Sky reach for the BBC

We’re four races into the UK’s shared broadcasting of Formula 1 between Sky and the BBC. Apart from providing us viewers with the massive fun of spotting the other broadcaster in the background, what are the BBC and Sky doing with this new deal and how do they compare so far?

Starting with Sky the first thing you notice is just how much depth they’re prepared to go into with their coverage. They know they’re not presenting to a mass audience of millions, they’re plying their trade for the hard core fans, the people who know what a DRS wing is without a need for explanation.

This is not to say their coverage alienates new comers to the sport, but they know their core audience and their presentation acknowledges it, as well as the fact they have a whole channel dedicated to it.

Sky are masters at sports presentation which is why it’s a bit strange that I find some of the coverage rather clunky. They’ve done many good things so far; showing all sessions live with race and qualifying uninterrupted by adverts and have the F1 show every week to keep you updated as well as F1 legends interview shows and coverage of the GP2 and when it starts the GP3 support series following the drivers of the future.

They love their technology and the use of the Skypad is a highlight to get into those technical issues with virtual cars and super slowmo clips. The actual race coverage is fine, however it does follow a very similar pattern to the way the BBC do things, with presentation from the pit lane, paddock then a grid walk, then after the race wondering the paddock again finding people to chat to.

Now there’s nothing wrong with that, I’m not sure there’s really that many ways of doing anything different with that, but I’m not sure it’s quite as slick as it could be yet. Presenter Simon Lazenby is sometimes coming across a bit nervous and the rapport between him and pundit Damon Hill (who also doesn’t seem to be overly assured all the time) hasn’t had time to build yet which leads to a few awkward moments.

Georgie Thompson is best as presenter for the F1 show and makes a good combo with Ted Kravitz. Here’s where the team excel, along with Kravitz Sky also poached from the BBC; Anthony Davidson (great analyser), Natalie Pinkham (although can be slightly cringe worthy in her VTs), David Croft and of course the jewel in the crown of Formula 1 broadcasting Martin Brundle.

Kravitz is as good as ever, Brundle and Croft make a good pairing in the commentary box which is when you really need to be good anyway. So overall Sky are doing a fantastic job but sometimes it feels as if Brundle is holding it all together, especially when wondering around the paddock.

They’ve stolen the best parts of the BBC and added that depth and detail, and the hours of coverage they have (sometimes it feels like they have a bit too much time either side of the race that they don’t know what to do with) make it a sound investment, although they know they have tough competition from the BBC.

It was noticeable that in the build-up to the Chinese Grand Prix, the only time Sky and BBC have shared live coverage of a race so far this year, Sky didn’t run adverts during the time the BBC were on air, just in case some people channel hopped over I imagine.

And they’re right to be worried because if you did pop in on the BBC to see how they’re doing then you might well have stayed because they are still just as good as ever, there is a reason they’ve won BAFTAs.

It was like sitting back down with familiar friends, despite half of them being on another channel (although if you caught the BBC Bahrain forum you can see a quick chat with Martin Brundle).

Even if the banter can get a bit much, there’s just a great sense of camaraderie between Jake Humphrey, David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan. Having said that, the highlights show haven’t included EJ all that much if at all and it hasn’t suffered for that.

Jake Humphrey is a great sports presenter in general and has a real knack of sharing his passion for sport with a mass audience. David Coulthard has grown brilliantly as a pundit over the last few years to a point where I think Brundle leaving has given him more room to shine.

Gary Anderson is a fine addition as pit lane reporter, a former F1 designer he certainly knows his stuff but might need to hone his interview technique. Ben Edwards has a wealth of motor sport commentary experience for Eurosport and ITV and has fitted in perfectly with David Coulthard to form an equal partnership to Croft and Brundle.

The only lowlight is that Lee McKenzie seems underused in the programmes. She’s a great interviewer and has proved to be a good presenter before but the highlight shows prevent many VT’s leaving her in the back ground which is a shame.

I’ve mentioned them already but with their contract saying they can only cover 10 races live (all are live with a fine BBC 5live team), obviously that means the other 10 are highlights. Early races mean a 2 hour package, European timed ones 90 minutes.

The 2 hour package was great, it didn’t feel like you were missing massive chunks of the race and the commentary was seamless. Ninety minutes may not be quite enough. The analysis afterwards was to the point but not a lot of detail but they still run the F1 forums even if they’re not live which is great.

They’re a much more relaxed affair and they often provide plenty of laughs as well as insight to the behind the scenes goings on in Formula 1 after the champagne has been sprayed but you have to search for this extra coverage via red or web.

Although it’s a shame all races aren’t live on free to air, in a way it’s good to have two broadcasters as they’ll push each other along and a nice bit of healthy competition hasn’t done any harm to overall viewing figures so far.

It should be noted that they do cater to different audiences and Sky have been brilliant in pushing F1 coverage to a new level, but a comparison between them is inevitable and I feel that when the BBC share live coverage I’d still just about opt for them.