BREAKING NEWS: Apple Close To Getting Global Rights To Formula 1 In A$3.14 Billion Dollar Deal

Apple who has stashed billions in spare cash, is believed to be close to cutting a deal to get the global rights to Formula One worth A$3.14 billion.

Insiders are tipping that the deal could net the organisers of Formula One up to two billion in US dollars (A$3.14B) this is double what they are getting currently.

The owner of the Formula One Group is a US media company, Liberty Media Corporation owned by billionaire John Carl Malone.

Up until 2016, F1’s commercial rights were owned by private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.

Recently Apple snared the rights to Major League Soccer in the USA, this saw over one million new users sign on to the Apple owned platform MLS Season Pass.

MLS rights cost just US$250 million a year.

Subscribers can stream MLS for US$15 a month or US $29 for the full season, Apple TV+ subscribers get a discount – $13 a month or $25 for the season.

Because deals are already in place with broadcasters such as Foxtel Apple will not be able to take advantage of an immediate deal in Australia.

Last year Formula One has extended its broadcast rights agreement with Foxtel in a deal worth around A$45 million annually.

As well as live coverage of every race via the telecommunication giant’s platforms, the partnership includes integration of the series’ F1 TV over-the-top (OTT) platform into Foxtel set top boxes at no extra cost to subscribers.

The agreement was the first time that Formula One’s streaming product has been included in a broadcast partnership.

Disney-owned ESPN holds the rights for the US market until 2025 while Sky in the UK has the European rights.

An Apple deal will reportedly be for 7 years with the iPhone maker, given the last rights to extend a deal.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is known to attend Formula One Races.

Back in 2022 Cook waved the checkered flag at the start of the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

Insiders claim that Apple won’t pay the full $2 billion a year immediately but rather a fraction of that proportional as the global rights with broadcasters such as Foxtel run out.

Apple TV+ is currently producing a Formula 1 movie starring Brad Pitt, with Joseph Kosinski in the director’s chair while 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is one of the producers.

This movie will follow a fictional racing team (it’s written by Ehren Kruger, who also penned the Top Gun: Maverick screenplay), but TV+ is also working on a documentary focused on Hamilton.

In other news Nine Media an archrival of Foxtel is reporting that Warner Bros Discovery’s head of streaming says the broadcasting giant expects to launch its Max platform locally in Australia by 2025.

Currently Foxtel and Binge have the rights to Warner Bros Discovery content.

Warner Bros Discovery owns HBO content, like Harry Potter and DC comic franchises.

About Post Author

David Richards

David Richards has been writing about technology for more than 30 years. A former Fleet Street journalist, he wrote the Award Winning Series on the Federated Ships Painters + Dockers Union for the Bulletin that led to a Royal Commission. He is also a Logie Winner for Outstanding Contribution To TV Journalism with a story called The Werribee Affair. In 1997, he built the largest Australian technology media company and prior to that the third largest PR company that became the foundation company for Ogilvy PR. Today he writes about technology and the impact on both business and consumers.