BBC lands five-year deal with Formula 1
It's been 12 years since ITV took over as broadcasters of motorsport's ultimate racing competition; Formula 1. This however, the 2008 season, will be the last on ITV for the next few years as the BBC today announced a five-year deal to bring Formula 1 back to its screens.
The new deal, beginning with the 2009 Formula 1 season, encompasses all platforms and will see the BBC broadcast Formula 1 races on TV, radio and the BBC sport website.
BBC Sport director of sport rights, Dominic Coles, said:
"The biggest motorsporting event in the world is returning home after 12 years. We were delighted when Bernie Ecclestone approached us about the return of F1 to the BBC."
"F1 is a crown jewel of sports broadcasting, so to bring the rights back to their traditional home from 2009 is tremendously exciting. Fans will be able to enjoy uninterrupted, state of the art and innovative coverage from BBC Sport, across all of our TV, radio and new media platforms, for the first time since 1996."
Formula 1 has recently returned to form with rivalry and great racing among its young stars such as Kimi Raikonnen, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. Uninterrupted coverage on the BBC is sure to go down a treat with fans of the sport and we'll all be hoping for a return of the magic theme tune called 'Motor Sport', arranged by Roger Barsotti and taken from Fleetwood Mac's 'The Chain'.
With sporting events such as the World Cup, the Olympics, Six Nations, Wimbledon, Snooker, Match of the Day and now Formula 1, the BBC has an outstanding offering of free-to-view sporting coverage.
