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Apple Expected to Win Rights to Formula 1 With $150M Bid
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Yeah, if what they did for MLS was any indication, it will most certainly be an add-on
I’ve always thought that tying MLS to the EPL was the move for MLS even if they don’t get as much money upfront for it. Having (for example) Rebecca and the lads on their EPL shoulder programming promoting soccer on tv the very same day as the EPL games can’t help but draw viewers in, IMO. Schedule an early MLS game and you could go all day:
730am (Eastern)
10am
1230pm
3pm (some eastern MLS game)
5:30pm
8pm
10:30 (some western MLS game)
Just bludgeon people with MLS until they cave.
Lives are far less-risked in footie.
(Although there have been a few heart attack scares now and again.)
Tell that to the current FIA president.
I subscribed to F1TV for this season because it supports 4K HDR on Apple TV and it looks really good.
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This would be great, assuming I don't have to add it on to my existing Apple TV+ subscription. But, even then it might be cheaper than paying for Hulu Live 🤔
I’m an old open cart car fan from the late 1990s 2000s. I know it’s different than F1. But I still enjoy this style of racing. Japan. F1 is popular. I’m happy to see this sport growing globally and if Apple can help promote it better than Disney And I have no issues about Apple own broadcasting rights. This is a good thing for the sport.
I stopped subscribing to the American F1TV when my credit card information was stolen and yet I had only used it for F1TV at that point. Plus I wasn’t a fan of it being processed as a UK purchase which can trigger foreign transaction fees.
This is exactly the killer app that would’ve made the AVP a winner. And I believe any new model will struggle to gain meaningful traction until this milestone is reached.
Baku is a good track and usually a good race. Monaco is horrible now though and frankly, Vegas and the Saudi GP isn't great either.
Which is why I paid for F1TV Premium this year, plus it shows practice, quali, and races in 4K HDR.
The tech can make it exciting, but unless you have a setup with some serious force feedback of some kind, and surround sound, I don't know how far that can go. I'd also suggest wide shots, and familiarity with the track coupled with really decent play by play. Let them guide viewer through a replay of a turn/event/pass, and give option to replay from any car you wish.
And... beware the loathed MLB situation. Most baseball fans cannot stand broadcasts taken away from their regular group in the booth. The best graphics and visuals, and worst of everything else.
Commercial rights is all Apple - or anyone else - would need. When people write the short version, they say Liberty Media “owns” Formula One, just as Bernie Eccelstone did before them. Don’t be that pedantic guy.
This is cool I guess but I miss when Apple focused on making cool devices.
And sometimes on ABC. That doesn’t bother me as much as the fact that ESPN really doesn’t ”get” F1 or auto racing in general. It’s clear they can’t wait to get out of the Sky coverage as quickly as they can and get back to stick-and-ball sports, even if it’s a lacrosse match recorded six months ago.
Yes, I have.
Can be entertaining, I still find pro sports a mostly disgusting phenomenon.
Your comment is exactly the absolutely empty "sports is fun because it's fun" kind of objection I expect from fans of sports.
My favorite F1 was th era from the 60's and 70's; it was a very different sport back then; it's still fun to watch but very different. Interestingly, Cadillac is fielding a team next year.
Been an F1 fan for ~ 50 years now.. as an American back in th 70’s and 80’s it was nearly impossible to find/watch races, and with only VCR’s for some portion of that (which mostly flashed 12:00 on the clock!) it was nearly impossible to be a fan and not set the alarm at crazy hours to watch races.
FF to the 90’s when i was living in Germany and had. DF1 Box, which allowed me to choose from ~ 30 different cameras on cars and track and select one to I think six which I could have on the TV screen at the same time..it was great. Think NFL Sunday Ticket (another Sat provider who could offer more feature rich programming that traditional linear cable providers) but for F1.
Today, we get ONE channel (and that channel often moves without warning to ANOTHER useless channel like ESPU, ESPNDesportes, etc. at the last minute, without warning, often to a channel that a user doesn’t even RECEIVE and often after the main event but before the actual END of the event.. ESPN has been a crap provider IMHO.
If apple could bring it ALL together, offer some of the available enhanced functionality like being able to create an individuals interest in camera angles, match ups to watch, possibly some curated summary content and possibly some additional non racing content, I think that could be a win.
While larger than years past in the USA, It’s a small audience for sure..about 800k-1M viewers per race weekend (not sure if that is RACE only or cumulative across all events, practice, qualifying, race) so 150M, apple would be paying $150 to “acquire” viewers, and I think they would be hard pressed to getting enough users to migrate to ATV+ just for this.. they’d have to really think they could GROW viewership quite a bit to make the maths work out
FF to the 90’s when i was living in Germany and had. DF1 Box, which allowed me to choose from ~ 30 different cameras on cars and track and select one to I think six which I could have on the TV screen at the same time..it was great. Think NFL Sunday Ticket (another Sat provider who could offer more feature rich programming that traditional linear cable providers) but for F1.
Today, we get ONE channel (and that channel often moves without warning to ANOTHER useless channel like ESPU, ESPNDesportes, etc. at the last minute, without warning, often to a channel that a user doesn’t even RECEIVE and often after the main event but before the actual END of the event.. ESPN has been a crap provider IMHO.
If apple could bring it ALL together, offer some of the available enhanced functionality like being able to create an individuals interest in camera angles, match ups to watch, possibly some curated summary content and possibly some additional non racing content, I think that could be a win.
While larger than years past in the USA, It’s a small audience for sure..about 800k-1M viewers per race weekend (not sure if that is RACE only or cumulative across all events, practice, qualifying, race) so 150M, apple would be paying $150 to “acquire” viewers, and I think they would be hard pressed to getting enough users to migrate to ATV+ just for this.. they’d have to really think they could GROW viewership quite a bit to make the maths work out
Agreed. It'd be just like the movie. Also just think what MotoGP would look like!
