UK public-service broadcaster the BBC saved its licence fee payers £150 million (€187.5 million/$234.4 million) through its new rights deal for the Formula One motor-racing series, according to The Telegraph newspaper.
The BBC is currently in the first year of a new deal running through to the end of 2018 under which it shares Formula One rights with pay-television broadcaster BSkyB. Sky is broadcasting all races live while the BBC is televising half of the races live, and showing delayed highlights of the others.
Dominic Coles, chief operating officer of the BBC news group, told the newspaper: “In terms of licence fees we have saved hundreds of millions of pounds over the whole period of the contract.”
He added that the BBC’s rights fee for the property had been reduced by three-quarters. The BBC previously had a five-year deal, from 2009 to 2013, for exclusive rights for Formula One, worth £42 million per year on average. The new joint-deal with Sky replaced the old deal.
The Telegraph said the BBC is paying around £7 million per year in the new deal, and is saving £150 million over the seven-year duration of the deal.
Coles said the rights-sharing model saved the broadcaster from having to drop Formula One completely. “[The deal] delivered very significant savings over the period of the new contract, while keeping F1 available to audiences free to air, which was not guaranteed given the sport is not one of those protected by the listed events legislation,” Coles said. “Indeed, it is quite possible the sport may have ended up exclusively on pay-TV if we had not successfully negotiated the deal.”