Government to review BBC’s deal to screen F1?
Filed Under: F1 News
A politician has criticised the BBC after winning exclusive rights to show Formula One in the UK for the next five years. Speaking during the weekly Business Questions Session in the House of Commons, Andrew MacKinlay disputed whether the decision was in the best interest of licence payers, adding that the fee could be better spent on “real, competitive sports”.
In response to these concerns, a spokesperson for the BBC said, “the public response to the BBC’s announcement, judging by our message boards and blogs, has been overwhelmingly positive - and people are particularly pleased about the opportunity to watch F1 live and uninterrupted”.
The matter will now be raised with Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary.
Subscribe and have the day's top stories delivered directly to your inbox - free!
Translate:
1 Comment(s)
1 Trackback(s)
- From Hammond in pole position to front BBC’s F1 coverage - Forumula1.net - F1 News and Forums | Mar 20, 2008
Roger | Mar 20, 2008 | Reply
At a time when many motorsport fans have finally found something to justify the cost of their television licence, should we be asking if we are really getting value for money from our elected politicians? The petty ignorance of this individual is astounding, but perhaps unsurprising given that he, like many of his colleagues, has never set foot in the real world – instead hiding in various cracks within the bowels of our political system his whole career.
Mr MacKinlay, although you’re vastly unqualified to be asking whether or not F1 should be shown in the UK, I urge you to at least carry out some research before taking another pop at Formula One. Given this may be a challenge for you given your local government background, I’ve taken the liberty of gathering together a few facts to start you on your way.
* F1 has been around since 1950
* The majority of F1 teams are based within the UK
* Almost 40,000 full and part employees – excluding over 25,000 engineers – work within motorsport in the UK
* F1 remains the most watched sport, with the exception of the World Cup and the Olympics
* There are approximately 4,000 UK companies involved in UK motorsport – with turnover totalling almost £5 billion, of which £1.5 billion are exports
* F1 leads the way in developing car/fuel technology, making the world a safer and cleaner place to live
Perhaps now you can tell me what your favourite football team, Tilbury Football Club, has offered the World?