BBC Set To End Formula One Contract Early

18 Dec 2015 | tshego

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Formula One is set to return to ITV from next season, after it emerged that the BBC is planning to end its contract early, according to media reports.

The Telegraph reports that the BBC is looking to end its coverage of Formula One, which finishes in 2018, as the corporation looks to get back some of the £12m it paid for the deal.

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone is now reportedly looking to ITV, rather than existing partner Sky, to inherit the BBC’s races, in a bid to keep some of the sport free to air in the UK ahead of a season that will see Lewis Hamilton race to try and become the first Briton to win four drivers’ titles.

F1 returned to the BBC in 2008 after ITV backed out of its own contract to show the sport, choosing to focus on Champions League football, which has since gone to BT Sport.

Ecclestone said last month, after confirming the BBC’s attempt to renegotiate the deal: “What they would like to do is not spend as much money. They want to know if they can schedule it different ways or pay a bit less now. They don’t have a lot of choice because they’ve got a contract with us.”

Ending the coverage of F1 would be the third event the BBC has cut back on in recent months, after giving up the final two years of exclusivity of the Six Nations for a shared deal with ITV, as well as handing over the last year of its Open Championship deal to Sky.

Currently, the BBC is in negotiations to share rights to the Olympics from 2022, having lost them last summer.