BBC set to axe hugely popular Formula 1 coverage to keep niche digital programmes such as Come Clog Dancing



F1's £60m annual cost targeted in 20% budget cuts

8million people watched British Grand Prix



Cost-cutting BBC chiefs are considering axing Formula One motor racing so it can keep niche progammes such as Come Clog Dancing on its digital channels.

Mandarins are believed to have identified both F1 and even its Wimbledon coverage as potential sports which may have to be dumped as it slashes 20 per cent from its budgets by 2014.

The BBC paid £300million to screen F1 in a five-year deal which runs until 2013.

BBC is considering axing its popular F1 coverage to keep digital channels such as BBC4, which screens niche programmes such as Come Clog Dancing

From left, Eddie Jordan, Jake Humphrey and David Coulthard who present the BBC's Grand Prix coverage. But at almost £3million a race, it costs more each hour than the most expensive dramas like the lavish Cranford and Dr Who.

But at almost £3million a race, it costs more each hour than the most expensive dramas like the lavish Cranford and Dr Who. The yearly cost of covering F1 is more than the entire budget for BBC4 which has won critical acclaim for its biopics of Enid Blyton, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Williams and Margot Fonteyn. However, it has also featured such minority appeal shows as Come Clog Dancing: Treasures of English Folk Dance, a documentary about a flashmob staging a mass clog dance in Newcastle. RELATED ARTICLES Previous

1

Next The price of beauty: BBC to spend £100,000 of licence fee payer’s money on make-up artists for news presenters Share this article Share BBC4 programmes have also included The Joy Of Stats, Caravans: A British Love Affair and The Secret Life Of the Motorway. This week's BBC4 schedule includes The Beauty of Maps, The Wonder Of Weeds and Apples: British To The Core.

The viewing figures for BBC4 last month showed it had just 0.7 per cent of the total viewing time, with the average weekly viewing time per person standing at just 11 minutes.

Rain-hit: Eight million viewers watched the Montreal Grand Prix, but the BBC caused outage by cancelling Antiques Roadshow to stay with the delayed race

Under threat? The BBC's contract with the All England Club to broadcast at Wimbledon runs until 2014

Lord Patten, incoming chairman of the BBC Trust has warned BBC4 could be closed if savings targets are to be reached because of the TV licence freeze until 2017.

But senior sources have told the Sunday Times that the channel may be spared if the £60 million annual cost of covering 19 Grand Prix around the world is saved.

Most F1 races attract between two and four million viewers except the British Grand Prix.

Last Sunday more than eight million tuned in to see Jenson Button's British triumph in Canada, but the BBC sparked controversy by cancelling Antiques Roadshow to stay with the rain-hit race after it was delayed for more than two hours.

Seven hundred furious fans complaining to the BBC after the hit-show was axed.



Come Clog Dancing told the story of conductor Charles Hazlewood's attempt to revive the tradition of clog dancing in the North-East Dancing in the streets: The documentary followed 140 men and women from across the North East as they trained for a six-minute public performance

The programme, which has been running for 32 years, was due to follow the conclusion of the Montreal race.

A package of money-savings proposals will be put to the BBC Trust in the autumn, which will include a reduction in daytime programmes.

If F1 was axed the BBC would be able to keep Wimbledon and renew its contract with the All England Club which runs out in 2014.

Its popular football highlights programmes like Match of the Day and Match of the Day 2 on Sundays is not thought to be under threat.

A BBC spokesman said: 'This is speculation. We are not going to get drawn into a running commentary - no decisions have been taken and therefore these claims remain speculation.

