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The F1 world has slowly but steadily seen these underlying allegations gain steam in the last couple of years. What used to be a passing statement has now become mainstream as F1 coverage is blatantly called out for having 'British bias'. So much so that in the aftermath of the 2022 F1 Dutch GP, Sky Sports presenters Ted Kravitz and David Croft were called out on social media for triggering conspiracy theories around Yuki Tsunoda's retirement.
In the last couple of years, the official F1 broadcast that is picked up from Sky Sports has been under the pump for not being 'neutral' in its coverage. The criticism has only grown over time and it is unrelenting.
Keeping this in mind, at Sportskeeda, we thought it was about time we addressed these allegations over the way the races were broadcast. Does F1 coverage suffer from British bias? If it does, how can the sport address it?
Does 'British bias' exist in F1 coverage?
To answer this question, we first need to address one crucial detail that is often missed. Sky Sports is a British channel that caters to a British audience. It is this same telecast that is then broadcasted all over the world as F1's official broadcast.
To find out about the general sentiment around the Formula 1 telecast, we pitched this question on Twitter to see what fans think. One of the biggest takeaways from that was how a British broadcaster was always going to lean towards a British audience, just as a German or Spanish broadcaster would lean towards their nationalities.
So, does British bias exist? If your core target audience is British and your revenue pretty much depends on that, you are always going to lean towards it. It's similar to having an F1 race that was telecast in any other country. The focus would be on a driver or a team of that nationality, should either exist.
More importantly, one thing needs to be understood well. The personnel handling the broadcasting job are the best at what they do. Speaking of a few of them, David Croft's "Here comes Sebastian Vettel" has become a legendary voice note! So was his play-by-play coverage of the last few laps of the 2022 F1 British GP. No matter how spectacular the action on track was, 'Crofty' and his energy during the entire segment made the viewing experience even better.
Martin Brundle is a veteran of the sport and has forgotten more about it than many fans have even learned. Finally, we have Ted Kravitz who has been doing this even before Sky Sports took over the sport's broadcast. Calling these legends of the sport 'biased' would do them a disservice and that's not what we're trying to achieve here.
The problem with the Global F1 broadcast feed
Now, this brings us to the problem at hand: Does the global F1 broadcast lean towards the British audience and hence raise concerns of 'British bias'? Yes, it does. Is it Sky Sports' fault though? Not really! While they would try to provide a neutral feed, their source of revenue is the British audience. It makes perfect business sense for them to focus on their target audience.
It's not a problem for Britons or for fans who have a different telecast in their country. For instance, Ziggo Sports covers Formula 1 in the Netherlands while Sky Deutschland does the job in Germany.
The problem is for fans from countries outside this cluster. The problem is for a fan sitting in the United States who is watching a telecast meant for a British audience. The problem is for someone sitting in India who might be a fan of Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, or Daniel Ricciardo, but feels these drivers don't get their due.
The sport has expanded its horizons in the last few years and has gained immense popularity in regions beyond Europe. It is penetrating the North American and Asian markets with a popularity never seen before. The impact of Netflix's 'Drive to Survive' is also evident as we have more and more new fans watching the sport. These new fans, who watch the telecast meant for a British audience, do not appreciate the disparity and hence the discontent has grown louder.
This is where the problem lies: F1's global telecast is not meant for a global audience!
How can F1 address this?
Earlier, the sport could have gotten away without giving much thought to this and letting things run the way they are. The problem lies with the new social media era. In this era, every positive and negative attribute gets magnified and thrown right at your face.
The outcry over 'British bias' in the sport has been increasing and sooner or later it will cross a threshold where the sport will have to address it. Assuming F1 plans to address this, how would it go about the job? We believe there are two ways to approach it.
Renewing terms of arrangement with the British broadcaster
The arrangement with Sky Sports needs to be looked at. If F1 wants the British broadcaster to focus on a global audience, then it would need to change the terms of the arrangement.
As we earlier mentioned, Sky Sports catering to a British audience is a revenue-generating endeavor as well. Its offerings of SkyQ, Sky Glass, the 'red button', etc. are targeted so. If the broadcast is not British audience-centric, it impacts the broadcaster's revenues as well.
The first step would be to alter the arrangements the sport has with the broadcaster. The sport should ensure it brings more homogeneity to the broadcast. There's nothing wrong with having just one non-British presence (Karun Chandhok) in the entire broadcast team if the targeted audience is primarily British.
If the target audience is more global, however, the broadcast team needs to be more diverse as well. Members from different nationalities need to be added to provide a more diverse opinion. These steps would not only help in presenting a more neutral viewpoint to the spectators but also quash the allegations of any 'British bias' in the telecast.
Independent broadcasting
The second method is something that the sport might have taken its first steps towards. The F1 YouTube channel already has its own media team covering the pre-race and post-race stuff. In what seems like the first step towards a bigger goal, F1 could ultimately let regional broadcasters do their thing just like they do now. Parallelly, it can develop its own team, keeping the homogeneity in mind, that covers the entire race weekend and the feed is transferred across the world just like the Sky Sports feed.
Initially, though, it would require reaching the desired capability level and then building on from that. This would give the sport better control and independence when it comes to broadcasting and could be the perfect counter to any 'British bias' allegations.
With the way the sport is growing, allegations like 'British bias' can turn into a PR nightmare. These things should not be allowed to get out of hand and it behooves the sport to take action and rectify it.
