fuck you, bernie, fuck you very much

So from next year, the BBC will not be showing all of the F1 Grand Prixs live - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9550930.stm

As with all sport, I'm sure there are some who are pleased there's going to be less of it on TV, but obviously this is my sport, so I'm bitterly disappointed. It is not a complete disappointment. As I understand it, the BBC will show half the races live, but for the other half of the races they will only show highlights.

I'm unsure how qualifying and practice will work. The impression I get is that if the BBC are showing the race live they'll also show all the practice and qualifying, but if they're not, then they won't. Also, the BBC 5live radio commentary will still continue, so access won't be completely blocked.

But part of the point of Formula one is watching the race live. Well, I say that as someone who often records the race and watches it on a delay, but we're talking a short delay, not several hours. And we're talking an active decision I make and that allows me to go for a walk.

In particular, I'm puzzled what will happen with the qualifying - when it says extended highlights, does that mean highlights shows for qualy and the race? Or just the race?

I'm also worried about which races the beeb will show. The calendar each year is somewhat fluid, so it's difficult for them to say ahead of time, but the worry is the phrase they use about how which races they show will be "negotiated" with Sky. Firstly that sounds very much like Sky are in the driving seat, but also it means there's a good chance they won't show the good ones live.

Of course, the irony is they're doing this half-deal thing just when F1 is producing a season where almost all the races are interesting. In previous years you could have easily said "don't bother showing x, y and z races, because they'll be boring" but this year even the likes of Monaco and Hungary have been interesting.

There's the possibility the races may be watchable via the BT TV service, as it has Sky 1 & 2 on it. I don't have that, but I could get it. I don't want Sky and I couldn't actually get it, as I understand it. Obviously I live in rented accommodation, but I think my landlord would be okay with it, but the problem is there are some hefty tress in the line of sight (he used to have it) and they block the signal.

Certainly Virgin isn't an option. I explored that before, and they were quite emphatic that they wouldn't put two boxes at the same property, which seemed ridiculous, but there you go. Also there's no guarantee F1 will be shown on Sky1 or 2 - there are 4 sky sports channels. I guess worst case I can listed to it on 5 Live and then watch the highlights show.

But the overall point is I'm seriously unimpressed. It seems ridiculous to me that Bernie charges so much for the telly rights that it's priced the BBC out. Now I do wonder what would have happened if the BBC had said it was too expensive - would he have just gone with Sky? He's always said it would remain on free-to-air TV.

Would ITV have picked it up again? Probably not at such high prices, and C5 and C4 would never have been able to afford it. Except it's now clear that this issue of highlights clearly ticks the FTA box for Bernie, so my guess is, if the beeb had said no, all races would have been shown live on Sky with only a highlights package then shown on one of the terrestrial channels.

To be frank, I've always been a bit dismissive of the ideas of the teams taking over F1 or other moves to get rid of Bernie, as getting the teams to act in unison is surely a bit like herding cats, but now I have to say it's got to be the way forward. I'm sure the teams (with their need to get maximum exposure for their sponsors) would not have approached things in this fashion.