at 0 dark hundred to arrive late sunday evening: not many would do that. Let's not forget the circuit received investment in the early 1990's because the corrupt Guy Ligier was friendly with corrupt socialist President Mitterand who wanted to help his friends there.

    Paul Ricard is hard to access yes, the first year of the return 2 years ago was disaster -some idiot gendarmes turned back Vettel and Grosjean stating they did not care who they were(!) but access was much better last summer and they keep improving it. It is a wonderful area and each time I test a car at Ricard if its warm enough I manage a swim in one of the gorgeous beach coves (calanques) nearby. Late June is good perfect weather but crucially the big July August crowds are not there yet. I do think that they could make the race more interesting IF, IF they modify the layout: let's see what their ideas are for this year.

    FYI if you go at a time when there is no event or just a small one take the secret road they don't want you to use during big events: that from Brignoles to the circuit: very fun and twisty but definitely not for big vehicles.
     
    DF1 likes this.
  7. stavura

    stavura Formula 3

    Sep 1, 2016
    1,328
    U.K
    Full Name:
    Harold Lounge
    Shocker of a track!
     
  8. Adrian Thompson

    Adrian Thompson Formula Junior

    Apr 28, 2004
    429
    Beverly Hills, Mi
    Full Name:
    Adrian Thompson
    I am honestly pleasantly surprised my comments were so well received, I really thought I'd be shouted down.

    One question, were all these pay per view TV deals signed under Bernie and co. so Liberty will have to live with them for the life of the contracts, or did they sign any themselves? I would hope that once these deals expire they will go back to a free to air service, preferably live on free YouTube, failing that part of a basic streaming service like Netflix or Prime Video as those are the two most common that people will already have.
     
  9. nerofer

    nerofer F1 World Champ

    Mar 26, 2011
    11,968
    FRANCE
    Adrian,

    Can't answer for any other country but my own: France.
    "TF 1" which broadcasted Formula One for free until the end of 2012, lost the rights for F1 starting with the 2013 season for "Canal +", which is Pay TV; "Canal +" agreed to pay 29 millions € each year, plus 20 millions € in production fees. Bernie was still in charge then.
    The agreement was renewed in 2017, Bernie had left then.

    Rgds
     
    william likes this.

Share This Page