Television :- List of Formula One broadcasters

See also:
Formula One can be seen live or tape delayed in almost every country and territory around the world and attracts one of the largest global television audiences. The 2008 season attracted a global audience of 600 million people per race.[7] It is a massive television event; the cumulative television audience was calculated to be 54 billion for 2001 season, broadcast to two hundred countries.[81]
Track photographers at the 2007 British Grand Prix.

During the early 2000s, Formula One Administration created a number of trademarks, an official logo, and an official website for the sport in an attempt to give it a corporate identity. Ecclestone experimented with a digital television package (known colloquially as Bernievision), which was launched at the 1996 German Grand Prix in cooperation with German digital television service "DF1", thirty years after the first GP colour TV broadcast, the 1967 German Grand Prix. This service offered the viewer several simultaneous feeds (such as super signal, onboard, top of field, backfield, highlights, pit lane, timing), which were produced with cameras, technical equipment and staff different from those used for the conventional coverage. It was introduced in many countries over the years, but was shut down after the 2002 season for financial reasons.

TV stations all take what is known as the 'World Feed', either produced by the FOM (Formula One Management) or the 'host broadcaster'. The only station that has any difference is 'Premiere'—a German channel that offers all sessions live and interactive, with features such as the onboard channel. This service was more widely available around Europe until the end of 2002, when the cost of a whole different feed for the digital interactive services was thought too much. This was in large part because of the failure of the 'F1 Digital +' Channel launched through Sky Digital in the United Kingdom. Prices were too high for viewers, considering they could watch both the qualifying and the races themselves free on ITV.

Bernie Ecclestone had announced that F1 would adopt the HD format near the end of the 2007 season. A subsequent announcement in early 2008 claimed that the BBC would be broadcasting F1 for five years starting in 2009, regaining the rights from ITV who had been broadcasting it since 1997.[82] However, on 31 December 2008, Roger Mosey, Director of BBC Sport announced that F1 would not be broadcast on BBC HD[83] because "no HD world feed is available".[84]

[edit] Other media

Formula 1 has an extensive web following, with most major TV companies covering it such as the BBC. The Formula 1 website is the official website for Formula One, and has a live timing Java applet that can be used during the race to keep up with the leaderboard in real time. Recently an official iPhone / iPod Touch application has been made available in the iTunes App Store that allows iPhone users to see a real time feed of driver positions,[85] timing and commentary.

[edit] Distinction between Formula One and World Championship races

Currently the terms "Formula One race" and "World Championship race" are effectively synonymous; since 1984, every Formula One race has counted towards the World Championship, and every World Championship race has been to Formula One regulations. But the two terms are not interchangeable. Consider that:

* the first Formula One race was held in 1947, whereas the World Championship did not start until 1950.
* in the 1950s and 1960s there were many Formula One races which did not count for the World Championship (e.g., in 1950, a total of twenty-two Formula One races were held, of which only six counted towards the World Championship). The number of non-championship Formula One events decreased throughout the 1970s and 1980s, to the point where the last non-championship Formula One race was held in 1983.
* the World Championship was not always exclusively composed of Formula One events:
o The World Championship was originally established as the "World Championship for Drivers", i.e., without the term "Formula One" in the title. It only officially became the Formula One World Championship in 1981.
o From 1950 to 1960, the Indianapolis 500 counted towards the World Championship. This race was run to AAA/USAC regulations, rather than to Formula One regulations. Only one of the world championship regulars, Alberto Ascari in 1952, competed at Indianapolis during this period.
o From 1952 to 1953, all races counting towards the World Championship (except the Indianapolis 500) were run to Formula Two regulations. Formula One was not "changed to Formula Two" during this period; the Formula One regulations remained the same, and numerous Formula One races were staged during this time.

The distinction is most relevant when considering career summaries and "all time lists". For example, in the List of Formula One drivers, Clemente Biondetti is shown with 1 race against his name. Biondetti actually competed in four Formula One races in 1950, but only one of these counted for the World Championship. Similarly, several Indy 500 winners technically won their first world championship race, though most record books choose to ignore this and instead only record regular participants.

The most recent example of a "Formula One race" not being a "World Championship race" very nearly occurred at the 2005 United States Grand Prix. 14 of the 20 drivers ended up not racing due to problems with their Michelin tyres, and Max Mosley's refusal to find a suitable solution to the problem left 9 of the ten teams in agreement about hosting a non championship race. It was only because of Ferrari's refusal to go with these plans that this alternative failed to take place, although it was stated that Mosley had informed Mr Martin, the FIA's most senior representative in the USA, that if any kind of non-championship race was run, or any alteration made to the circuit, the US Grand Prix, and indeed, all FIA-regulated motorsport in the US, would be under threat".[citation needed] On the same day that Stoddart's version of events was published, the FIA issued a statement denying that Mosley had made the reported threat or that any such conversation had taken place.