Commercial broadcaster Look TV will broadcast the Formula One motor racing series and France’s top-tier football league Ligue 1, after agreeing a sublicensing deal with pay-television broadcaster Digi Sport.
The duration of the deals have not been announced. Look TV’s F1 coverage began with last weekend’s Hungarian grand prix, whilst its coverage of Ligue 1 will begin this weekend for the start of the 2019-20 season.
Digi Sport, owned by Romanian telco RCS & RDS, holds F1 rights in the 2019 season along with telco Telekom Romania. Their two-year deal, covering 2018 and 2019, was with the MP & Silva agency, but Formula One Management, the commercial rights-holder of the F1 championship, took over as counterparty after the agency’s dissolution.
Digi Sport holds Ligue 1 rights in a three-season deal, from 2018-19 to 2020-21, via a deal with the league’s international rights-holder, beIN Media Group.
Look TV – owned by Romanian cable company Clever Media Network – Digi Sport, and Telekom Romania share rights to several top sports properties in Romania, including Uefa’s club competitions, Italy’s Serie A, Spain’s LaLiga, Germany’s Bundesliga and Romania’s top-tier football league, Liga I.
Telekom Romania also broadcast the Hungarian Grand Prix but the telco’s future is uncertain. Parent company Deutsche Telekom is reportedly retreating from the Romanian market and has cut 130 of its sports staff.