The NBC Sports division of US media group NBCUniversal has struck a four-year deal, from 2013 to 2016, for the exclusive US media rights to the Formula One motor-racing championship.
Under the deal, NBC’s main network will broadcast four races next year – including the Canadian grand prix on June 9 and the new US race in Austin, Texas, which will take place on the penultimate weekend of the season on November 17. The other two races to be shown live by the network will be the November 3 Abu Dhabi grand prix and the season-ending Brazil grand prix on November 24.
The other 16 races will be shown on cable-television channel NBC Sports Network, which will also broadcast all practice and qualifying sessions.
All 20 races will be shown live online via the NBC Sports Live Extra service, which is available on the NBC Sports website.
The agreement with Formula One Management, which operates the championship, was announced after cable-television broadcaster Speed said that it had been unable to retain its rights, having been F1’s broadcaster in the US since 1996.
Speed’s parent company Fox Sports Media Group said that it had “made what we believed to be a fiscally responsible bid based on the sport’s current viewership levels, but F1 has elected to go in another direction.”
Jon Miller, president of programming for NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network, told the Associated Press news agency that his company had made “a significant financial commitment” and that talks with Formula One Management had begun several months ago.
Miller also said that the addition of F1 could boost audiences for NBC Sports Network’s coverage of the IndyCar motor-racing series. Next year, four F1 races are scheduled to take place in the hours before IndyCar races are also shown on the cable-television channel.
“We think there’s real upside for IndyCar and this super-serves the open wheel racing fan,” Miller said. “There will be days we have a Formula One race at 9am and an IndyCar race at 1pm — we walked the IndyCar people through that on Friday and they are excited about the opportunity.”