• The new Sky Sports F1 channel will also show GP2 and GP3 live. The two feeder series to Formula 1 run for the most part parallel to the main championship, with GP2 having 12 rounds and GP3 just the 8 rounds. Each weekend features two races, both of which will be live on the new channel. There is no news on fellow support series Porsche Supercup, so that is expected to remain on Eurosport.

• Sky have also confirmed that their Formula 1 magazine programme with Georgie Thompson and Ted Kravitz will be shown weekly.

• ITV are expected to release football commentator Peter Drury and co-commentator Jim Beglin after Euro 2012 this summer. Former Irish international Beglin has been steadily phased out of his duties over the last couple of years as Andy Townsend has become more prominent, while the decision to drop Drury is more surprising. With ITV’s Champions League coverage moving to Tuesday nights, it means number 1 commentator Clive Tyldesley can easily do that match before travelling to wherever for a Europa League game on the Thursday. As the channel will still need more than one commentator, they could still keep Drury on as a freelancer unless he moves to another network full time.

• Sky Sports will show the Tony Bellew v Danny McIntosh fight for the British Light Heavyweight title after promoter Dave Coldwell won the purse bids and joined forces with Matchroom Sport to provide a TV date. Bellew (right) is signed to Frank Warren Promotions, who are a major player behind the rival BoxNation channel. After the announcement this week, Bellew said: “It’s a dream come true to be back on Sky Sports.” Don’t think his promoter will be too chuffed after hearing that.

• The Super League season starts this weekend. The early list of live matches on Sky can be seen here.

• Interestingly, from May Sky will be showing their secondary live match per round on a Monday night rather than a Saturday evening. This is down to the channel wanting more live sport on a Monday once the football season has ended during the summer. The now-traditional Friday night slot will stay untouched.

• Two of England’s rugby matches in the Women’s Six Nations will be shown live on television this year, with a third available online with a free, legal stream. First, on the 25th February the game against Wales will be on the BBC red button at 6.15pm. On the 11th March, England’s trip to France will be on the Sky Sports red button service at 12.45pm, while their final match against Ireland will be live on the RFU website on the 17th March at 2pm.

In a busy weekend of news for 2012 Formula 1 broadcasting, Sky Sports announced the launch of a dedicated channel to the sport for next season.

Sky Sports F1 will be on air during all 20 race weekends, and will contain uninterrupted live coverage of all the race sessions in high definition, along with analysis, highlights and support programmes. These include a legends interview show presented by former BBC and ITV presenter Steve Rider.

The channel will be available free to all Sky subscribers who take either the sports package or HD package, with no news yet over whether it will be coming to Virgin or other formats. Presumably under OFCOM regulations, it will need to be made available to other providers with an extra fee.

The new channel confirms the speculation that Sky would be putting the F1 on a separate channel next season, although it was rumoured to be a more general motorsports channel that would incorporate the broadcaster’s portfolio of racing rights including Speedway, Indy Cars, plus highlights of Nascar, DTM and the FIA GT1 World Championship.

However, nothing has been confirmed regarding the support championships to F1 being shown on the new channel. GP2, GP3 and the Porsche Supercup have most recently been televised by British Eurosport, but their contract expired at the end of 2011 and no news has been forthcoming of their destination for 2012. The lack of a mention of them in the recent press releases suggest that at this point, Sky will not be showing them.

All in all, the announcement has been a bit underwhelming, especially when the channel will only be on air for a short period on race weekends. It was an opportunity for Sky to increase their motor racing portfolio, but they do not seem to be interested in that and more focused on Formula 1 itself. This does mean though that the F1 will be a big priority event for the broadcaster, and will not be shunted around the schedules (or even behind the red button) on busy weekends.

As for the on-air talent for the channel, the only confirmation is Martin Brundle, who said at the weekend he will be leaving the BBC for Sky. Meanwhile, Radio 5 Live commentator David Croft has left the station and is expected to sit alongside Brundle in the Sky commentary box, while their current rugby union presenter Simon Lazenby should move across to cover F1.