It kind of explains why Sky were so keen to do a new deal with FOM, tieing up the rights for 2019-2024 a full three years before that deal commences and when the current 2016-18 contract had barely even begun. Obviously there was talk that Malone would move for the sport and Sky wanted to firm up its rights before there was the possibility of any favourable deal between a Malone owned F1 and a Malone owned Virgin Media.
Sky has refused to wholesale Sky Sports F1 to Virgin Media in Ireland, and unless that changes in the interim (and they have just put pen to paper on a new wholesale deal) Malone will be contractually bound to a situation where in 2019, the odd race on Sky Sports Mix aside, his own cable company won't be able to show any of the sport whose commercial rights he may control at that stage.
Just wondering if the likely purchase of the F1 commercial rights by Liberty Media will have any impact on Sky Sports relationship with the sport.
Zero. Even more when you know that the chairman of the new F1 board is a director of Sky.
Which is good news for Sky and bad news for C4 and the BBC. Sky would be more favoured in the future.
TL
toby lerone 2016
The days of fully live F1 on free to air TV in the UK have long gone, once the BBC/Sky deal came in 2012 it would only go one way and that is all to Sky as they have the money to outbid a terrestrial channel indeed the current Sky/Channel 4 deal only came about as the drivers and teams blocked Sky having exclusive coverage from this season. The best that BBC/ITV/Channel 4 can hope for now is a same day highlights deal on free to air TV like we have now for the exclusive Sky races and possibly the British Grand Prix live if Sky sub licence rights even with Liberty Media in charge if they weren't fans of Sky which after some posts on here I really doubt.
Just wondering if the likely purchase of the F1 commercial rights by Liberty Media will have any impact on Sky Sports relationship with the sport.
Zero. Even more when you know that the chairman of the new F1 board is a director of Sky.
Which is good news for Sky and bad news for C4 and the BBC. Sky would be more favoured in the future.
The other way to look at it of course is, the chairman of the company that is acquiring Formula One Management is also the chairman of the parent company of Sky's biggest competitor.