If you try to access F1TV via a VPN from your country where F1TV Pro is not available (like the UK) it will no longer play the full race videos and displays an geographical error code..
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At least for now, F1TV Pro works fine for me here in Germany. I've been using it since 2021 without a VPN (only used a VPN for signing up once) and never had any issues.
We'll see if it works this weekend.
Else I'll have to get the Sky package. I don't even mind paying more to be honest, it's just that F1TV is so nice to use and has great third-party apps (like MultiViewer), plus I really enjoy their commentary. I'm not even sure if I can at least get the English Sky commentary with Sky Germany...
Which costs 6 times as much, and as far as I know it doesn't have English commentary, doesn't have archive races, doesn't have free choice of cockpit cams, doesn't have Formula 2 and 3. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)
It's just a bad deal. If F1TV ever stops working in Germany for legacy subscriptions then I either have to stop watching F1 or look for other sources. ~5 euros per month is a fantastic price, I'd even pay 10 or 15 for that. But not 30 euros for the Sky package with a lot less features.
I agree that F1TV is obviously a way better deal. But F1 is pretty much the only thing I watch as far as live events go (and other race series sometimes) so I wouldn't mind spending quite a bit on it, although I can totally understand not wanting to spend 30 euros a month for F1.
The commentary and features I'd lose by switching to Sky is what concerns me the most.
If they get good at blocking VPNs and also start geo-blocking me (as I said, I'm not even using a VPN with F1TV, it still works just fine), I'd probably get a cheap VPS from Linode or wherever in a region where F1TV is officially available, and just set up my own VPN. They shouldn't block this unless they block static IPs in general.
I tried out sky (well, actually wowtv) and the absolute deal breaker for me was that the races are not viewable on demand. I also got for IndyCar, and canceled my subscription the next day because of that.
Why should they ban it now? I'm an old subscriber and I never used VPN. If they block me it's fraud.