Hamilton: F1 'pay TV' trend is worrying
Lewis Hamilton says it is a shame that F1 is steadily moving behind a 'pay wall'.
When the Mercedes driver won his first title in 2008, 6 million British viewers saw it.
By 2018, for his fifth world championship, the number had dwindled to 2 million.
"That sounds terrible," Hamilton said when told about the decline.
The obvious reason is that many of today's television deals in F1 are with 'pay TV' broadcasters.
"It's not good," Hamilton said.
"I grew up watching the races on the BBC and it was very good."
He says too many F1 fans cannot afford to pay to watch the coverage.
"With all the daily expenses these days, many people cannot afford to pay for television," said Hamilton.
"It's a pity the fans can't see it as much, because the more people there are, the better the sport is. The more they are blocked, the worse it will be for business."
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Couldn’t agree more. It’s a real shame that the sport is losing fans and potential fans because of the pay tv deals.
I subscribed to Sky as soon the transition was made. Whilst I can still afford it I resent that Sky can, and do regularly increase the price without any justification. My sporting interest is motor racing, but they recently included F1 in the 'sports package' for another price hike. C'mon aunty Beeb give us something for our license fees and then I can kick 'them' out.
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