Sky have revealed new details of their Formula 1 coverage, set to launch on March 9th, which they claim will ‘reinvent interactive television’.
The satellite broadcaster bought the rights to show all 20 races live in 2012 and beyond, which caused upset among many fans who have enjoyed the sport free-to-air courtesy of ITV, then the BBC.
However, Sky are pouring everything into the coverage to justify the subscription price which fans must now pay to follow their chosen sport.
Not only has Sky announced a dedicated F1 channel which will have in-depth coverage for five days per race week, as well as non-F1 race weekend programming such as a ‘legends’ show, but it has also announced live coverage of GP2 and GP3.
In its latest attempt to immerse fans in the action, Sky will introduce ‘Sky Race Control’ which will allow fans to choose between as many as nine simultaneous content streams, allowing fans to choose what they’re watching.
“We think the interactive service will reinvent interactive television in a way that we haven’t seen for a long, long time,” Martin Turner, Executive Producer of Sky Sports F1 HD, told T3.
“The most powerful and interactive use of the Red Button in the last few years has not been to show different angles and cameras, it’s been to show you a different game.
“What we are going to do is take Formula 1 as a sport and offer different ways of seeing it, be it by on-board cameras or with the data tracker that tells you where the cars are.”
Not only can fans choose from on-board cameras and data streams, but they can also choose to watch a dedicated ‘Pit Channel’, which will also offer updates from technical guru Ted Kravitz.
“We will be offering a live Pit Channel,” added Turner. “Sky will be covering the pits as its own channel to see what’s going on there because there’s always something going on in the pits even without the cars being there.”
If you’re out and about, Sky have too thought about that with a dedicated iPad app, which will give fans access to a similar ‘Sky Race Control’, allowing them to choose what they’re watching.
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