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From today's Sunday times
The BBC is poised to drop Formula One motor racing rather than close one of its digital channels.
Its contract to screen F1 for five seasons until 2013 will cost £300m. At about £3m for each race, it is the most expensive BBC programme being broadcast.
Lord Patten, chairman of the BBC Trust, recently signalled that BBC4 could be axed to make up the savings required by the freeze in the licence fee until April 2017.
Now senior sources said the corporation can spare BBC4 if it saves the annual £60m that it spends on F1. An insider said the cost of covering 19 F1 races was more than the entire annual budget of BBC4.
The source said the BBC did not intend to rebid for the F1 contract when it expired in November 2013.
It has emerged that F1 costs £1 a head for every viewer, compared with the average 7p an hour broadcast cost for BBC1 and BBC2. Apart from the British Grand Prix, most races attract only between 2m and 4m viewers.
It costs more for each hour than even the most expensive dramas such as South Riding, Cranford and Doctor Who.
Dumping F1, whose audience is largely male, could ensure that the BBC will be able to keep its grip on Wimbledon, which has a broader audience. Its current contract with the All England Club runs out after 2014.
The BBC is also determined to hang on to its existing football highlights programmes which include Match of the Day and its sister programme Match of the Day 2 on Sunday.
The proposal to dump F1 will be among a package of measures to be put to the BBC Trust in the early autumn. Other measures include cutting daytime schedules on BBC2 and also overnight programming.
It is likely that BBC4 will survive but will reduce its drama output where it has made a mark with biopics of such people as Enid Blyton, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Williams and Margot Fonteyn.
The BBC is poised to drop Formula One motor racing rather than close one of its digital channels.
Its contract to screen F1 for five seasons until 2013 will cost £300m. At about £3m for each race, it is the most expensive BBC programme being broadcast.
Lord Patten, chairman of the BBC Trust, recently signalled that BBC4 could be axed to make up the savings required by the freeze in the licence fee until April 2017.
Now senior sources said the corporation can spare BBC4 if it saves the annual £60m that it spends on F1. An insider said the cost of covering 19 F1 races was more than the entire annual budget of BBC4.
The source said the BBC did not intend to rebid for the F1 contract when it expired in November 2013.
It has emerged that F1 costs £1 a head for every viewer, compared with the average 7p an hour broadcast cost for BBC1 and BBC2. Apart from the British Grand Prix, most races attract only between 2m and 4m viewers.
It costs more for each hour than even the most expensive dramas such as South Riding, Cranford and Doctor Who.
Dumping F1, whose audience is largely male, could ensure that the BBC will be able to keep its grip on Wimbledon, which has a broader audience. Its current contract with the All England Club runs out after 2014.
The BBC is also determined to hang on to its existing football highlights programmes which include Match of the Day and its sister programme Match of the Day 2 on Sunday.
The proposal to dump F1 will be among a package of measures to be put to the BBC Trust in the early autumn. Other measures include cutting daytime schedules on BBC2 and also overnight programming.
It is likely that BBC4 will survive but will reduce its drama output where it has made a mark with biopics of such people as Enid Blyton, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Williams and Margot Fonteyn.
