Carey says F1’s pay TV trend will continue

Chase Carey's Pay-TV push will cost F1 sponsors and million of fans

(GMM) Liberty Media will continue to push Formula 1 off free-to-air television.

The latest news from Italy is that pay broadcaster Sky could be set to give up the rights, with the free-to-air Rai interested in picking them up.

It is believed a meeting will take place between a Rai delegation and Chase Carey in September.

But more generally, F1 CEO Carey seems keen to maintain the trend away from free-to-air television coverage, because "that is where the world is going".

Writing in Forbes, F1 business journalist Christian Sylt says the sport's television ratings have crashed by 18 per cent over the past 11 years.

Deals with pay networks are more lucrative for Liberty Media, but as a result the audience shrinks.

Carey doesn't deny that, admitting the 2019 audience is down "a few percentage points" so far this year. But he said of that decline: "I'd say it has been ok."

At the same time, Liberty has been pushing its new internet streaming service, even though a new report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch predicts that F1 TV will make "no revenue" for the next few years.

F1 TV has also been woefully unreliable, but Carey insists Liberty has actually made "good strides" with the service.