Formula 1

US Masters media rights in Australia will remain at a similar value in new free-to-air and pay-television deals with Nine and Fox Sports respectively.

The desire for flexibility around its yet-to-launch OTT service drove Formula One Management to agree a new deal with sports broadcaster ESPN in the US last month.

Financial problems at its free-to-air partner Ten led Formula One Management to strike a new deal in Australia, handing much more exclusivity to pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports.

Mike Kiernan reviews television audiences across the big five markets for the recently concluded Formula One World Championship

The Sports Channel has renewed a host of rights in recent weeks as it seeks to solidify its position in the Israeli broadcast market.

The Pitch International agency this month acquired Formula One and LaLiga rights as part of a move to create a new in-flight offering, TV Sports Markets understands.

The price of Formula One media rights has fallen and stayed flat in recent deals for Austria and Russia respectively, reflecting the lack of competition for the property in both markets.

Start-up pay-television operator Kwese TV is the latest company set to challenge SuperSport in the sub-Saharan market, and its Kwese Sports channel is already battling the dominant sports broadcaster head-on for rights outside South Africa.

The value of Formula One media rights increased strongly in Portugal last week, thanks mainly to the aggressive intent of sports broadcaster Eurosport.

Formula One’s broadcast rights value in Germany will fall by about seven per cent when the latest renewals, agreed last week, kick in from 2016.

Formula One Management earned a significant increase in the value of its rights in Australia last month by allowing a pay-television broadcaster to acquire rights to the championship for the first time in the country.

Spanish agency Mediapro will dilute the exclusivity of its new Formula One channel in Latin America with a sublicensing deal because it felt the offer from Fox Sports was too good to refuse.

Modern Times Group said this week that the emergence of Nordic drivers in Formula One was transforming the championship into a “magnificent” media rights property.

Formula One has earned a significant increase in its rights value in Canada thanks to intense competition between pay-television broadcasters.

Mediapro renews F1 deal in Spain but for smaller package