Sky Deutschland will no longer transmit the Formula One races in Germany and Austria from the upcoming season.
In view of rising rights costs, the pay-TV broadcaster wants to concentrate in future on sports events that can be broadcast exclusively, at least in part, according to a spokesperson. This would not be the case with the Formula One as this was shown 100% on free-to-air TV in Germany.
German commercial broadcaster RTL recently extended its contract with the Formula One World Championship by three years until 2020 and will continue to screen the races free-to-air.
Possible contenders for the German pay-TV rights include Eurosport and Perform Group’s OTT service DAZN. Another option would be Formula One transmitting the races on its own OTT platform rumoured to launch in several countries later this year including Germany.
