r/F1Technical • u/tuss11agee • Apr 21 '22

Historic F1/Analysis F1 TV old races - limited archive

I consider this technical - hopefully mods agree! It’s not about cars, it’s about historical media rights to full races.

Why is the F1 TV archive of races so patchy in terms of what races they have?

It can’t just be lost footage. Many races are missing, yet I’ve seen highlight clips of them elsewhere on the Internet.

And it appears around 2003 or so, all the races are there. Was there a change in media rights holders that would give F1 TV their full library?

For instance, 1996 has just Spain and Monaco. There has to be a reason, no? Did each country negotiate their own media licenses and those can’t carry over to F1 TV?

Sure, I’d love more races in the library but I’m actually more curious for the technical answer as to why there isn’t.

Thanks!

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u/hankscorpio83 Apr 22 '22

When it first launched, the archive had very limited content and it has steadily increased since, which is what this page says.

I assume it's more a question of the time and money it takes to properly convert, index, etc. the content than any technical issue preventing them from doing it. And I have no basis for this other than my own assumptions, but I'd also wager there is less demand the further back you go. I can't imagine they'll get a lot of extra subscribers when they can say the entire 1987 or whatever season is available. ;)

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u/tuss11agee Apr 22 '22

Do you have any recommendations for some business hammocks?

3

u/hankscorpio83 Apr 22 '22

Well, there's Hammock Hut, Hammocks-R-Us, Put-Your-Butt-There, and Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. They're all in the hammock complex on Third.

1

u/tuss11agee Apr 22 '22

Oooo the new hammock district. Thanks!