F1 on BBC: Return of the Chain and more

By a VERY long way one of the most viewed blog posts I’ve ever written was one looking at whether Formula 1 would be in HD when it moved to the BBC.

That post was written 11 months ago now and has been updated since as we now know that F1 will NOT be in HD on the BBC – at least not until the main F1 feed can be sourced in HD.

There is now something else to write about – the BBC have just published details of their F1 coverage and, although this isn’t a sport blog it is a geek blog and the coverage is a feast of multimedia goodness.

Before moving on to the rest of the article: Dum, da da da, da da da da da dum… Yup Fleetwood Mac’s F1 track, The Chain will return with the new season.

Before I go into full details you can also follow Lee McKenzie on Twitter – part of the BBC F1 presentation team.

Now lets look at what the coverage will include.

There will be split-screen action, live leaderboard, in car cameras, choice of commentary, live online streaming, live text, web forums, circuit guides, blogs, podcast, iPlayer coverage and more…

On TV all 17 races will be screened live on BBC One with every qualifying session also live on BBC One (with the exception of Brazil which will be on BBC Two).

All the reaces and qualifying sessions finishes before 10am will also have a full repeat on terrestrial television later the same day with a one hour evening highlights programme on BBC Three at 7pm.

So not only is it multiplatform (more on that in a minute) but it is also multichannel.

The coverage on TV will be anchored by Jake Humphrey with David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan playing the insight monkeys. They will be on location at every race coming from the Paddock or the trackside – no sign of the Top Gear trio although we may see a TG F1 special now the BBC has the rights.

Commentatary will come from Martin Brundle and Jonathan Legard while Lee McKenzie and Ted Kravitz will bring all of the interviews and action from the pits.

What’s interesting about this coverage is that it puts everything – live – on terrestrial television.

Then there is the red button coverage for digital viewers.

While watching the live race on BBC One you’ll be able to press the red button where you will be given the choice of three different video streams.

1) The main network feed with a choice of commentary from BBC One or 5Liv
2) Split screen with main network feed, in car camera and leaderboard
3) Rolling highlights

There will also be an additional one-hour, post-race, interactive analysis programme with Jake Humphrey, David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan.

And then we move to the web

The BBC Sport website has already proved itself more than capable of covering a major event from a number of angles and perspectives with video, text and analysis.

Well for Formula 1 the BBC Sport website already has a comprehensive Formula One offering, but the site will be relaunched in March to include the following around a live race:

1) Multiple live video streaming, which will mirror the video and audio streams available on the Red Button
2) An extra high-quality video stream – for the first time you will be able to watch near-televisual quality video of all the action; extending the high quality iPlayer experience to live F1 coverage
3) Latest leaderboard
4) Live text commentary
5) Votes – fans have their say on the big talking points
6) Extensive post-race video highlights

And then after the race and between races you’ll also have latest results and standings, the ‘F1 Mole’ blog with gossip and inside stories, Murray Walker’s video race review following every race of the season, regular Murray Walker Q&A.

There will also be interactive circuit guides with commented laps, telemetry, embedded video footage, imagery and data.

Driver and team guides with video, biogs and Q&A, news stories and more blogs from BBC F1 presenters – oh and video and text columns from Martin Brundle and Red Bull driver Mark Webber.

You’ll also be able to view any action you missed through the BBC iPlayer.

All Grands Prix will be available for downloading up to seven days after broadcast. Once the footage has been downloaded, it will be available for viewing for up to 30 days.

I’m not a big fan of mobile phone data – even if I use it almost constantly – but it is important and will be considered as part of the BBC F1 coverage as well.

The BBC mobile offering will include the latest news, results and standings, live text coverage of all race sessions, and on some mobile operators – video highlights.

The full schedule is on the BBC Press Office website.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Dream Team: Coulthard, Jordan join BBC F1 coverage (autoblog.com)
• Murray Walker returns to BBC’s F1 commentary team (guardian.co.uk)
• Formula One Times: 14th November: Official Says Shanghai May Axe F1 (bleacherreport.com)
• Coulthard and Jordan Join BBC Formula One Broadcast Team (f1rage.getshifter.com)
• F1 2008: Winners and losers (cnn.com)
• Formula one on television: the formula for F1 coverage worthy of Lewis Hamilton (telegraph.co.uk)
• Murray Walker returns to BBC’s F1 commentary team (guardian.co.uk)
• Motor sport: David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan join BBC formula one team (guardian.co.uk)
• David Coulthard and Martin Brundle to join BBC’s Formula One commentary team (telegraph.co.uk)
• Honda boss upbeat over team sale (news.bbc.co.uk)
• F1 2008: Winners and losers (cnn.com)