This year the coverage of Formula 1 in France is being taken over by pay-per-view channel Canal Plus and the company has just announced its team of presenters for the season ahead with Jacques Villeneuve, Alain Prost and Franck Montagny all expected to act as commentators/experts in the course of the season. The commentary work will be done by former radio journalist Julien Fébreau and Villeneuve, with Thomas Sénécal, a presenter from car shows as the anchorman. Montagny and Laurie Delhostal will cover the grid and the pit lane, while Prost – a Renault Ambassador – will comment at some races. There will be a magazine show presented by Thomas Thouroude, with Margot Laffite (Jacques daughter) and longtime F1 expert Jean Louis Moncet, the soul survivor of the TF1 crew of last year.
Isn’t Villeneuve commentating for the Italian broadcast?
I thought Jacques was working for Sky Italia
Wasn’t Villeneuve announced as a pundit for Sky Italy too?
On the related note, those in the US have not even heard a word from NBC sports who have taken over from the S(tu)peed Channel.
One gets an uneasy feeling, if paid channel like Speed had horrible coverage, where the focus was primarily on showing commercials rather than the F1 race, the new channel’s lack of pizzazz means; It’s hard season ahead for the F1 fans from the US.
The anounced at the end of last season, Leigh Diffey, David Hobbs and Steve Matchet will do the same roles they did at Speed (Leigh would fill in for Bob Varsha whenever he could narrate the races, now he will be full time) and Will Buxton will do the pitlane reporting as before.
I’m preparing myself for a season of finding an alternate source on the web. I’m not convinced they will broadcast practice and qualifying either.
I think they’ve said quite a lot! No need to be negative before they’ve even had a single broadcast. I’d say give them a year or two to really get going
With over 11 million Canal Plus Francophone subscribers, I suppose that makes sense. I think Sky UK has around 10 million subscribers, not all of whom will take the packages that include Sky Sport F1 HD and non-HD. However at some point, are not trackside advertisers and sponsors going to start squeaking about diminishing viewer numbers? I would guess, that the BBC will at some point, decide to give up on their half-hearted coverage to save money, unless UK politicians prevent them.
Wilson
I’m interested myself in that. One could say that only the true fans pay but we know that’s not really the case. I’m sure the teams are looking it carefully – if not why not?
I thought Jacques Villeneuve had signed with Sky Italy for this year
Good luck to them and Canal+.
F1 will probably lose 75% – 80% of its audience in France and I bet the RTBF coverage is about to get very popular via live streaming!
So no more Marion Jolles?
I am sure shell be around as Mrs Grosjean.
Expecting in August apparently (congrats)
Is that PPV like ordering a boxing match?
Or is it just a monthly fee for a channel package?
Sounds like a great line up, but if you gotta order a couple races a month, I don’t see it doing too well.
Villeneuve is not shy on opinion so expect some interesting quotes. Good character not afraid to speak his mind or take a position.
I really enjoyed Villeneuve on the Canadian GP on Sky UK and was looking forward to seeing either more of him or more local guest presenters (Rubinho!) – never happened unfortunately.
Was jacques not named as part of the sky Italia team?
I wish it was true pay-per-view, but Canal+ is a package like Sky in the UK or HBO in the US, that costs 30€/month. Which you’d think would make it easier to convince Madame that we need it now, but so far my efforts have been unsuccessful, so I’m pretty bummed out about the move!
Yes, but 11 million people have signed up to Canal, so it is pretty big when you consider the shrinking TV audiences of today.
Bit off topic but hey, who will mind?
“Requiem for a Sport” by Arbie Lane
Filthy-rich bankers and faceless w8888rs all loved Formula One!
They all made lots of money before a race was even won!
They spent the suckers’ dollars (none of it was their own)
Pranced about the pitlane while we looked in from Home!
Then Bernie floated the whole Caboosh (the dog gave up his bone)
CVC and Delta Topco disconnected their ‘phones
Ron decided to pack it in and join Paddy on his lawn
Then the petrol all ran out and Flavio’s boat was gorn!
Next year’s engines were broken up then cars all went for scrap
The sponsors fell-out of love with it all as the investments turned to crap
The race tracks were sold for housing (how funded was a mystery)
Bernie got his knighthood and Formula One consigned to history!
Soul survivor?
Psychological slip…
Glad that Moncet stays, he was the only pundit truly worth of his salt on TF1.
I’d pay USD120 for a decent IPTV subscription, a la the NBA.com set up. I’d like to see formula1.com provide that kind of service with the FIA word feed (and BBC commentary).
But the full package for basic sub + sports is approaching 70EUR per MONTH in many countries. It’s not everybody’s cup of tea.
I might be in the position to get it on Setanta here in Ireland easily enough, but I fear for the rest of the audience elsewhere.
I’m seeing TV going down the same route which music did a few years ago, i.e. being taken over by pirates on certain websites. You want to pay for it but the powers that be don’t want to change their business models until they get eroded gradually to unsustainable levels. We’ll all have front row seats for this, of course!
“soul survivor”? Come,come now Joe, must have been a dramatic ending.
Agreed here. I would gladly pay but they make it hard. I would have to pay $80 to get HD coverage including the worst DVR in the world from Charter in the US. This does not include any devices to stream to my phone/table/computer. This is the same model DVR that I had 10 years ago when HD was new. It sucked then.
I have my internet connection and will have to make do. I do not think this is good for F1.
Doodzed – it’s pretty easy to get the BBC and Sky broadcasts via the interwebs. Not the best solution but ……… F1 is REALLY missing the boat here. Cormax (above) is totally correct this is going down the music route. Too bad. I guess, as Joe has explained at some length, we don’t matter.
As an aside for North American race fans: Hinch (James Hinchcliffe) has signed on to Speed (FOX) to provide analysis for the popular SPEED TV series SPEED Center and Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain.
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/indycar-james-hinchcliffe-joins-speed-center-wind-tunnel-as-analyst/
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