My Belgian Grand Prix preview

Wow, we now have anonymous blog editors, the White Elephant must be huge!

@ Piet Boon:
Very huge indeed. But in plain black & white, what colur would this F1 topic be in? Whitewashed & papered over or blacked out with a permanent marker?

help! all i see is white!

Hi Murray,

Thank you for your new blog. I have had great respect for you over the years but our sport is now in crisis and F1 Fans need help but F1 itself seems to have two fingers planted in its ears and singing “La La La La La” and not listening.

I do how ever have a few things to point out:

I know that because of your close association with the BBC you cannot say too much but a thank you to all the people who have commented on your last blog would have been nice.

Let me help you out with next years script for your blog. (this will only be the fist half, I will try to post the rest on the Sky website!)

“We have had a great first half to the season, sorry for all of you who do not have Sky, you have had a great fist quarter of the season.
This year Redbull has won 3 of the last 5 races or was it 3 out of 10, or 4 out of 5 but again if you don’t have Sky you might not know what has happened.”

Totally unacceptable journalism.
Totally unacceptable situation for the 2012 season with the BBC.
Totally unacceptable BBC/Sky deal.

Response from the BBC – 0
Response from other media – 0.5
Response from F1management – 0.5
Response from so called celebrity fans and grid walking hangers on – 0
Response from F1 Teams – 0
Response from Sponsors – 0
Response from F1 Fans - 10,000+

Murray just over your shoulder is a huge elephant that will not go away. It will be in Belgium and travel with F1 until the season ends.
If this is such a great deal for the F1 fans why have the BBC hidden behind The Great Wall of Silence, I think I can see Ben just crouching down just over the other side hoping not to be seen.

Spa is always good, I'll continue this season but Murray I just cancelled my sky sports subscription - quite cathartic actually, have had nothing but respect for the BBC despite minor issues. This has made me question their whole setup - Rather follow in german language than listen to them on BBC. #PureContempt

Iam looking forward to Spa and hopefully the BBC will finally respond to the questions on every fans mind, whats happening about showing the non live races next season in full, or is this the last time we will all be able too enjoy the race.

btw your link to Mark Webber on twitter from his BBC columns has been wrong for god knows how long https://twitter.com/ maybe the full link can be found on sky

@4 Couldn't have said it better!

IMO I feel that the BBC has now left it to long to respond and can't possibly come up with an argument that will placate the fans, therefore they will just keep stum and hope it all goes away over time.

10,000+ comments from fans, 20,000 signatures on the e-petition and 30,000 signatures on petitionbuzz (not to mention the countless other forums) and no decent response - a very sad way to treat the people who pay their wages......

The most annoying thing about all this is we have over 10,000 complaints about this scenario. Yet a few years ago Jonathan Ross and Russel Brand made a joke about a celeb. 800 people complained in total and it was out cry, suspensions handed out the works.
It's disgusting. Here we have a situation that is directly affecting the PAYING customers and it goes un noticed.

the bbc do not care about it paying customers because they have no choice but to pay time for change ?
WHY WASNT THIS DEAL DONE IN REVERSE WITH SKY HAVING HALF THE RACES ABSOLUTE INCOMPETENCE

murray it is embarasing to see you alone on yhe bbc f1 home page defending the indefensable HOW HAVE YOU ALLOWED THEM TO USE YOU IN THIS WAY !

Dear Murray,

Thank you for the years of entertainment and amusement you have given me. How very sad that you have now chosen to obey your BBC paymasters and ignore the matter uppermost in the minds of all who watch F1 - that this is the last full live F1 season thanks to the behaviour of the BBC which has become all too clear since your last blog.

If I am mistaken and the rather crude edits in your latest blogcast mean the BBC has censored your comments (as it censors comments critical of its behaviour on these blogs) I apologise - if you haven't been censored then I do not apologise and remain very sad at what has happened to you. All the best in your retirement.

Underdog to ivory tower, underdog to ivory tower, do you read me ivory tower?
Over.
Underdog to ivory tower, underdog to ivory tower, do you care at all ivory iower?
Over.
Underdog to ivory tower, underdog to ivory tower, you appear to have cotton wool in your ears ivory tower.
Over.

Sorry Murray for using this blog, BUT we still no answers to the questions that we the fans and licence payers have asked these include. Why did the BBC do a deal with SKY in order to block channel 4's bid? How is this the best deal for fans? Why did the BBC not honour the terms of the original agreement? Are we getting full race re-runs or just a highlight show? If Ben Gallop and Barbera Slater are so delighted with this deal why are they not defending it, indeed where are they hiding? Im sorry if this post offends anyone as off topic, but i for one would love to have some answers and will keep posting until i do l. I am one of those people where Sky is not an option as where i live in a rural area is a SKY blackspot, which is more common than you might think! There is no cable and broadband is painfully slow, so if it doesn't come through an aerial than the majority of people in the village cannot watch it. The freeview coverage is poor although we are told that this will improve after switchover the majority still can not receive Channel 5. I do not watch soaps,tacky reality shows, antiques programs ect so why am i paying for a tv licence just to watch the occasional documentary! Please at least give us access to to the whole race, so at least i get something for nearly 150 pound a year!

I think more of us need to call for the licence fee to be scrapped - a private company (one which relies on people in a democratic and free society choosing whether to watch their services - as opposed to being thrown into jail for not paying up) would not treat paying customers in this way.

The way that the BBC have treated the vast numbers of discontented viewers has been utterly incredulous - how they could have started TV negotiations with the upper hand and ended up bowing before BSkyB, letting them take the best races and subsidising their foray into F1 is nothing short of a scandal.

This isn't going to go away BBC, despite your pathetic attempts to supress our freedom of expression.

Underdog to ivory tower, you know with your attitude I hope Cameron's Government squeezes you even more in the next few years - and for me to approve of anything the Tories do means I am really, really, really hacked off with you.

@16 TRLF1FanPeter echo your sentiments entirely

Totally agree with you murray the last eight races are going to be humdingers, of course in preperation for next season I will only be watching the highlights. This is because like many F1 fans I refuse to be so heavily taxed to watch the sport I love so much.

This whole saga seams to be like some Robin Hood story with Bernie as the Sherif of Ecclestoneham and the BBC, SKY, FOM and FOTA his trusty barrons rubbing their hands together about all the money they are going to make. We all know that the Merry Men win at the end of the real Robin Hood. Unfortunatly though this is real life, and in real life the rich go silent and get richer and the Merry Men ie the fans are left with highlights and dreams of what could have been.

LOL @18 - Perhaps I should try 'Kev Costner to Ivory Tower'? But Alan Rickman comes to mind when 'The Sherif' is mentioned - Bernie is more like the Sherif's Mini Me.

Maid Marion and her Merry Men more like - Its a kids comedy but for real life

i see bbc isn't covering that indian guy anna hazare very much...i'l go no further

FOTA and the sponsors can stop this but won't because of their greed. So lets all help make it back-fire and boycot all F1 sponsors, Sky and team merchandise. Hit em where it hurts.

They dont care they dont listen and they couldn't give a toss about the fans, they will have there saving in the meantime but they will all lose out in the long-term.

I hope all involved in this scandalous deal hang your heads in shame, but I doubt it as you dont care, dont listen and couldn't give a toss about the fans.

Why did the BBC do a deal with SKY in order to block channel 4's bid?
How is this the best deal for fans?
Why did the BBC not honour the terms of the original agreement?
Are we getting full race re-runs or just a highlight show?
If Ben Gallop and Barbera Slater are so delighted with this deal why are they not defending it, indeed where are they hiding?

If Mr Murdock had to anwser his questions tell me what makes you so special?

I hope the BBC gets hauled up in front of a British parliamentary committee to answer questions I really hope they are.

Murray you talk about a right royal battle....I think your right but the battle will be to re-instate FTA

#KeepF1OnBBC

Really looking forward to Spa but there is this huge black cloud looming over the whole f1 scene for me now....the thought that I won't be able to see it live next year.

Why oh why BBC have you done this?

ive just tried tweeting #KeepF1onBBC - retweet please to everbody and hit daly limit of 130 tweets so use yous wisalety and open more than on eaccount on twitter ask celebs to retweet what ive put here som emifght then mkite go viral

DRS ban at Eau Rouge - ban on #KeepF1OnBBC in the paddock maybe?

Well, surprise surprise, another day, another blog and still the BBC still trying to bury the controversy from the casual visitor. Of course they are being careful to keep one direct mention of the TV rights on the main page (i.e. Murray's response which contains a link to Ben Gallop's closed blog) so that it can be claimed that it is not being completely hidden when anybody complains (if you do jump through the complaint hoops they will point you to those items and also the TV report on the day of the announcement where they interviewed about three fans at Silverstone who would have just heard and not be fully aware of the details (all against by the way)).

Anybody looking at the website would get the impression that 'everything in the garden is rosy' and unless they look into the comments of the respective otherwise unrelated blogs (which I must admit, I hitherto rarely did unless the main blog subject was of a contentious nature) would be unaware that this issue is the foremost issue of concern to the majority of regular fans.

At every stage, from the inception of the deal to the present, every effort has been made to stay just inside the minimum needed in order to demonstrate keeping to the letter of the law whilst at the same time ensuring that public opinion is suppressed to the fullest extent. This is not what the public (and not just F1 fans) expect or deserve from the BBC and I'm sure that were this to be done by anyone else, the BBC would be the first to admonish the whole sorry affair as being totally contemptuous.

I wait to see how it is handled over the Spa weekend but, based on the track record so far, I don't hold out much hope. Of course the main thrust of the coverage has to be about F1 in general (that is what we tune in for and the BBC do excellently) but seeing as this is such a huge issue it needs to be addressed appropriately. This is sadly lacking on the website (and don't try and tell us that it is due to these comments being here, because it is all coming from us and the BBC contribution is nil) and I fear that the TV coverage will be the same.

@16 I completely agree

@25 I don't see why we should give the BBC the honour of making it look like we want F1 to stay on the BBC - I'd like to see what Channel 4 do with it.

Hi all.i know ive not posted the past few days but i have been avidly reading and writing and emailling to everyone i can involved in this decision and effected by it.i also feel so strongly i am also joining Twitter to tweet this weekend and also try and continue to get the petition out there as much as possible.i have also just posted some replies at the end of Murrays old thread as they were replies to things posted there but see this is now our new home.Thanks for new blog post Murray!i think your right the next races may be great but unfortunately i think that is going to be massively massively overshadowed for many of us now.How can we sit and enjoy it knowing what the BBC have done, how they have treated the fans and what many will lose next year?We have much more to worry about than this years racing right now and i think thats really sad.Murray i read your F1 Racing article.You end saying how the die has been cast and how this time many F1 fans will suffer.You are right we are suffering.People are suffering very much so.i wish you could come out and say directly what i think you really think or at least someone would! Well i guess i can dream. Someone prominent needs to help the fans and stand up to the BBC about what theyve done but they wont....i dont understand it.Well no actually maybe i do but its a very sad state of affairs and for the fans to be left like this. Thanks for reading Murray and all.Keep posting, keep tweeting and cant wait till FP1 tomorrow!Despite everything overshadowing it it has seemed so long coming!Look forward even more to the BBC commentary Sat and Sun and sure the F1 Forum will be good being interactive and all!

Another British institution caving in to the Murdochs. Shame. #KeepF1OnBBC

@30 I agree. I no longer want BBC to have the luxury of hosting F1. Yes their coverage is great. BUT. They have shafted us royally.
ITV were rubbish.
BBC have stabbed us in the back.
Yes Channel 4 let's see what you've got.
But alas BBC playing the role of dictator have blocked it by getting into bed with Sky. The only problem now is BBC had all the cards and have said here you go Sky. Take it.

I wanted to try and sum up how I feel about this terrible news but for weeks now I've been struggling to put it into words. My husband actually hit the nail on the head last night when describing the deal to a friend. He told his friend that 'It's worse than when she quit smoking'.
I feel that a huge part of my life has been taken away and I don't know what, if anything, I can do to make myself feel better. I feel so sad it's almost like a kind of grief.
Murry, if you're reading our posts then please, if you can, do something to help our plight. I'm sorry to sound so dramatic but F1 has been such a huge part of my life for so long and I cannot imagine not being able to follow the full season propperly next year. Very, very sad.

I agree with others that the hashtag #KeepF1OnBBC doesn't truly reflect the desire and feelings of many, but Twitter is a blunt instrument at best (and I'm being kind!), so we might as well as it were 'rally beneath a single flag' then argue over fine detail later. I bet the BBC execs are hoping this weekend just passes, because of their suppression of bad news as much as anything, with a great race and only a whisper of discontent. Lots of UK fans going to Spa though!

If you are against the bbc loosing half the races from next year, please sign this government petition:

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

someone has retweted my

#KeepF1onBBC -retweet please

messag! only one but a start

#KeepF1onFTA actually - forget BBC they sold us down the dirty river

38 i guess you can put both hashtags in the same tweet so why not say that - im not bothered bbc itv c4 cbeebies or palament just want bbc tp show all the racw n0ot highlights - weve lost fta fight unless you want to pay bernie and sky huge damages

I love F1 but the tv deal has put a black mark on the BBC,i cant watch the presenters as joke about the hotels and the flights they have and meals out etc, sort the coverage boys !!!

Just started reading the comments on here, massive clap of thunder, heavy rain and it's all gone pitch black! God on our side maybe?!

Seriously though, just did a bit of research into what the options for next year are for me:

Sky: full sports package and HD £600 BUT I need to have a phone line, which my building doesn't have (Virgin Media cable fitted instead). BT's price to put a phone line in: £1200!! Apparently there's no cable running into the building at all?!

Virgin Media: they can do some of the sky sports channels, but not in HD, for £350-400 a year. No guarantee the F1 will be on the channels I could get so hedging my bets a bit on this option. Even the sales guy agreed with me, as he's a fan and gets the full kit for a reduced fee! Got the whole shop to sign the petition, so plus points for that!

Internet: RTL feed with 5Live commentary an option, but illegal, so if I get caught doing that I can kiss my SIA licence goodbye, hence my job!

So to get the same service I currently get ( HD, live pictures ) I either have to find a wad of cash to install a phone line I do not want and/or subscribe to a tv package I cannot afford or (most likely ) struggle to get what pictures I can and hope to follow all the nuances of a sport I adore and have grown up following. I suspect I will give up and go mountain biking on race days instead.

Also did a straw poll at work. Of the 21 of us that follow F1, only 3 will get/ already have Sky. The rest of us are so angry that in all likelyhood will find something else to support.

As the weekend approaches, I again, urge the BBC to listen to Mark Thompson and address the issues impartially and independently and not try to 'spin' themselves further down the road to the 'dark side'.

Mark Thompson in the Guardian yesterday ( https://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/24/james-murdoch-wrong-on-bbc ):

"The only reliable, durable and perpetual guarantor of independence is not profit. Nor who you know. Nor what corners you can cut. It's integrity."

Failure to heed those words will have serious consequences for the future of the BBC (and it has to be said the media in general).

@41 Neil Daniel

"Got the whole shop to sign the petition, so plus points for that!"

Well done, that may well have been instrumental in getting the number to over 22,000 on https://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/57 (22,007 when I just looked)

Does anyone know what exactly people mean by "there was a real danger that f1 wouldnt be on the bbc next year", jake said it in hungary, and its been said by a few bbc people, but really what would have happened then? does anybody really beleive that f1, who's model is based on maximum number of eyes on sponsors would suddenly just not be on tv in the uk at all? is that what we are supposed to believe because i sure dont, i'm pretty sure we would have had it better next year had the it not been on the bbc than the deal we are getting now. Would the bbc care to explain that one please because you keep using it as a reason why we should be happy with this terrible outcome.

@44 zuban_zagrius

Presumably they would have either walked away from the whole thing or sold it wholesale to Sky. Can't ever see that happening though. The fallout would've meant no other sport would take their bid seriously in the future. C4 would've been able to pick up the pieces if the BBC walked.

We need a hero of the people at this hour.

Help us Lulzsec, Help us Anonymous

@43 BuddyToBud

There was only 6 people in there ( 4 staff ) so I can't take any credit for that, however small, but every little helps! Hopefully if we have a real push over the Spa weekend, we can get thousands more! 20k out of 6 million viewers does seem rather small so far, but then again, some people are still out of the loop on this. The BBC have managed to hide it from the general public pretty well. It only seems to get column inches in the specialist press at the moment.
Best thing I've seen so far was when my F1 Racing arrived on Monday:

"Inside our postbag this month:

4% People who wrote in before the Sky/BBC deal was announced
96% Uproar and outrage over the new BBC/Sky split F1 coverage deal"

I make that 100% of people who wrote in ( me included! ) since the announcement are against it. Made my morning seeing that, with handy piechart diagram too!

I am shocked to see that another Murray video blog has been posted with absolutely no mention of the 912 comments on his last one.

Much as I have a soft spot for Murray himself I am forced to conclude that he probably gets filmed once every couple of weeks in his garden and then has no idea what happens to the video and that people make comments on it. Surely he couldn't be deliberately ignoring the issue if he knows about the strength of feeling. After all my parents aren't that great with computers and they are still younger than him, so maybe he just doesn't look at the internet. If this is true it certainly wouldn't be in his employers interests to tell him about the comments on his blog - after all he never replies personally on it, when there is a reply it is from someone in the office.

Either that or he is being told what (not) to say by his paymasters, which wouldn't be a surprise either. Actually nothing about F1 would surprise me any more. Is anyone involved or in the broadcasting side genuine at all?

This whole episode has lowered my opinion of everyone involved in F1 and F1 broadcasting. I think I'd rather not watch it anywhere any more.

I'm really glad that so many people are still making noise about the BBC/Sky F1 deal.

@44 - I think what Jake meant by that is simply there was a real danger to the BBC F1 staff that F1 would not be on the BBC next year at all. Not particularly dangerous for the rest of us however.

I seems that "what would have happened then" is that Jake and everyone else at BBC F1 would have been looking for new jobs and F1 would have been on Ch4.

What he and the rest of the BBC have failed to do is realise that we know that this is the best deal for those that work in BBC F1, but we also realise that they have fed us this line in the hope that we will swallow it. How stupid do they think we are, really? Personally I would prefer the BBC to get "dangerous" and drop F1 entirely, even if it means it goes to Sky, which it couldn't because of the Concorde Agreement.

The BBC really think we are stupid enough that we would place a higher value on half their coverage rather than full live races on another FTA channel. Either Jake is being very disingenuous by saying what he did or he has been brainwashed by the BBC spin on this story. Maybe he hopes we think he's as gullible as he thinks we are.

#44 Sorry if I repeat what others have said about this....

The worst case scenario for the BBC is that another TV channel shows a programme that the would have liked to show. They do not seem to understand that isn't the worst case for viewers, or if they do they conveniently (and I must say very efficiently) forget that fact. So Ben Gallop had told Jake that losing F1 from BBC was the worst case and Jake, in need of words no doubt to apologise on air to us millions, repeated what he'd been told. It is afterall Jake & Co who get the real embarrassment of such events, not Benjamin Gallop esq.

I would not like to be Jake when he faces the camera on Saturday. He must usually know we are all on his sidem we want to watch the show, we want to listen to what he says. Bu this time as last time, thre must be the air of real hostility coming through the camera at him. Also like HAL in 2001 A Space Odyssey he'll be torn between his desire to be hnest and pressure through his earpiece to lie-lie-lie for the Corporation (2001 was part-allegory afterall).

Benny G might surprise us all and appear though [oh look, flying pigs in the sky!] to take the pressure off the on-air team. I suspect the Execs are trying to tough it out in the hope this is just half a dozen people and the other 6-million minus six people will be happy though.

Hi Murray- thanks for the video blog.

I have a great deal of respect for you and have enjoyed your superb commentary for many a year. I know you cannot comment and that is a shame but I too am brushing up on my German and will miss your insights.

Thanks for all the great stuff in the past.

Bye Murray-take care of yourself.

@Neil Daniel

It's not illegal to receive RTL in the UK, you can even subscribe to any PPV European TV station if it's for your own personal domestic viewing, and if they agree to sell you a subscription, and RTL is free anyway ... 19.2 east.

If cross boarder TV viewing was illegal, all those Dutch, Belgian, French and Irish viewers would've been banged up many years ago for watching the BBC.

I have a dish with 3 LNBs on it and receive TV from Russia to North Africa, plus raw unedited TV feeds.

So glad people havnt forgotten about this, boycott next year!

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

Sorry Murray, but until someone from the BBC acknowledges all the anger and disatisfaction of the fans, about the sell-out, no-one is really interested in the contents of this type of blog any more. They wil just use it as a vehicle to continue venting their anger, like me.
Where are the genuine commentators/presenters with integrity, who are not afraid to say what they really think about the BBC reneging on their contract with Formula 1?
Let’s have some proper debate between the fans and the BBC blog initiators.
Prove to the fans you are listening and care about the concerns they have.
Is this too much to ask? Show the public you are an organisation that can be trusted once more!
RESPOND to the comments!

Don't know how Murray can say Red Bull will struggle in Japan? Vettel has won there on the last 2 visits! Anyway here's my predictions on which circuit will suit who...

Belgium - McLaren, Ferrari (Weather will play a big part so nothings guaranteed!)
Italy - McLaren, Ferrari
Singapore - Red Bull (Although Lewis and Fernando are pretty handy round those streets...)
Japan - Red Bull (Who knows Murray could be right and weather will be an issue as in Spa!)
Korea - All to play for (Red Bull on pole in 2010 but suffered in Race, McLaren underperformed, Ferrari took advantage of weather conditions. No real clues yet)
India - (Once again all to play for. Whoever adapts to the new track best will have the immediate advantage.)
Abu Dhabi - Red Bull, McLaren (Vettel has won on both occasions here but Hamilton looked strong in 2009 with dominant Qualifying but let down in the race after retiring from the lead after Brake issues.)
Brazil - Red Bull (Weather will play a part but Red Bull have won the last 2 races here. Hamilton never led a lap of Interlagos and other than 2008 has suffered from a bit of a Interlagos jinx.)

It's all to play for but hopefully McLaren and Ferrari can catch up. Lewis is the man for me I think he will be the main challenger, the cars where he needs it, He's at his peak I'd say and he's fired up. Hopefully a good battle between him and Alonso in particular.

what is the point of listen to the beeb about this topic anymore?
All they are going to do is ignore our coments.
Even the likes of Murray have their hands tied behind their back.

DC, jake, eddie and murray please in the belgian GP rebel against the BBC on live TV.

please ,come on

ASB

For those who were on holiday last weeks. We have complaint to the BBC and received after the first stock answer, this 9-page answer:
https://pietboon.wordpress.com/bbc-response-after-stage-2-of-bbcsky-complaints-procedure/

If you do not agree with that answer, please appeal to the BBC Trust, stating the grounds on which you appeal. You can appeal using this email address:
TrustEditorial@BBC.co.UK

Grounds might be "Fair Trading" with regards to the blocking of the Channel 4 bid. You can also appeal that this is not "good for licence fee payers"

@60

it was a clear move to block ch4
bbc lost athletics to ch4 and they knew they couldnt outbid ch4 for f1
bernie has already said it was the bbc that gave rights to sky not him
bbc had rights to 2014 paid for by the fee
now sky has those rights
if even 1 penny of our money has gone to sky, bbc can wave goodbye to the license fee

There are a few F1 and team events coming up so that's where to go to protest peacefully I might add as I don't want 4 years for inciting people to complain about the Ministry of Truth (George Orwell not me). So 3 weeks have passed and we are still here. BTW the Channel 4 presentation is at:- https://www.graphicalhouse.co.uk/

Well for next year i am official giving up on formula one and switching allegiance to the izod indy car series in america because you can always get coverage and the racing is better.

Going off a poll on the site I 'live' on 73.68% of fans will not or can not watch F1 on Sky. If only half of those keep their word FOMs profits will fall and I'm hopeful that suddenly the fans will be thought of.

As an aside the BBC's behavior throughout this time has been disgusting, it will take a few years to earn back respect and trust.

Ok lets get this started again guys , ive managed to supress my anger at Big Brother Corporation and its censorship of its licence payers opinions for a couple of weeks but now im angry again , i cant enjoy the remaining races of this year knowing how contemptuously ive been treated by the BBC let alone the horror of next years "swallow your medicine dear" attitude , i was so nieve of the BBC,s ivory tower attitude until the last few weeks and i swear if i can find a way to stop my licence fee i will.

Andrew Benson has a new blogpost

All rather irrelevant Murray when the big question is when is the BBC's going to admit how badly it has treated the license payers and the thousands of F1 fans who have voiced their displeasure with the BBC's "dog in the manger" attitude to FTA coverage of F1.


(still) disgusted

F1 fans,

Nice to see some fresh faces voicing their opinion on this blog and great respect to the hardcore fans still posting!

Sorry to do this but:-

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Keep-F1-on-BBC/149121281832578
https://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/57

Has tags on twitter:

#keepF1onBBC #f1
#keepf1onbbc

Trying to learn German right now and looking for another stream.....

ASB anyone? I suspect they are sharing a council falt somewhere near Salford.......

Morning all. Listening to first Belgium grand prix practice as i write.@44 Briefly cos i think others have said it really already....but like you Jakes words 'There was a real danger that F1 wouldn't be on the BBC next year' also played on my mind and more so after what we now know.Nowadays i wonder if those words were choosen by Jake or someone else.i guess we will never know unless Jake tells us one day.i also wonder if he knew about the channel 4 bid when he spoke.There was a danger of F1 not being BBC....indeed they were right but only cos it would go to channel 4!i think it very interesting they did not choose to use the wording 'there was a real danger F1 wouldnt be FTA/would totally go to Sky next year' but now we know cos they would have been blatantly lying! The BBC know just like we do what would of happened.They know they are in the WRONG. @60 Piet thanks again for the info.About to take my complaint to stage 3 and your info useful thanks.Hope others continue to take theirs through stage 3 too.Not cos i have faith in the BBC complaints procedure.But because for me its the priniciple of the matter @62 Agree totally people need to peacefully protest about this at any F1/team events they can get to.

Anyone else tweeting? I've hit my hourly limit. More tomorrow and Sunday

@53 Czar-Orac

Didn't realise that, cheers! Might be able to do that after all!

How big are the commentary boxes and would they be able to fit an elephant in them? There may well have been one in there during FP1 but nobody mentioned it.

@70 Pedro,

I'm tweeting all I can tweet! Sadly I will be tweet/internet free tomorrow and Sunday morning, but trust me I will be available for the race (unless anybody in the Yorkshire Dales is willing to have a tweeter visit?).

C'mon fans because this weekend is most important because the BEEB will hope that the 3 week break will have quelled the storm - fat chance aunty BEEB!!!

Will anyone else be trying Hamster's tip? Where is Ben, Where is Bab's Where is Gaddaffi? So may questions!!!

Yes, the rebel F1 fans will topple the good 'ol aunties bloomers!!!!!!!!!

@72 Buddy - an elephant may give us more answers than the BBC. I'd rather get a fart from an elephant at the moment than the silence from the BEEB (may smell slighly nicer too!!!!).

Ask the Defence Secretary whether the SAS is hunting Ben Gallop, he wouldn't deny it because they never comment on special forces.

I estimate my hashtag tweets were re-tweeted to about 10,000 people

Never mind the FBI's most wanted, how about the F1's most wanted:-

Ben Gallop, AKA the Snake or Sellout, currently in hiding (possibly with Gaddafi and Slater), won't answer calls, blogs, email and hasn't been since 29/07/2011.

Do you know this man? Are you shielding him? If so you are liable to the wrath of F1 fans (who smell a Sky rat)..........

Well almost exactly a month after Ben Gallop's exciting anouncement on F1's new 'deal' with SKY and how many follow up comments in reply to many thousands of comments? .....................Zero.

Good job BBC.

With regards to people with twitter accounts, has anyone tried getting more 'outside' people involved? I would (if I had a twitter acct.) be tweeting the likes of jeremy clarkson (never been one to shy away from bbc controversies), more BBC sponsors, F1 drivers, sports writers and news channel twitters.

I honestly believe that if the pressure is kept up they cannot ignore us, however I do not believe the situation will change.

Sky will have F1 next season and BBC will show 'extended' highlights (perhaps even full, time delayed, races) but the deal will certainly not be vetoed. I think it is a better opportunity to support a review of the TV licence and the scrapping of it.

The BBC have acted shamefully and cowardly in this whole situation, and to quote a previous poster (#15)

"I think more of us need to call for the licence fee to be scrapped - a private company (one which relies on people in a democratic and free society choosing whether to watch their services - as opposed to being thrown into jail for not paying up) would not treat paying customers in this way."

--- And one last thing, Murray I grew up watching you on the BBC for every F1 race and the day you left was indeed a sad one, but for the love of god you've made your money and I can only imagine you have achieved much more than you probably ever expected so show a bit of loyalty back and give us some REAL answers and feelings on this situation.

The BBC may have given you you're 'big break' but it is the fans who supported and loved you.

@78 cantaffordsky

With reference to the question of the licence fee, I'm not convinced that scrapping it is the best option. This is because, firstly, that without it the BBC will be less accountable to the public (even though they seem to have given little regard to that accountability at the moment) and, secondly, I feel that it will play into the hands of the likes of Sky in the future because of the BBC being weakened due to having to be run on a purely commercial basis. This is a highly complex subject of course that is far wider than just F1 coverage and as such that is my feeling at the moment. Perhaps if I do further research or if the situation escalates (i.e. the BBC descends further into the dark side), I might change my view.

Wake up people. Stop blaming the BBC. Its the greed of Ecclestone that has forced this situation. A public broadcaster cannot justify a £300m contract for F1 in such times of economic downturn.

Its F1 that needs to understand its own business model. When the concorde agrement ends next year, FOTA needs to take control of F1 commercials and stop paying Ecclestone and his buddies £1-1.5bn a year for what?

Agreeing with the circuits the racing details and fees.
Arranging TV rights - well free to air can be free to the broadcasters with the savings made from paying Eccestone et al.
Arranging sponsorship - not tough.

OMG. Gaddaffi, Slater and Gallop, possibly the same person?@???? :)

anyone noticed no comments about the deal on the live text commentary
I've sent a few but none have appeared
how strange ?

Murray might even be riding the elephant in the room in his next video, but will still fail to comment on it.

Disgusted with you BBC, and the sad thing is it is now tarnishing my opinion of the sport in general. I'm not enjoying watching it because of the way you've dealt with this deal.

RTL in Germany and Sky both show all races 100%, why can't we have that in the UK?

Wasnt greatly impressed with the red button coverage this morning.....nothing changes with the BBC. Jake, Martin, Eddie and Ted et al please dont let this continue tomorrow when you come on.@76 Pedro well done thats great and sure that will really help.i am learning Twitter today so may need help today Twitter people but will be tweeting for this! @Murray - i agree with the last two paragraphs of post 78. When i started following F1 in 1994 you were a major part of what made F1 F1 and what made it so special for me.The fans loved your entertaining commentary,your passion and your honesty.You always had a good rapport with the fans.Please help us now and be honest about your real feelings.Your fans need you now.Please stand with us.

Isn't there some money to bring gaddfffi out of hiding ...maybe we can club togther 10 pounds to the someone who can get Gallop to respond 'with incite' into his lameness thus far

@85 I'll throw a few quid into the hat to keep them in hiding!

@80 - I've just come back from the shop. The kitchen rolls are £1 more than they were a couple of weeks ago. I didn't buy them. Next week they will be back to a more reasonable price because people have refused to pay over the odds. Similarly if people pay the first amount Bernie asks for they are the stupid ones, Bernie without TV is meaningless and he knows it, so it's a matter of negotiating the right price.

#78 Twitter is free and easy: live dangerously, open an account today and start tweeting!

The problem is the people we post to (and I don't include Murray in this grouping as he's a man I have the highest respect for) don't care because they will see the races. They will be there, see the feeds or whatever. It's only us lemons, the expendable millions who will miss out, and as we're not loaded or well connected we can do nothing about it.

Can't seem to get the practice on line today. It keeps saying "content doesn't seem to be working. Try again later" I've managed to see possibly 15 minutes in total spread over the 2 practices. Anyone else having problems?

@80
not sure where your getting your info but your way off the mark

Woohoo i join the club of F1 people who have had posts removed by the BBC! My post has been removed from Peter Salmons blog.Dont see why.Said i was off topic but i commented on 'The 4 o'clock Club' - yeah a new program BBC is making which will no doubt encourage kids to get detention as appears to glamourise it by the title!As there are other totally F1 posts there (sorry if it gets removed now) i think it more likely my post was removed because i pointed out to him also that F1 fans and the public have now asked both him and Roger Mosey (2 senior members of the BBC) to come over to the F1 blogs and participate and because i challenged them to do so.i guess they didnt like that.Dont hide my post BBC just cos you dont want people reading to know the truth. Wonder how long this stays up for!Any guesses anyone?Also wonder if will be dry or wet in Spa tomorrow.Back to Twitter i go now.Disgusted BBC.Disgusted.Your removing posts which only contain the truth. Sorry if i hit a nerve.

@90 Maybe your practice feed is on Sky, it'll cost you £60 to watch this weekend.

Where are you BBC, F1 teams, sponsors, anyone?

10000 complaints about the dodgy Bernie BBC deal with Murdoch and no response, as Lewis might say

"Is it 'cos I iz a F1 fan?"

BBC/Sky/Bernie/F1 do not think for one minute that we will give up the fight for f1 to remain free to air. Despite the BBC and F1 trying to hide this topic from the news we will continue to bring up this issue. BBC I am so disappointed that you continue to ignore all the thousands of people who are contacting you. I thought I lived in a country with free speech, obviously not on the BBC. The BBC cover wars in other countries but dont have the decency to cover this news story on their channels.

@ 90 nickycarter

My red button doesnt work, hopefully it will after the digital switchover.

Had problems watching practice today on the internet, allways do when its very wet and cant blame the beeb for that one, just a rubbish broadband connection.

Can blame the BBC for the lack of responce to everyones questions about next season.

@Jake Humphries tweet:

"Some Friday fun...name the driver, name the circuit...good luck!!! #bbcf1 yfrog.com/h6dy8pcj "

Is it Ben?

@92 Yep just checked and Peter Salmons thread has at least six or seven posts which only mention F1 - i comment on the topic as well as mentioning we have now asked 2 BBC Directors to come over here and get censored!Its clear they just didnt want the public to see the truth of what has happened again.Sorry if more posts get removed there now.Really angry. Also my post got through pre moderation and was later removed well after 12 hours after being put up.Did the moderators disagree or did Peter Salmon come in this morning and not like it and ordered removal? What do others think? Hmmm.Will appeal at the very least.

@97 GrassRootsF1Fan

Yeah, and all the F1 posts have been removed from Helen Boaden's blog (also pre-moderated) as well even though there was only a few.

The revolution will be televised.....





But only half of it!

@80 thejudge13

Bernie doesn't get any of the Sky money, but as a Delta Topco shareholder (5.3%) he gets a dividend that amounts to between £8million to £15million, less than some drivers and team bosses.

The Sky money goes 50% to CVC and 50% to the teams, and if averaged out will amount to £1million per team per year, the Channel 4 deal would have paid the teams an extra £910,000 per team per year, hardly any difference, and the teams would have benefited from "More commercial opportunities for teams through sponsorship and ad-funded content."

The real people to be angry with are the BBC for jumping into bed with Sky to stop the Channel 4 deal, and FOTA (Parr and Whitmarsh) for supporting the Sky deal.

You have to wonder what's really in it for Parr and Whitmarsh.