OCTOBER 13, 2012

F1 television broadcaster in United States to change in 2013

Formula One television coverage will change hands in the United States after this season.

Formula One television coverage will change hands in the United States after this season.

After being broadcast on Rupert Murdoch's Fox owned Speed cable channel for 17 years, a spokesman for the channel announced that they have been outbid for the programming contract with Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Management.

The Speed announcement said, "It's disappointing to learn that F1 has elected to move forward with a different media partner. Speed had been the US voice of F1 since the mid '90s, and it was a passion for many people at the network. FOX Sports Media Group made what we believed to be a fiscally responsible bid based on the sport's current viewership levels, but F1 has elected to go in another direction. We wish them well."

There is speculation that Speed has bowed out of the bidding, as rumors in the television business say that Fox Sports is looking to rebrand it's motorsports network into "Fox Sports 1", and will be used in part to broadcast Baseball coverage, as part of an eight-year contract with Major League Baseball that was signed this month.