The BBC has announced the 10 Formula One races that it will show live next season as part of its new joint broadcasting deal with Sky, while Jake Humphrey has confirmed he is staying with the corporation.
Today, Sky confirmed that it will launch its first channel dedicated to just one sport next March, with Sky Sports F1 to broadcast live coverage of all Grands Prix, practice sessions and qualifying, along with associated programming.
This follows a controversial F1 broadcast rights deal earlier in the year, in which the BBC agreed to half the amount of race meetings it shows live from 2012 to 2018 as part of its cost-cutting drive.
The agreement attracted widespread criticism from viewers at the loss of exclusive F1 coverage on free-to-air television.
As part of the new arrangement, the BBC will next year show 10 Grands Prix, including Monaco, Silverstone and the season finale from Brazil, plus extended highlights of the other 10 races aired on Sky. All 20 Grands Prix will be covered live on BBC Radio 5 live, or 5 Live Sports extra.
Jake Humphrey, the BBC's lead presenter for F1, has also today confirmed that he is staying with the corporation, tweeting: "I'm staying with the BBC, the best production team I've ever worked with."
The BBC's head of F1 Ben Gallop said: "We're really looking forward to 2012 and what promises to be another great year of Formula One on the BBC. With presentation from the track at every race, we'll be there every step of the way to tell the story of the season.
"Through a mix of live coverage and extended highlights, we'll have the best of the action from both on and off the track, plus all the news, analysis and big-name interviews."
In 2012, the BBC will broadcast live coverage of the Grands Prix in China (April 15), Spain (May 13), Monaco (May 27), Europe (June 24), Britain (July 8), Belgium (September 2), Singapore (April 23), Korea (October 14), Abu Dhabi (November 4), and Brazil (November 25). The coverage will be available on BBC One and in high definition on BBC One HD and BBC HD
However, this means free-to-air television viewers will miss out on live coverage of various key races, including the season opener in Melbourne, Australia, on March 18, and the return of F1 to America for the race at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on November 18.
The BBC said that for any races it does not show live, it will endeavour to "bring the best of the action to viewers through extended highlights on BBC One and BBC One HD".
Qualifying highlights will be 75 minutes long for each race, while early morning Grands Prix (such as in the Far East) will be recapped in two hours of highlights at 2pm on the day. European time zone races will be shown in 90 minutes of highlights at 5.30pm.
Highlights and qualifying of the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 29 will be shown on BBC Two as this falls during the London 2012 Olympics. Selected coverage will also be available on the BBC Sport website.
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