2 minute read
It seems Apple liked making the film so much, it just bought the rights to show the whole F1 Championship for five years in a $750 million deal.
Sports content has become a steadily bigger and bigger part of the streaming landscape in recent years. With most of the technical hurdles of live streaming now understood, even if buffering still rears its head during big matches, streamers are free to pursue expensive sports rights.
Sports has always been the MVP for any pay-TV service, whether that be cable, satellite or now streaming. Sports fans will pay money to watch their teams play, it's as simple as that. The most successful satellite operator in the world, Sky, built its business on the back of putting the EPL behind a paywall in the 1990s. And history is now repeating itself, with streamers increasingly liable to swoop for sports rights when they come up.
Audacious Overtaking
That said, Apple's five year, $750 million move for F1 rights in the US is still a bit on the audacious side. F1 was long seen as a slightly quaint, slightly flaky European alternative to Indycar and NASCAR in the USA. But US-based Liberty Media bought the rights to the F1 Championship a few years ago and, with Drive to Survive opening the doors to a whole new generation of fans, has been busy building up its momentum ever since.
With Apple Original Films’ blockbuster F1 The Movie now the highest-grossing sports film of all time, Apple was a natural fit for the rights when they were relinquished by ESPN at the end of this year. MLB and MLS are already in its roster, and now F1 TV Premium, F1’s own premier content offering, will effectively now only be available via a standard Apple TV subscription.
Everytime a Wheel Turns
It's the whole kit and kaboodle too, covering all practice, qualifying, Sprint sessions, and Grands Prix. And Apple is throwing resources at it too. The company says it will amplify the sport across Apple News, Apple Maps, Apple Music, and Apple Fitness+. Apple Sports — the free app for iPhone — will feature live updates for every session across the season, with real-time leaderboards, season driver and constructor standings, Live Activities to follow on the Lock Screen, and a designated widget for the iPhone Home Screen.
Hopefully some of this data-driven stuff will be available outside the US too.
F1 has a complex patchwork of primary and secondary rights with broadcasters around the world, and it will be very interesting to see if Apple plans to stick to the US only, or if it will seek to expand its rights to some other countries when rights come up. Much will depend on how the first season goes — which, don't forget, features a genuine US team for the first time in years in the shape of Cadillac.
Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines...
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