I have canceled my subscription to Formula 1’s F1TV Pro service, because by the time the F1 season starts over the weekend of July 3rd in Austria, a full four months after the season was supposed to start. I have not at all missed F1. 10 years ago, I would be Jonesing for the season to start, but over the past four to five seasons, I have been apathetic at best, due to the lack of competition and predictable nature of the sport. I kept watching out of habit, I was not really paying attention to the race for most of its duration.
Last season was particularly bad in terms of my interest, I watched one race live, the rest were watched on-demand, and even then, I only watched the highlights. When a 30-minute highlight show features very few actual highlights, watching a 1 hour, 40 minute race would be unbearable. The idea of paying $80 per year to watch races live, when it holds near to zero interest for me is just a waste of money.
My subscription does not expire until August 10, 2020, so I have access to five races in three countries, which I will probably just watch the highlights, to see if I have any interest at all in 2020, then I might subscribe to F1TV Access, which gives me access to on-demand programming after the live race for just $2.99 per month or $26.99 a year. I feel that F1 is not worth $79.99 a year for me at this time.
I feel that F1 in its current form is going in the wrong direction, Liberty, F1’s owners need to open up the formula, like we had in the 80s, when racing was genuinely exciting to watch. Unlike today, where the leading team, Mercedes need to have some sort of drama for another team or driver to win a race.
German free-to-air broadcaster RTL has declined to renew its deal with F1 after lackluster viewing figures over the past five years, despite having multiple Germans in the sport, and the rising fees demanded by Formula 1. So it looks like F1 in Germany will be subscription only from 2021, which, like the UK, will have a very negative effect on the sports viewership, with so many people not willing to pay to watch F1.