Never looked back to my netherlands direct subscription to F1 Pro for €5.99 a month for the minor inconvenience of connecting the VPN for F1, its night and day in comparison to Sky's offering...
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple's F1 Streaming Ambitions Hit Wall as Sky Renews European Rights
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I hope so because else the million different ways they are ruining the sport would be for nothing…
Zapski
macrumors regular
I do, as do more and more people I meet. In my neighborhood, I regularly talk to about five fans on my block alone, at work I chat with a couple coworkers about it, I have family who watch it… it’s bigger here than you think. Drive to Survive is partly responsible, but the ease of watching with the old F1 TV subscription was I think a bigger driving factor.
Before F1 agreed to stream, I used to pirate the races from Sky (and ITV or the BBC before them iirc - regardless it was a not Sky British source) because I don’t have cable. Also, it wasn’t always available to watch on any cable network in the US. I think NBC had the races for a bit, but they showed commercials during the race every two minutes and it was unwatchable. Prior to the internet, I was lucky to catch a race and frequently wasn’t able to watch any for years on end
Streaming allowed longtime fans like myself to actually watch consistently, conveniently, and without having to go through hoops
Since it got moved to Apple TV though, I still use the F1TV app to watch races, as it’s better organized and also for some reason Apple inserts Advertisements in some of the pre-race features, and I don’t do ads
The F1TV App still works, is apparently linked to my AppleID now, and is a far better experience ad free imo
turbineseaplane
macrumors Penryn
My brother is oddly interested in F1 the last year or two, very out of the blue.
I'm having a sense it got in his algorithms and in his head somehow.
I’m a big F1 fan and a huge admirer of Sky’s coverage - the presenters, experts, content and production are all top notch. My one gripe is with the pricing and accessibility.
To watch F1 in the UK via Now TV (part of Sky), you’re looking at £31.99 a month on a minimum 6-month contract, rising to £46 thereafter. That’s simply absurd.
To make matters worse, their marketing leads with “watch from £14.99” - but that’s a day pass, and anyone who follows F1 knows that’s essentially useless. You need full weekend access, so the day pass simply doesn’t work for F1 fans.
To watch F1 in the UK via Now TV (part of Sky), you’re looking at £31.99 a month on a minimum 6-month contract, rising to £46 thereafter. That’s simply absurd.
To make matters worse, their marketing leads with “watch from £14.99” - but that’s a day pass, and anyone who follows F1 knows that’s essentially useless. You need full weekend access, so the day pass simply doesn’t work for F1 fans.
Zapski
macrumors regular
Because this year Apple got involved and this is an Apple Site.
F1 goes back over 75 years in its current form, and prior to WW2 Grand Prix racing went back to the 1920’s. Many of the developments in your car today (disk brakes, rear view mirrors, ABS, and countless other small engineering solutions) have their root in motorsports, either being invented by them or adapted from other systems for cars.
It’s highly technical, and there’s a lot for technology nerds like myself to enjoy, so there’s a bit of a crossover for computer / engineering enthusiasts to enjoy. Plus the behind the scenes drama and petty squabbles between teams is a fun meaningless conflict to engage
And before you argue the environmental cost, they are working to make greener choices. The last engine specifications were the most fuel efficient hybrid systems ever produced, and this year the fuel is 100% bio fuel made from 100% agricultural waste, so no new growth fields, all recycled. And it’s being produced in such a way that you could put this bio fuel in any existing car without modifications to the engine
Given the current state of the world, I’d say that the fact that F1 has major Oil companies making a replacement for gasoline at a small industrial scale is kind of relevant to everyone wether they watch the sport or not
attila
macrumors 65816
I'm not American. Some people don't know when the Olympics start and end either, or how often it runs. Or the World Cup. Not everybody is interested in the same hobby as you.
I know F1 is an annual event. But I don't know when it starts or ends. And I don't understand why it's bigger this year than last year.
attila
macrumors 65816
Thanks for your explanation! I'm not going to argue about environmental cost, because a sport is a sport 😀
I guess the answer was simple then. It just feels as if I see F1 mentioned everywhere, but maybe I'm just on this site too many times a week 🙂
turbineseaplane
macrumors Penryn
Thank goodness Sky made this deal. I do not want Apple to have a global monopoly on F1. Then you really would see F1 decoupled from TV and a bigger price bump.
Zapski
macrumors regular
😅 I do tend to go on about it - it’s the one sport I follow and once I get started, I can’t easily stop. My wife actually agreed in her vows to listen to me ramble about it 😭
OliOliOliOli
macrumors regular
This sport sucks. Don’t waste your time watching it, just watch the season recap on Netflix… the best car always wins!!!!
…Actually, no. McLaren has the best car, but their strategy sucks most of the time!
…Actually, no. McLaren has the best car, but their strategy sucks most of the time!
Steve Adams
macrumors 68000
ThatGuyInLa
macrumors 6502a
I enjoy Apple's coverage however I always switch the audio feed over to Sky's audio. Have to have our Crofty and crew! Even though that means you lose the HDR feed. F1 is not F1 without them!
I know people who I used to try to have conversations with about cars in general (i'm a petrol head, love all cars), they were anti-cars or didn't even know how to change their oil....Now they fill friend group chats with F1 news, memes, and events. It's also all been within the past two years, and I think it has a lot to do with Americans looking for escapism. I also think it's "cool" now in the US to be into F1 because it's adjacent to luxury (Ferrari, Porsche, etc), or weird Americans who think Dubai is the best place on earth (who also love F1). It's the same thing with soccer, which most americans have never seen live or played at all. Ted Lasso comes out, tons of Americans love soccer now so they can buy jerseys. If you can't tell from my writing, I find it all performative and eye roll. I do blame Apple for exposing sensationalized versions of both to Americans and being responsible to two otherwise already great sports.
turbineseaplane
macrumors Penryn
Completely agree with all of this.
My brother joined me for a week long getaway last Fall before the Vegas race and to try to find some common ground, I indulged him on the F1 stuff.
What I learned is that he's into the Netflix show (Drive to Survive) .. but when the actual qualifying and race came around ... he didn't actually watch it (live or even after the fact).
I was watching it live and sending him messages and he was sending me little clips off social media.
So freaking bizarre to me.
surferfb
macrumors 68030
This tracks with my experience. I started watching 3 years ago entirely because of a coworker recommending I check out Drive to Survive (which I laughed at because "I don't do race cars", but then was stuck home sick with a terrible stomach flu and binged the whole series in like 4 days). Now I'm one of those people who wakes up at weird hours to watch qualifying.
Just in my circle I have three dads from my kid's school, two coworkers, and one neighbor who are into it enough that we text about it on a regular basis. I'm definitely the most "hard core" fan out of that group, but they care enough to text things like "can't watch the race until this afternoon so no spoilers".
No idea if it'll stay popular, but it's definitely having a moment in the US right now.
Glideslope
macrumors G3
I'll second, third, and forth that. Sky is tabloid biased broadcasting at it's best. Truly a waste of bandwidth.
My issue with Sky is you can't just get Sky F1. I have absolutely no interest in paying £30 a month for the required base entertainment package, which is 99% available for free anyway. The same goes for their football coverage. Until the 3pm broadcast ban goes away I wont pay the £20-30 a month extra for them to select games of teams I have no interest in. The fact that in 2026, if my local team is playing away at 3pm on a Saturday, the only legal way I have of watching it, is to go to it, which could be 100s of miles away and very limited tickets, or I can listen to commentary on FM radio. Absolutely crazy and no wonder everyone I know has some form of way of sailing the seas.
Sounds about right. Invites to matches or races just for the photos and merch. Meanwhile, invites from me trying to get various friends who have shown interest in either sport to come watch races/matches at a bar streaming..crickets. It's all showmanship when people are watching.
You should also know that a LOT of my cynicism stems from that fact that I worked at Apple for quite some time, so my LinkedIn and friend group are full of current and former employees. Current employees are such sheep and shill everything Apple touches, so I have to see their cringe posts about Apple/F1 and Apple/MLS events that I know they are clueless about 😶
Ta_whirimatea
macrumors regular
tennisproha
macrumors 68020
Eddy Cue again gets in the way of a good thing and needs to retire. Apple actually needs to sign a deal with Sky Sports to broadcast their stream as the primary because the F1 in-house commentators are absolutely awful.
Funny enough I pay for Apple F1's streaming service just so I can watch the Sky Sports broadcast (even though Apple buries it within their UI).