Sky Sports currently broadcasts all races live on its dedicated channel, but as part of the six-year deal signed in 2012, half of the races are shown live on a terrestrial channel, with the remaining events available as highlights.
The new deal, which will see Sky Sports as the sole broadcaster in the country, will run from 2019 to 2024, with the British Grand Prix available live on a free-to-air channel, the details of which have not yet been confirmed.
"I am delighted that we will continue to work together," said Formula 1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone.
"Sky's commitment to the Sport and standard of coverage is second to none."
So here's my rant, for starters I am not going to rant on Channel 4 on this post, because it was the end of their contracts at the end of 2018 despite bizarrely its two years away, as it's not in their control.
Instead, I am going to rant on Bernie Ecclestone who is the head of FOM (Formula 1 Management, the head of TV rights); CVC Capital Partners, the promoters of F1 giving the deal to Sky in the first place, and of course Sky. Back in 2011, Bernie Ecclestone said it won't be going to Sky until he change his mind that is.
With that I do want to rant on Sky. Sky did a defensive move which keeps its main rival BT Sport out of F1 until 2024 at least. BT Sport has already taken the Champions League from Sky and ITV back in 2015. With that move I think it was dirty move from Sky with three years to spare, and even to do without any terrestrial deal in place I think this is a complete bad deal for the viewers who cannot afford Sky, I doubt that viewing figures will be even a million of what the BBC or Channel 4 has combined for the last few years, as what I have heard Sky's average viewers for F1 are 650,000 viewers per race. I believe that Bernie/CVC have alienated your audience for the next six years starting in 2019 and giving the live and exclusive rights to Sky, with strong rumours that Sky paid around £150-170 million per year for the rights compared to what Sky and the BBC did in 2012 which was to believe in £65 million per year mark. This deal is a utter scumbag move from Sky and Bernie Ecclestone/CVC and once again alienate F1 viewers once again and properly for me the final nail in the coffin for my love of Formula 1.
Final thoughts are this, Sky is a luxury product just as the same as BT Sport, who owns the MotoGP rights, is a luxury product (paying £80 per month for their Sky sports package) paying over £100 per month for those two products don't make sense in a rescission world we live in. And as for Bernie Ecclestone his legacy is this the man who made Formula 1 what it is, the man who destroyed Formula 1.
A bad day for any F1 fan. End of Rant.
Formula 1: RIP 1950-2018.
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