The BBC will offer full reruns of the Formula One races that it does not show live next year. They will be shown on demand, through the red button, approximately three hours after the end of the race at the same time as the highlights package goes to air on the main channel, according to reports.
If the accounts prove to be correct it will be some solace for angry F1 fans who have been vocal with their displeasure at the deal in which Sky will show all the grands prix next year and the BBC only 10 of the 20-race calendar, including Silverstone, Monaco and the season finale.
When the division of rights was announced at the Hungarian Grand Prix, details were thin on the ground and remain so now. Bernie Ecclestone, who was offering the teams a considerable increase in TV revenue, said it was a "super" deal and the McLaren team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, was confident viewers would not lose out, saying: "Bernie assured me, and I asked him several times, the deferred coverage will not be highlights, it will be a full race."
However Ecclestone responded at the time by insisting that the BBC would be showing only highlights. "We'll have to get the full story," Whitmarsh said, but until now no further details have emerged and, although unlikely to quell dissent from fans, a full deferred rerun will be seen as preferable to a truncated package.
A spokesperson for the BBC said he would not confirm details in reference to reports on prospective coverage at this point but that they would do so in due course.
