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Probably not to be seen on German free TV in the future either: world champion Max Verstappen
Photo:
Peter Dejong/AP
Formula 1 will remain expensive fun for fans in the long term.
The pay-TV broadcaster Sky has extended its media rights contract with the most important motorsport series until 2027 and in return will receive even more exclusivity.
According to the current status, no more races can be freely received on television from 2024.
The contract, which has also been extended in Italy and Great Britain, is equipped "with greater exclusivity", the Sky Group announced before the Singapore Grand Prix.
According to the announcement, it includes “all race weekends exclusively live and the races in the home countries simultaneously live on free-to-air television”.
This is a possibly decisive difference to the previous agreement until the end of 2024. This includes the requirement for Sky to show four races per season on free TV.
These ran on RTL in 2021 and 2022, but the contract with the Cologne broadcaster ends this year.
Whether there is a new agreement here is still unclear.
Free TV racing isn't entirely off the table
Under the new contract, Sky still has the option of releasing races for other broadcasters via sub-license, but no longer has the obligation.
For Germany, this means that there will probably not be a free race for the time being, as there will be no home Grand Prix next year either.
The staging fails mainly because of the financing.
Most recently, there was a Grand Prix on the Nürburgring in Germany in 2020, but only because it was not possible to drive on other racetracks due to the corona pandemic.
Sky has had the exclusive rights for the German market since 2021.
The sports package with Formula 1 currently costs 25 euros.
As in the previous year, RTL is still broadcasting four World Cup races this season thanks to sub-licensing.
Sky with good odds
While there has been a rush of fans and record crowds on the routes for months, the interest of spectators in front of the screens had decreased significantly.
Only 2.043 million people watched the last free TV race in Zandvoort on RTL.
In the previous season, the station averaged 3.28 million across its four broadcasts.
At Sky, on the other hand, things are going better, the investments in Formula 1 seem to be paying off.
According to Sky, the average number of viewers in the current series has increased by 24 percent so far.
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix saw the largest number of viewers to date with 1.38 million.
kjo/sid/dpa
