Ecclestone Claims F1 Pay-TV Move Would be ‘Suicidal’

Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One supremo, has claimed it would be “suicidal” for television coverage of the championship to switch from free-to-air television to pay-television.

Ecclestone told the official F1 website that the competing teams and their sponsors would lose visibility if the sport moved to pay-television, a move which would be made likely were Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation successful in its bid to take control of the sport.

Ecclestone wrote: “Murdoch hasn’t got anything really big to drive their television audiences and Formula One would be good for that. They have been trying to buy the television rights from us for a long time but we won’t [sell] because they are not free-to-air television broadcasters. They are a subscription service.”

Ecclestone said that News Corp had already approached him about some kind of deal for these territories in which it operates, in the UK (BSkyB), Germany (Sky Deutschland) and Italy (Sky Italia).

He added: “We couldn’t do it. Sky is doing an incredible job, but if you look at their audience they are nowhere. With these figures it would be almost impossible for teams to find sponsors. That would be suicidal.”

It emerged yesterday, May 9, that CVC can also block any attempt by News Corp, which is being partnered in the talks with Exor, the Italian investment vehicle owned by the Agnelli family, to take over Formula One by buying out the minority shareholders. According to TV Sports Markets, CVC owns just over 63 per cent of Formula One’s parent company, Delta Topco. The shareholders of Delta Topco are bound by a 2006 agreement which gives CVC a veto over the sale of any of the other shareholders’ stakes and first refusal if they decide to sell.