F1 and Virgin Media

andicole0 · 5 Sep 2016 at 17:51

OK, so it looks likely that Liberty Media may be buying F1 this week for a few billion dollars. Liberty Medias parent company Liberty Global bought Virgin Media back in 2013.
I wonder where that is going to leave F1 TV in the UK, Virgin won't like Sky keeping F1 surely. Do Virgin have the viewers to match Sky if they were to take over F1.
Andi.

Finners · 5 Sep 2016 at 18:18

andicole0 said:
OK, so it looks likely that Liberty Media may be buying F1 this week for a few billion dollars. Liberty Medias parent company Liberty Global bought Virgin Media back in 2013.
I wonder where that is going to leave F1 TV in the UK, Virgin won't like Sky keeping F1 surely. Do Virgin have the viewers to match Sky if they were to take over F1.
Andi.

Honestly I don't think anything will change, will just make sky pay them more if they want to keep it or sell it back to them for less then they do now. Won't pass on the saving to their customers and pocket the profit.

Entai · 6 Sep 2016 at 05:50

Surely Virgin will have no say in the matter at all?

It will be Liberty Global who have the choice in whatever will happen as they will then own F1.

Virgin will not own F1, so will have no say.

Holst1981 · 6 Sep 2016 at 08:33

I'm sure that the deal with sky will continue to the end of the deal.

This might help Virgin with the rights in the future but I'm not holding our any hope of getting all the F1 races for free.

Greboth · 6 Sep 2016 at 08:35

Entai said:
Surely Virgin will have no say in the matter at all?

It will be Liberty Global who have the choice in whatever will happen as they will then own F1.

Virgin will not own F1, so will have no say.

True but it doesn't take a leap of imagination to think Liberty Global would like F1 on their network rather than a competitors.

FrankJH · 6 Sep 2016 at 08:38

Entai said:
Surely Virgin will have no say in the matter at all?

It will be Liberty Global who have the choice in whatever will happen as they will then own F1.

Virgin will not own F1, so will have no say.

Its about branding - and yes of course any decision made by the parent company is in direct respect to all companies it already owns. So as a by-product Virgin Media will have a say.

Other Virgin brands will have nothing to do with it as they are different legal entities (still owned by RB and others).

Steeps · 6 Sep 2016 at 10:40

I'm hoping from this deal it will allow VM customers access to the SkySportsF1 channel for "free" then hike the price of the TV package up by £5 to pay for the deal, just like they did with BT Sport. I cancelled my Sky package after the deals on legacy ran out and it had to be bundled with SkySports to get the F1 channel. Sky and VM are always negotiating deals with channels so I would imagine Sky would keep the coverage in return for a discount on SkySports packages for VM customers, everyone wins.

Crippled Potato · 6 Sep 2016 at 13:05

The contract has been signed and it's a done deal. You won't be seeing formula 1 outside of sky until at least 2025. It's a 6 year contract.

Mark365 · 6 Sep 2016 at 17:06

What's the story on the current contract channel 4 has with F1? will that be renewed or will sky provide highlights on a free to air channel? If so, I can imagine those highlights will be extremely watered down.

Phantom Shadow · 6 Sep 2016 at 21:14

Mark365 said:
What's the story on the current contract channel 4 has with F1? will that be renewed or will sky provide highlights on a free to air channel? If so, I can imagine those highlights will be extremely watered down.

Since the sky deal includes exclusivity there's pretty much no chance of the channel 4 contract being renewed - whether they try and make a deal with sky to get the rights to highlights, who knows.

If sky do show FTA highlights, I wouldn't be surprised if the highlights are provided by FOM so probably the same as what channel 4 shows now for some races.

Kol · 6 Sep 2016 at 22:11

Don't forget Chase Carey is a director at Sky and is an executive of 21st century fox. He and Murdoch are mega close. It won't change anything in terms of broadcasting, perhaps make Sky even stronger.

http://news.sky.com/story/carey-to-...n-liberty-takeover-nears-finish-line-10565003

What would be ace, though I'm not sure how it would affect the Sky relationship would be if they do a MotoGP style subscription to online only.

deuse · 7 Sep 2016 at 12:01

The EU has started it's investigation and until that is finished I can't see a deal being dune.

"Margrethe Vestager, the European commissioner for competition, has the power to force Formula One to tear up contracts and even fine the sport's teams millions of pounds if she believes they received unfair or illegal payments."

"She is in an aggressive mood, underlined by her recent decision to hand Apple a €13 billion (S$19.7 billion) tax bill"

And I wonder if the teams still have something in the contract that can change things?

Big Spender · 7 Sep 2016 at 12:04

Liberty media own a 10% stake in ITV so could this see a return to ITV for F1?

Big Spender · 7 Sep 2016 at 12:05

deuse said:
The EU has started it's investigation and until that is finished I can't see a deal being dune.

"Margrethe Vestager, the European commissioner for competition, has the power to force Formula One to tear up contracts and even fine the sport's teams millions of pounds if she believes they received unfair or illegal payments."

"She is in an aggressive mood, underlined by her recent decision to hand Apple a €13 billion (S$19.7 billion) tax bill"

And I wonder if the teams still have something in the contract that can change things?

i kind of hope something is done. these historic/legacy payments made to the likes of ferrari are a joke and unfair to other teams

Kol · 7 Sep 2016 at 13:40

marcus25 said:
Liberty media own a 10% stake in ITV so could this see a return to ITV for F1?

No, see below (and above). When the potential new Chairman of Liberty and therefore F1 is a Director at Sky and on the board at 21st Century Fox (another of Murdoch's companies), he is not going to tear up a signed contract.

Kol said:
Don't forget Chase Carey is a director at Sky and is an executive of 21st century fox. He and Murdoch are mega close. It won't change anything in terms of broadcasting, perhaps make Sky even stronger.

http://news.sky.com/story/carey-to-...n-liberty-takeover-nears-finish-line-10565003

What would be ace, though I'm not sure how it would affect the Sky relationship would be if they do a MotoGP style subscription to online only.

Mark365 · 7 Sep 2016 at 13:46

I just fear these greedy money suckers will take F1 LIVE coverage out of the free to air platform altogether. Wouldn't be surprised if they go down the boxing route and charge per race.

Big Spender · 7 Sep 2016 at 13:58

Mark365 said:
I just fear these greedy money suckers will take F1 LIVE coverage out of the free to air platform altogether. Wouldn't be surprised if they go down the boxing route and charge per race.

if that were to happen thats fine for me, my missus works for sky so we get all the PPV events on box office for free anyway

leaskovski · 7 Sep 2016 at 15:16

More guff on the EC getting involved because of the FIA having to potentially sell of its 1% of shares...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/csylt/2...the-way-of-libertys-f1-takeover/#63be41bb19ec

Good read!

Mark365 · 7 Sep 2016 at 17:20

marcus25 said:
if that were to happen thats fine for me, my missus works for sky so we get all the PPV events on box office for free anyway

Now that is how its done :cool:

Mark365 · 7 Sep 2016 at 17:41

leaskovski said:
More guff on the EC getting involved because of the FIA having to potentially sell of its 1% of shares...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/csylt/2...the-way-of-libertys-f1-takeover/#63be41bb19ec

Good read!

Fascinating stuff. That was one hell of an investment the FIA made! What a return! So the FIA are the deal makers or breakers but could also get hammered too. The legal folks will make a fortune out of this!!