Liberty Media chief executive Greg Maffei has said the US media company may seek to develop an over-the-top platform for Formula One once its takeover deal for the motor racing series is completed.
Liberty Media in September confirmed it had agreed a deal with a consortium led by private equity fund CVC Capital Partners to acquire Formula One. Liberty, which is owned by US media mogul John Malone, has paid $4.4bn (€4bn) to purchase an initial 18.7-per-cent stake in the series and will acquire the remaining shareholding in 2017. The agreement values Formula One at $8bn and is currently awaiting regulatory approval.
Maffei has previously highlighted gaming, digital media and the sports betting market as key areas for exploitation as Liberty Media seeks to build its strategy for the future of Formula One. Speaking during an earnings conference call following the release of Liberty Media’s third quarter financials, Maffei said an OTT platform could harness the huge amount of video content and data that F1 generates, but admitted that clarifying what rights are available would be a challenge.
“Given the global nature and extremely dedicated fan base Formula One has, it would seem an OTT product would be something which makes a lot of sense for them and us,” he said. “We do have some issues to work through on rights. I don’t think they are impenetrable but… we also just need to work out relations with the teams and how we handle it all.
“So there’s not only work on the product side but also some licensing work, which I don’t think is insurmountable. I’m not yet sure what form any product may take or what we may do. We’re still at early days but I agree there is a lot of potential.”