Eurosport signs F1 deal for TV and digital in Portugal
Eurosport has made an addition to its growing portfolio of premium sports properties by securing the exclusive TV and digital rights to the FIA Formula One World Championship in Portugal from 2016 to 2018. The deal with Formula One Management (FOM) covers all races, qualifying and practice sessions of the premier motorsports event for the next three seasons. Eurosport will have access to multiple live feeds including coverage from cameras mounted on cars and from helicopters to enable the channel to broadcast the thrilling action from different perspectives and angles for TV and online viewers.
Peter Hutton, Chief Executive Officer, Eurosport said: “F1 is one of the biggest sporting brands and the biggest event in the motorsport calendar. Securing these exclusive rights in Portugal further demonstrates our strategy to acquire key properties on a local as well as a pan-regional level, along with our commitment to put the greatest events, and capture the best sporting moments, on Eurosport. This is already proving successful and we are seeing double digit audience growth across Europe.”
“There are few sports with such a great history of world class on-air storytelling and production as F1 and we look forward to building on that heritage to offer a premium viewing experience to fans in Portugal. This is just part of a remarkable year for Eurosport in which investment in production has helped deliver impressive and record breaking ratings for flagship events in 2015 such as the French Open, US Open, Tour de France, MotoGP and Le Mans 24 Hours.” added Hutton.
Formula 1 is a key addition to Eurosport’s already strong motorsports offer, which includes the MotoGP, Le Mans 24 Hours, the FIA WTCC, the World Superbike Championships and the recently signed FIA Formula E Championship. These competitions are amongst the most popular on Eurosport; the 2015 edition of Le Mans 24 Hours attracted 16.2m European viewers to the channel, while the average live audience of the channel has been multiplied by three in Germany and by four in the Netherlands during MotoGP races this season.