Having spent the past two weeks reading complaint after moan from British F1 fans, having to pay to watch F1 as of next year I have just one thing to say: welcome to the real world!
I live in South Africa and have spent many years having to pay for Formula One coverage and for that I receive all practices live, qualifying live and the race live.
I don't get any build-up except from our SuperSport presenters and at times that leaves a lot to be desired.
They finally head over to BBC coverage about five minutes before the race so there are no pre-race interviews, no grid walks, just three guys on SuperSport - none of which have any F1 experience, they are just fans with general knowledge - sharing their thoughts.
I don't get post-race interviews with team bosses, drivers, etc - I barely get the press conference.
I don't get any interactive features - press my red button and my DSTV box looks at me like I'm an idiot.
It's not much but I get what I want, want I crave, I get Formula One action.
And for this I pay over R620 (52 pounds of your English sterling) a month because, for the privelege of viewing a whole lot of nothing, there's no other choice but paying for the premium package.
I could take the R199 option, but that only gives me one sports channel and that channel NEVER shows Formula One.
So instead I pay a chunk of my salary every month so that I can watch 20 Formula One grands prix per season.
I do this because I love Formula One, because as most South Africans who love F1 will tell you the price of actually heading to a grand prix and watching it live is not something many can afford.
It would cost almost R10,000 just for a flight - and that's not including accommodation and it's definitely not including the price of a ticket for a grand prix weekend.
So I pay my premium price and I watch Formula One on TV.
I don't complain about it, I sure as hell don't believe my government should step in and stop it when the government has much bigger issues to deal with, and I don't write in to websites threatening to switch off and never watch F1 again.
Why?
Because I'm a Formula One fan and I live in the real world where if you want something you pay for it.
Michelle Foster
PS: In South Africa we also pay a license fee on top of DSTV.
