The BBC sells its rights to Channel 4
For budgetary reasons, the BBC has decided to terminate its contract with F1, with immediate effect. Channel 4 was able to acquire the rights for the ten initially scheduled races.
As early as 2012, British television had already had to relinquish a portion of its rights to F1. The agreement with Sky and FOM stipulated that it would only broadcast ten races live, while the entire season would be available on the private channel.
If this agreement were to be extended until the 2018 season, the BBC has decided to withdraw from this commitment three years earlier than planned in order to bridge its deficit, which has reached the staggering sum of 150 million pounds sterling, with 35 million to be sought from its sports division.
Such a decision, made on the eve of Christmas, could only provoke the discontent of the sixty people involved in the project, starting with their most visible representative, Eddie Jordan. The former team owner did not mince his words with the Daily Mirror: « It’s catastrophic. Christmas week is not the best time to hear this, especially since it hasn’t been long since a large part of the team left London to settle in Salford at the BBC’s request. People have moved their families into new homes, their children into new schools. They were starting to get used to Salford, and then they receive this bombshell. »
Some of these employees could nevertheless take advantage of the opportunity and join the new rights holder, namely Channel 4. The channel has already announced that it will broadcast its races without commercial breaks. This still allows for a free broadcast of at least part of the season in the UK, which is more than what French viewers have to settle for, as they can now only follow their sport on Canal+.
With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr
