Official: TF1 will broadcast four Grand Prix from 2018, including those in France and Monaco!

If it has been known for several months that the Canal+ group had acquired the broadcasting rights for the next three seasons of the Formula 1 World Championship, one question remained regarding the future French Grand Prix.

It was certain that the Vivendi group’s channels would not broadcast the race making its big return to the Circuit Paul-Ricard in June 2018. Not even its main free channel, C8; which was this year’s co-broadcaster of the Monaco Grand Prix with Canal+. Indeed, the law requires that the French Grand Prix be broadcast with free access for the entire French population. That being said, Vincent Bolloré’s group only acquired, for the 2018 to 2020 seasons, the broadcasting rights for a pay channel.

Slight policy change for F1

From then on, two audiovisual companies were in the running to win the rights for the French Grand Prix, as well as three other events on the 2018, 2019, and 2020 calendar: TF1 and the public group France Télévisions.

It was through its program director that the TF1 group officially announced this partnership with the Formula 1 owners, on Thursday evening.

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— Aprikian Ara (@AprikianAra) September 13, 2017

We can learn from this statement that, besides the French Grand Prix, the private channel has acquired the broadcasting rights for the coveted Monaco Grand Prix as well as two other unknown events which remain at TF1’s discretion.

This announcement can be seen as a demonstration of the new commercial policy that the new F1 owner, Liberty Media, wishes to pursue for this sport.

The American group aims to focus on greater democratization through a free channel and thus attempt to boost declining advertising revenues since pay TV channels, with mechanically lower audiences, have increasingly taken their place in Formula 1.