JANUARY 16, 2007

Germans scrapping over TV rights

The German TV market is Formula 1's most lucrative and we hear that there is a fair old battle going on over who will have the rights in 2008 and beyond. At the moment there is an odd situation in that RTL has the rights for free-to-air coverage and Premiere runs a pay-per-view service, which is time delayed. At the moment RTL is believed to be paying around $100m a year with Premiere kicking in about $60m but with Arena, ARD and Sat 1 all rumoured to be coming with their own bids the price is set to rise - even if Michael Schumacher is no longer on the F1 scene. The Spanish rights are also expected to collect serious money as fans turn on F1 to watch the adventures of Fernando Alonso.