Motorsports Business - BBC and Sky Sports To Share Rights To UK Formula One Coverage

London, July 30, 2011: The BBC and Sky Sports are to broadcast Formula One Coverage in the UK between 2012 and 2018. The partnership between the two leading UK sports broadcasters will bring increased choice, innovation and breadth of coverage to UK and Irish motor racing fans.

Sky Sports will show every race, qualifying and practice session live and uninterrupted, whilst the BBC will broadcast half the races, and qualifying sessions for those events, live.

“We are absolutely delighted that F1 will remain on the BBC,” said Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport. "The sport has never been more popular with TV audiences at a 10-year high and the BBC has always stated its commitment to the big national sporting moments.

"With this new deal not only have we delivered significant savings but we have also ensured that through our live and extended highlights coverage all the action continues to be available to licence-fee payers."

Races shown live on the BBC will include the British and Monaco Grands Prix and the concluding round of the season. The BBC will continue to employ the same levels of on-site presence in terms of presenting talent and unilateral cameras, and will transmit extensive same day delayed highlights on TV, online and mobile for all races and qualifying sessions it is not showing live. BBC Radio 5 and Sports Extra will continue to cover every race live.

Sky will deliver an unprecedented level of coverage hours from the beginning to end of every event, including all practice sessions, qualifying and the race. All sessions from all events will be live and uninterrupted. Sky will employ its renowned award-winning production capabilities on-site to match the current high standards set by the BBC.

In addition, extensive coverage will be available across Sky Sports News (and its top-rated app), Sky Anytime and Anytime+ and Sky Go reaching viewers out of home via their mobiles and tablets on both a linear and non-linear basis.

"This is fantastic news for F1 fans and Sky Sports will be the only place to follow every race live and in HD,” said Barney Francis, managing director of Sky Sports. “We will give F1 the full Sky Sports treatment with a commitment to each race never seen before on UK television.

“As well as unrivalled build up to each race on Sky Sports News, we will broadcast in-depth live coverage of every session. Sky customers with Sky Sports will also be able to enjoy F1 across multiple platforms and devices, including Sky Go.”