The Walt Disney Co. and its ESPN unit said they extended their relationship with Liberty Media's Formula 1 auto racing in the United States through the 2025 season.

Under the new deal, at least 16 races will appear on ABC and ESPN each season, more than have appeared annually on ESPN Networks since 2018, when ESPN reacquired the rights.

The new deal includes expanded direct-to-consumer rights. The companies said ESPN can roll out new ways for fans to watch F1 content, including on ESPN Plus.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

"After Formula 1 returned to the ESPN networks five years ago, the popularity of the sport has grown impressively," said Ian Holmes, director of media rights and content creation, Formula 1. "The extension and expansion of our partnership is a reflection of exciting times ahead and a result of our shared desire to bring Formula 1 to as broad and diverse an audience as possible in the U.S. The popular commercial-free broadcasts ensure that viewers continue to engage with F1 before, during and after the race. From next year we will have six races in the Americas, which means more favorable time zones to fans in the region, making the Formula 1 offering more compelling than ever."

F1 generated record ratings in 2021, averaging 949,000 viewer per race. So far this year, live F1 races are averaging 1.2 million viewers on ESPN networks.

Races on ABC and ESPN will continue to appear in a commercial-free format.

"Formula 1 and ESPN have been a strong and successful team and we’re delighted to extend our relationship," said Burke Magnus, ESPN president, programming and original content. "We look forward to serving fans in some new and innovative ways in the next three years as we continue to bring the reach and relevance of the Walt Disney Company networks and platforms to Formula 1." ■

As at least somewhat suspected, Netflix has entered into the bidding for broadcast rights to Formula 1-series auto racing, looking to unseat incumbent ESPN, TV rights for which end next season.

According to Business Insider, Netflix is bidding against the Disney-owned incumbent, as well as Comcast/NBCUniversal and Amazon.

Netflix has seen its sports docu series Formula 1: Drive to Survive punch the gas on audience for both the streaming platform and the racing series, the latter of which has enjoyed record-breaking attendance at events of late.

And acquiring the live sports rights would certainly vault Netflix into a place within the video business it's never been before.

But a successful bid won't be cheap. ESPN, which is currently paying $5 million a season, just put up a bid worth $70 million a campaign. However, F1's owner, Liberty Global, is said to be demanding around $100 million annually.

Speculation that Netflix would get into the, er, F1 race quickened in January, when the streaming company paid $225 million for an F1-themed feature film project with Brad Pitt set as the lead, and Top Gun: Maverick's Joe Kosinski set to direct. ■

Formula 1 and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority announced that the Las Vegas Grand Prix will join the FIA Formula One World Championship starting in 2023.

F1 is growing in popularity in the U.S. and the Las Vegas race will be the third one set in the U.S.

ESPN carries F1 races under an agreement that expires this year. And ESPN executives have been quoted saying the want to keep the races going into the future.

The March 27 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix drew 1.445 million viewers, the largest F1 audience since 1995 and the largest on any ESPN network since the sport returned to ESPN in 2018.

The audience was up 54% over last December’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on ESPN2 (937,000 average viewers), and was up 57% over last year’s second race from Emilia Romagna, Italy, on ESPN (918,000 average viewers).

The sport’s popularity has been boosted by Drive to Survive, a reality series following F1 drivers on Netflix, and a controversial finish to the championship during the final race of the 2021 campaign.

The Vegas Grand Prix will take place at night on a Saturday in November with the lights of The Strip providing a unique and exciting background, organizers said.

Formula 1 and Liberty Media will work together to promote the race in partnership with Live Nation Entertainment and the LVCVA, as well as Founding Partners Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts International, and Wynn Las Vegas and Presenting Partners MSG Sphere, Resorts World Las Vegas and The Venetian Resort.

“Iconic Las Vegas and Formula 1, the pinnacle of motorsport, is the perfect marriage of speed and glamour," said Greg Maffei, CEO of Liberty Media. "Our confidence in this unique opportunity is evident in our decision to assume the promoter role for the Las Vegas Grand Prix in partnership with Live Nation. We could not be more excited to work with our local partners to create a marquee event. The potential of Formula 1 has been well demonstrated over the last several seasons and the Las Vegas GP will only take it to the next level.”

“This is an incredible moment for Formula 1 that demonstrates the huge appeal and growth of our sport with a third race in the U.S. Las Vegas is a destination known around the world for its excitement, hospitality, thrills, and of course, the famous Strip,” said Stefano Domenicali, CEO of Formula 1. “There is no better place for Formula 1 to race than in the global entertainment capital of the world and we cannot wait to be here next year. I want to thank everyone who helped deliver this event, especially Governor Sisolak, the Clark County Commission, Steve Hill at the LVCVA, and our local partners.” ■

On the heels of its popular Formula 1: Drive to Survive docuseries, which gave viewers a behind-the scenes look at drivers and racers in the Formula One World Championship, Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar wrote in a report Friday that perhaps Netflix should make the popular racing circuit the target of its next rights purchase.

Analysts have been waiting for years for streamers like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Facebook and Google to get serious about sports rights, but so far most have merely dipped their toes, like Amazon renewing its deal for Thursday Night Football rights in 2020  and streaming select Major League Baseball games. And while others have made small investments in sports, for the most part they haven’t yet written the mega-checks that some pundits have said they are capable of. 

In his Friday note to clients, Venkateshwar wondered if the entertainment business is looking at streaming sports all wrong. For one, he said, the industry should stop modeling sports content the same way they have modeled scripted and nonscripted content for decades. And secondly, he said streamers may be looking at the wrong sports.

Venkateshwar argued that one of the biggest issues facing new entrants and sports leagues is that distribution of traditional sports like football, soccer and cricket is that they already are widely distributed around the world. 

“This ironically makes the biggest sports the least scalable,” Venkateshwar wrote, adding that may be why potential new entrants to the sports game like Netflix may find traditional sports the least attractive. 

Part of that is due to the tribal nature of most sports. While streamers have dipped their toe in rights auctions for traditional sports like NFL football, NBA and NCAA basketball, MLB baseball and soccer, which he said has helped drive awareness, but is more similar to “how a Korean show like Squid Game became popular globally.”

Sports, he said, has much deeper cultural connotations compared to storytelling.

“This could be why Turkish shows are a bigger rage in Latin America, at present, than local telenovelas but in terms of sports, it is tough for us to see any sport replacing soccer’s pre-eminence in Latin America or Europe,” Venkateshwar wrote.

But the cultural hold is much less with sports like Formula One Racing, UFC mixed-martial arts events and WWE pro wrestling, which can be an advantage for new entrants. 

“The underlying driver of this scalability is the fact that the connective tissue for consumption of niche sports tends to be inherent to the sport itself rather than underlying cultural storylines,” he wrote. For example, Formula One fans share at least some affinity for cars, their underlying brands and even the individual teams and drivers, all of which are less anchored in any particular culture. 

“This may make live carriage of a sport like Formula One a lot more organic for a service like Netflix, especially given the success of affiliated programming like Drive to Survive,” he wrote. 

But cultural scalability isn’t enough for sports like Formula One and the others, Venkateshwar continued, adding that in order for new distribution channels to open, streamers will need to ramp up the viewing experience, with things like virtual paddock clubs, in-cockpit or VR/AR viewing and virtual and real merchandise.  

“This allows for content continuity without distinct boundaries for a given form of content which is why a sport like Formula One could fit well into services like Fortnite, Roblox or Netflix,” Venkateshwar wrote.

Formula One could be more attractive because it has fewer events (about 22 races this year), global locations, is technology-heavy and has direct participation with global brands. While baseball has more games — about 2,400 each season — they are centered more on local markets. Baseball fans in Arizona don’t watch the Seattle Mariners and vice versa. 

For traditional sports, sports betting is most likely the best experiential enhancement, and many distributors are making inroads in that industry. But for distributors like Netflix, the better path may be through sports like Formula 1. 

“Over the near term, we believe Netflix could make its live sports foray by potentially bidding for Formula One broadcast rights in the US in ’22 and Europe in ‘23/‘24,” Venkateshwar wrote. “As a sport, Formula One happens to be one of the most global in terms of reach across all sports but until recently, it struggled to grow its audience, especially as media rights moved away from broadcast to pay TV in different parts of the world. Over the course of the last year however, the sport appears to have seen a resurgence in interest even from casual fans due to the popularity of Netflix’s documentary Drive to Survive. This synergistic growth of the sport and its content extensions could be a significant opportunity for Netflix to present sports as a continuum in a manner that is unique, without content boundaries.”

According to Barclays, while Formula One has dipped in popularity over the past few years — unique viewership has fallen from 490 million in 2018 to 433 million in 2020 — in the U.S., on the heels of the Netflix docuseries, it has risen. Barclays estimates that Formula One viewership on ESPN has grown from 670,000 viewers in 2019 to 920,000 so far in 2021. 

And in the U.S., Formula One events are attracting new fans. During its Q3 conference call with analysts on Nov. 5, Formula One Group CEO Greg Maffei said of the 400,000 people that went to the U.S. Grand Prix event in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 24 — setting an F1 attendance record —  70% were first-time attendees. The usual mix is about 30% first-timers. 

“We have never seen such a crowd in Austin,” Maffei said on the call.  

Venkateshwar noted if Netflix were to dabble in Formula One, its biggest impact would be on churn, given most fans would already be subscribers. But he added that for every $100 million in annual rights costs and 2% churn, Netflix would need just 136,000 new subscribers to break even. For Formula One and others like UFC and WWE, a relationship with Netflix would be beneficial because it would likely draw fans in from areas outside its normal scope. The analyst noted that 60% of F1’s  media rights revenue comes from five countries which account for 35% of its total viewership. 

“Growing rights fees outside of these markets has been a challenge despite the scale of global viewership, not just for Formula One but also other global sports like WWE and UFC,” he wrote.

Liberty Media said it has completed its $4.4 billion purchase of Formula 1, officially installing former 21st Century Fox vice chairman Chase Carey as chairman and CEO and racing legend Bernie Ecclestone as chairman emeritus. 

“We are delighted to have completed the acquisition of F1 and that Chase will lead this business as CEO,” Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei said in a statement. “There is an enormous opportunity to grow the sport, and we have every confidence that Chase, with his abilities and experience, is the right person to achieve this. I’d like to thank Bernie Ecclestone, who becomes Chairman Emeritus, for his tremendous success in building this remarkable global sport.”

Liberty first announced the agreement to buy Formula 1 in September. The company received approval from Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (“FIA”), the governing body of the motor racing icon, earlier this month, the last regulatory hurdle in completing the deal. 

“I am excited to be taking on the additional role of CEO. F1 has huge potential with multiple untapped opportunities,” Carey said in a statement. “I have enjoyed hearing from the fans, teams, FIA, promoters and sponsors on their ideas and hopes for the sport. We will work with all of these partners to enhance the racing experience and add new dimensions to the sport and we look forward to sharing these plans overtime.”

“I would like to recognise and thank Bernie for his leadership over the decades," Carey continued. "The sport is what it is today because of him and the talented team of executives he has led, and he will always be part of the F1 family. Bernie’s role as Chairman Emeritus befits his tremendous contribution to the sport and I am grateful for his continued insight and guidance as we build F1 for long-term success and the enjoyment of all those involved.”

Liberty Media plans to rename itself the Formula One Group and will change its ticker symbol on the NASDAQ Exchange from LMC to FWON, soon after the group name change has become effective, expected later this week. F1 will remain based in London and Maffei will be Deputy Chair of the board of F1. 

“I’m proud of the business that I built over the last 40 years and all that I have achieved with Formula 1, and would like to thank all of the promoters, teams, sponsors and television companies that I have worked with,” Ecclestone said in a statement. “I’m very pleased that the business has been acquired by Liberty and that it intends to invest in the future of F1. I am sure that Chase will execute his role in a way that will benefit the sport.”

A day after securing the final regulatory approval for its $4.4 billion purchase of Formula 1, Liberty Media said it will issue $400 million in senior notes in a private offering to increase the cash portion of the deal.

Liberty received approval from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (“FIA”), the governing body of Formula 1 racing, on Jan. 18, the last regulatory hurdle for the deal.  Liberty, which first announced the purchase in September, has said it plans to close the deal by the end of the month.

The cash convertible senior notes will be used to increase the cash portion of the deal to the selling shareholders by $400 million and retain in treasury the 19 million shares that would otherwise have been issuable to the selling shareholders based on the per share purchase price of $21.26. These Liberty Media shares will be reserved by Liberty for issuance to the F1 teams at a per share purchase price of $21.26.

“We think it’s important to offer the teams the chance to invest in F1 and further align our interests,” Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei said in a statement. “We look forward to working with the teams to increase the appeal of this iconic sport and enhance the F1 business.”

Liberty has said one of its goals is to strengthen the teams that make up Formula 1, which have let Liberty know of their interest.

 “Several of the teams have expressed interest in investing and we have already begun productive discussions to make the sport more competitive and even more exciting,” Formula 1 chairman Chase Carey said in a statement.

The aggregate number of Liberty Media shares to be issued at the F1 closing will not change as a result of this transaction. Only the allocation of the 138 million shares will change as follows: approximately 57 million to the Selling Shareholders, 62 million to the third party investors and 19 million into treasury.

To the extent such shares are not issued to the F1 teams within six months following the closing of the acquisition, the shares will be retired. If the acquisition of F1 is not completed, Liberty will use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, which may include capital expenditures, acquisitions, working capital, repayment of debt and repurchases of common stock. Pending the completion of the F1 acquisition or other such uses, Liberty intends to invest the net proceeds in cash equivalents or short-term investments.

The notes, as well as the associated cash proceeds, will be attributed to the Liberty Media Group. Pro forma for this financing and the closing of the F1 acquisition, total debt attributed to the Liberty Media Group will include the proposed cash convertible senior notes, $1 billion 1.375% convertible notes due 2023, $445 million Time Warner Inc. exchangeable debentures due 2046, $350 million drawn under a Live Nation margin loan, $36 million of other corporate level debt as of Sept. 30, 2016 and approximately $4.1 billion of existing F1 debt as of July 31, 2016.

Liberty Media said it has received approval  for its $4.4 billion purchase of Formula 1 from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (“FIA”), the governing body for the motor racing icon and the final hurdle in closing the deal.

Liberty received approval from its shareholders on Jan. 17, regarding the issuance of new series C shares in connection to the Formul 1 acquisition and to change its name to Formula 1 Group after the deal is closed. That closing is expected by the end of this month.

Liberty agreed to buy Formula 1 in September.

As part of that announcement, Liberty said former 21st Century Fox executive vice chairman Chase Carey would become chairman of the Formula 1 Group.

Liberty Media said it has received the required approvals from the appropriate anti-trust authorities in connection with its planned purchase of motor racing icon Formula 1.

Liberty first announced the deal, valued at about $4.4 billion, in September.

The deal, expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2017, still has a few hurdles to clear, including receiving approval from Liberty shareholders regarding the issuance of new shares to finance the transaction, at a special meeting scheduled for Jan. 17. The deal also needs to receive a nod from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, the governing body of Formula 1.

Liberty Media said it will issue Series C common stock worth $1.55 billion to third party companies in an effort to help fund its $4.4 billion purchase of motor racing icon Formula 1.

In a statement, Liberty said it issued the Series C common stock at $25 per share to Coatue Management, L.L.C., the D. E. Shaw group, JANA Partners LLC, Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb Inc., Soroban Capital Partners LP, SPO Advisory Corp., and Viking Global Investors LP. The issuance of the shares will be completed concurrently with the completion of the Formula 1 acquisition.

"We are excited that this impressive list of investors will participate in the acquisition of Formula 1,” Liberty CEO Greg Maffei said in a statement. “This group shares our enthusiasm for the sport and our belief in the opportunity to develop and grow it for the benefit of the fans, teams, sponsors and our shareholders. We look forward to closing the transaction in early 2017.”

Liberty agreed to purchase Formula 1 in September.

Liberty said the proceeds from the issuance will be used to increase the cash portion of the consideration payable to the selling Formula 1 shareholders, led by CVC Capital Partners. As a result, the number of Series C Liberty (LMCK) shares issuable to the Selling Shareholders at the closing of the Formula 1 acquisition will be reduced from approximately 138 million to approximately 76 million. The total number of LMCK shares to be issued by Liberty Media in connection with the acquisition of Formula 1, to both the selling shareholders and the third party investors, remains unchanged at approximately 138 million shares.

“This is a significant step in Liberty Media’s transformative acquisition of Formula 1 and is further confirmation that the future of the sport is bright,” Formula 1 chairman Chase Carey said in a statement.

CNN International has signed a multi-year partnership agreement with the U.K.’s McLaren Technology Group. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The news network’s logo will appear on the technology company’s MP4-30 Formula 1 racing car, co-sponsored by Honda, for the duration of the 2015 season. Additionally, CNN International will have use of McLaren’s Technology Campus in Woking, Surrey, where it will produce programming for global distribution.

Rani Raad, chief commercial officer for CNN International (pictured, right, with McLaren chairman and CEO Ron Dennis), said the partnership is part of “an expansive consumer engagement initiative” through which the network expects to gain “additional business, broadcasting and cross-marketing opportunities.” McLaren is known for its automotive technology and competitive motorsports.

With two weeks remaining in 2014, NBCSN is nearing the finish line on its best ever year with the total-day measure.

Lifted by contributions from the Sochi Olympics, as well as strong performances by its NHL, Premier League and auto racing properties, NBCSN officials said the service is also the fastest-growing sports cable network, gauged on a total-day basis.

Over the first 50 weeks of the Nielsen year -- Dec. 30, 2013 through Dec. 14, 2014 -- NBCSN averaged 145,000 total-day watchers, a 54% jump from 94,000 at the corresponding stage of 2013.  NBCSN executives said that growth rate is five times greater than any other cable sports network.

At this stage, the 145,000 average also ranks 23% above the service’s – then known as Versus – previous best performance of 118,000 viewers in 2009.

On the demo watch, NBCSN registered 46% and 48% advances among adults 18 to 49 and 25 to 49, respectively. Those gains also top the list among sports cable networks.

In primetime, NBCSN has scored a 7% increase to 302,000 viewers from 282,000 in 2013.

NBCSN’s performance benefited greatly from the Winter Olympics. The service averaged 1.6 million viewers from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. (ET), 134% amelioration from the 692,000 for its daytime presentation from the London Summer Games in 2012.  The 10 best weekday daytime audiences in NBCSN’s history came during its run in Sochi, while the network’s five highest viewership totals for weekend daytime were also recorded during the quadrennial from Russia.

Backing out the impact of the Winter Games, NBSCN would have tallied 116,000 watchers in total-day, year-to-date, a 23% bump from 2013 and still the best growth rate in the sector.  

Elsewhere, NBCSN lit the Nielsen lamp during the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, averaging nearly 1.23 million viewers over 62 contests last spring. That was the best postseason for the puck sport on cable since 1997.

On the pitch, NBCSN, after a cable-record-setting 2013-14 campaign yielded average viewership of 420,000, has added 15% to that base during its second season with the U.K.’s top soccer circuit.  Most of the action plays out on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Similarly, Formula One has buttressed NBCSN’s position in what officials say amounts to a new daypart. Even though many races drop the flag before 8 a.m. (ET), NBCSN revved the best-ever season for a single cable network with 385,000 viewers on average for 12 races, 86% improvement from 207,000 for 13 races a year ago.

Meanwhile, NBCSN averaged 378,000 viewers during the 2014 IndyCar season, a 34% surge from 2013 and the second-best performance behind the 402,000 in 2011 since its predecessor acquired the rights in 2011. 

About a month after they teamed up to purchase U.K. production company All3Media for nearly $1 billion, Liberty Global and Discovery Communications are reportedly in talks to purchase a 49% stake in international racing icon Formula One.

Liberty Global; its chairman, legendary dealmaker John Malone; and Discovery are talking to Formula One owners CVC Capital Partners and Lehman Brothers Holdings about buying out their stakes, according to reports.

CVC, which owns 35% of Formula One, and Lehman (15.3%) also are considering an initial public offering of their stakes, so there is no guarantee a deal will get done. Adding to the uncertainty is an apparent gap between the parties on valuing the racing circuit — Liberty and Discovery reportedly want to pay about $4 billion for a 49% stake, which would value the total company at about $8 billion. CVC and Lehman value Formula One at about $1 billion more.

Liberty Global has been an aggressive buyer of cable systems in the past few years. Last year, it bought Virgin Media’s U.K. cable operations for $23.3 billion and in January agreed to acquire Dutch cable operator Ziggo for $13.7 billion.

But Europe’s largest cable operator, with about 25 million subscribers, has lately been a seller of content. In February, it sold its international programming arm Chellomedia to AMC Networks for $1 billion.

Discovery declined comment. Liberty Global did not return a request for comment.

Liberty Global could be taking a page from rival 21st Century Fox’s British Sky Broadcasting, which has built a substantial satellite-TV subscriber base throughout Europe by snapping up sports rights. And the Formula One asset has two of the top attributes for an attractive Malone target: a large customer base and a distracted management team.

Formula One racing is one of the most popular sports in Europe — its TV audiences regularly top 50 million viewers for its top races — but the company has been under pressure as its CEO, Bernie Ecclestone, is under investigation for bribing a German banker.

Ecclestone, who resigned from Formula One’s board of directors in January, has been accused of paying former BayernLB chief risk officer Gerhard Gribowsky $44 million to steer the sale of the bank’s interest in Formula 1 to CVC back in 2006. Ecclestone allegedly received a $41 million kickback from a sham contract that was connected to the sale.

Formula One also has been under pressure as one of its top racing teams — Ferrari — has threatened to switch its allegiance to another racing circuit. The Italian car maker is particularly miff ed over Formula One rules that forbid engine development during the racing year as well as its moves to make cars more “green” by emphasizing fuel and emissions efficiency over speed.

The result has been sluggish financial results — net income before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization from TV rights and race-hosting fees were down about 8% to $1.1 billion in 2013, according to Bloomberg.

Discovery has been beefing up its sports presence internationally and earlier this year bought a 51% interest in sports channel Eurosport from French content company TF1. Eurosport, which has about six pay TV brands across Europe and Asia, currently focuses on niche sports like tennis, cycling and winter sports, but could expand its scope.

While Discovery would not comment for this story, the company has said it will be aggressive in seeking out sports rights internationally. Discovery CEO David Zaslav hasn’t ruled out big-ticket items, either. Earlier this year, he said that even English Premier League soccer rights are not out of the question.

In an April interview with Multichannel News, Discovery Networks International president Jean-Briac Perrette said the programmer would look to strengthen its sports portfolio.

“We think there is a lot more opportunity to play a role with the strong brand that Eurosport has and compliment it with additional sports rights over time,” Perrette said in the April interview.