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Formula One is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one of the premier forms of racing around the world since its inaugural season in 1950. The word formula in the name refers to the set of rules to which all participants' cars must conform. A Formula One season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix. Grands Prix take place in multiple countries and continents around the world on either purpose-built circuits or closed public roads.
Speed was an American sports-oriented cable and satellite television network that was owned by the Fox Sports Media Group division of 21st Century Fox. The network was dedicated to motorsports programming, including auto racing, as well as automotive-focused programs.
Formula One Decade was a television show on Speed Channel. First airing on May 11, 2003 the show takes a look at Formula One Grand Prix events that were run 10 years prior to the present season. A one-hour show, the announcers, SPEED's Formula One commentary team, Bob Varsha, Steve Matchett, and David Hobbs, perform a mixture of a commentary as if the race is taking place right now along with reminiscing about rules changes and also Matchett's then role with Michael Schumacher's team. In 2003, when the show looked back at the 1993 season, dominated by Alain Prost, Varsha was the show's host, while Hobbs and Matchett looked at videotape of the races, and reminisced. That changed in 2004, when Matchett began introducing the race that would be seen on an episode and wrapping up each show, while Varsha joined Matchett and Hobbs to do commentary.
WindTunnel with Dave Despain was a live viewer call-in show exclusively for auto racing fans that debuted on Speed Channel on February 22, 2003, and ended on August 11, 2013. During the course of the show, host Dave Despain fielded telephone calls and read e-mail from viewers, some of them directed at the guest Despain is interviewing, which was done just after the first segment, titled "Hot Topics", which Despain reads the big stories from the racing world. After the interview segment, Despain did a segment just for him, titled "My Take", in which he gave his opinion on news from the racing world. There was also an award for the best e-mail or phone call from each show, as the winning viewer received a Despain bobblehead. It was a coveted prize among viewers.
Robert August "Bob" Varsha is an American broadcast journalist who specializes in covering motorsports. He is best known for being the lap-by-lap commentator for Formula 1 and CART series races for ESPN, ABC Sports, and Speed Channel among others.
The 1973 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Nürburgring on 5 August 1973. It was race 11 of 15 in both the 1973 World Championship of Drivers and the 1973 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.
Samuel Felton Posey is an American former racing driver and sports broadcast journalist.
Steve Matchett is a commentator for American TV network Fox Sports on its Formula E programming. He formerly co-hosted live Formula One practices, qualifying sessions, and races alongside David Hobbs and Bob Varsha.
The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Ecclestone also has the rights to the name GP1. The series was organized by Bruno Michel. In 2010, the GP3 Series class was launched, as a feeder class for the GP2 series. In 2017, the series was rebranded as the FIA Formula 2 Championship.
David Despain is an American motorsports journalist. He was the host of WindTunnel with Dave Despain on Speed Channel, and NASCAR Inside Nextel Cup, until the former was cancelled during the demise of Speed and the latter underwent a format change at the beginning of the 2008 NASCAR Season. On 14 December 2013 Despain announced on Twitter that he would be moving to MAVTV in 2014 to provide color commentary during races held on the channel and host a show called The Dave Despain Show.
The television and radio rights to broadcast NASCAR on television and radio are one of the most expensive rights of any American sport, with the current television contract with Fox Sports and NBC Sports being worth around US$8 billion.
Larry Nuber was an American auto racing announcer, best known for his work on ESPN broadcasts of NASCAR, CART and Formula One races in the 1980s.
ESPN SpeedWorld is a former television series broadcast on ESPN from 1979–2006. The program that was based primarily based around NASCAR, CART, IMSA, Formula One, NHRA, and IHRA. The theme music is based on the piano interlude from "18th Avenue " by Cat Stevens.
Sky Sports F1 is a television channel created exclusively for Sky's UK and Ireland coverage of Formula One, with Sky having a package of rights from the 2012 season to the 2029 season. From 2012 to 2029, Sky Sports F1 has the exclusive rights to broadcast Formula 1 live in the UK and Ireland, and will sub-licence highlights of all races and qualifying sessions plus the British Grand Prix live to Channel 4. Since 2017, Sky Sports F1 has broadcast Formula 1 in 4K UHD.
Sebastian "Seb" Morris is a professional racing driver from Marford, who lives in Chester, Cheshire. He won the 2017 British GT Championship. He also won the 2017 Sunoco Challenge which gave him the prize drive in the Number 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi at the Rolex 24 hours at Daytona. He led the race for three hours in his stint. Earlier in his career, Morris was a member of the Caterham F1 Academy and was selected by Jack Wills as a Young Brit for their 2013/14 Autumn / Winter campaign.
Channel 4 F1, commonly abbreviated to C4F1, is a British television programme dedicated to the coverage of Formula One motor racing and has been aired by the British broadcaster Channel 4 since 2016. Prior to 2019, half of the season's practice, qualifying sessions and races were shown live, with all other events covered in an extended qualifying and race highlights format.
Until 2001, race tracks struck individual agreements with networks to broadcast races, but NASCAR wanted to capitalize on the growing popularity of the sport and announced in 1999 that television contracts would now be centralized; that is, instead of making agreements with individual tracks, networks would now negotiate directly with NASCAR for the rights to air a package of races.
This is a timeline of the history of motorsport on television in the UK.
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