Formula 1 fans are being offered refunds following a series of glitches that prevented them from watching live coverage of last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.
F1 TV was designed to offer commercial-free live streams of each race with multi language commentary. The English version is provided by Sky Sports. All 20 driver on-board cameras are also available.
It’s a blow to the sports new owners Liberty Media that were hoping to better monetise the sport that has been increasingly turning away from any free distribution model.
F1 TV apologised to customers with this statement: “As you may know, we have experienced some live playback issues during our coverage of the Spanish Grand Prix.
“Our mechanics have worked around the clock to try to fix the issues with the live streaming but unfortunately, we are still experiencing technical difficulties broadcasting today’s race – your viewing experience may be impacted.
“Please note that these issues only affect customers during live playback and all sessions from this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix will be available to enjoy on-demand including all on-board cameras and full team radio. Full replays are available to F1 TV Pro customers, or F1 TV Access customers in selected territories.”
The consensus amongst fans is that despite several months of testing, the service simply launched too early. There are fears that the service still won’t be ready for the Monaco Grand Prix on May 27 – one of the highlights of the Formula 1 calendar.
F1 TV is priced at between $8 and $12 depending on the market.
