Channel 4 will continue to broadcast highlights of Formula 1 races and show the British Grand Prix live through the 2026 season in a new deal with Sky Sports.
Sky hold exclusive rights to broadcast F1 live on their television service until 2029. Channel 4 has shown highlights of all grands prix on their free-to-air channel since 2016.In a new extension of their deal with Sky, Channel 4 will continue to show highlights of every qualifying session, sprint race and grand prix until the end of the 2026 season. They will also continue to provide live coverage of all sessions of the British Grand Prix – a protected sporting event that must be accessible on free-to-air television under UK government law.
Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon said the channel were delighted to continue to bring Formula 1 to UK audiences through their highlights packages.
“The partnership between Channel 4 and Sky benefits the British public and allows everyone to get into the sport, brings in new fans and ensures Formula 1 gets much wider reach and prominence with British audiences,” said Mahon.
Sky UK and Ireland CEO Stephen van Rooyen said the deal “shows Sky’s deep commitment to help increase the reach of Formula 1 and continue to support one of the most exhilarating, and fastest growing sports in the world.”
Sky Sports originally signed exclusive rights to broadcast F1 live in the UK from the start of the 2012 season. It struck a sharing agreement with the BBC, which screened live coverage of F1 prior to Sky acquiring the rights, with the national broadcaster showing around half the races live with the other half in highlights only.
From the 2019 season onwards, Channel 4 has only shown the British Grand Prix live, with all other rounds covered only with highlights.
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2023 British Grand Prix
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Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
6th July 2023, 12:32
What’s the deal with these hairpieces?
What an odd fashion choice to accentuate one’s receding hair line.
Coventry Climax
6th July 2023, 12:42
And there’s more elegant hearing aids on the market as well. :-)
Coventry Climax
6th July 2023, 12:43
Highlights? Ah, 5 minutes of broadcasting DRS overtakes.
Sihrtogg (@sihrtogg)
6th July 2023, 14:11
Highlights is a misnomer. It’s usually an hour long summary of the race, with plenty of interviews and stories before and after. It’s a high quality broadcast. Don’t judge it if you haven’t seen it.
Coventry Climax
6th July 2023, 17:04
You fail to detect intended humor.
I’m not judging the program, I’m judging contemporary F1.
Unicron (@unicron2002)
6th July 2023, 13:14
I took a big gamble this year and ditched Sky F1 for Channel 4 highlights only.
I do not regret it, on the whole. The presenters are miiiles better than the cringey Banter Brigade on Sky. Commentators are great, generally. Still some weak links on their team though, but to a lesser degree than Sky.
The highlights programme for European and Eastern races is 2.5 hours. Races in the Americas is only 1.5 hours which is a downside.
The golden years of the BBC with Humphries, Jordan and Coulthard with Brundle commentating) is yet to be bettered.
frood19 (@frood19)
6th July 2023, 16:41
Agree with all this, C4 do a decent job. But the fact it’s relegated to a highlights package makes it so hard to follow avidly. I frequently have to wait until Monday to watch and it’s a challenge to avoid finding out the result.
This sticks in my craw a bit – it benefits us how? Are they saying Sky could have allowed no highlights coverage? Surely that just reinforces the argument that having a sport like F1 exclusively on paid channels is a really bad way to let the public see it.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
6th July 2023, 17:52
I mostly only watch the C4 highlights program. I don’t want to pay for Sky just to watch F1.
On the whole I think the C4 coverage is pretty good. Although it is annoying that the highlights programmes are on so late sometimes. Or not even the same day sometimes.
I much prefer the presenters of C4 compared to the Sky people.
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
6th July 2023, 20:12
Agree… but don’t have the choice here. TSN only carries the Sky feed.
We may complain about the dominant streaks of RBR and Mercedes. But how many years have we had to listen to the drivel spewed by F1’s far too dominant broadcaster?
Looking forward to 2030 when I can watch F1, possibly with the sound on.
RandomMallard
6th July 2023, 18:57
@willwood
I don’t know for certain, but my understanding is that the British GP is not a listed sporting event, in either group A or group B, under Ofcom’s codes (for those who aren’t familiar with the system: Group A events must be shown FTA and live on a public service broadcaster, while highlights of Group B events must be shown FTA on a PSB channel).
In fact, my understanding is that no part of F1 is protected on FTA under law in the UK, live or in highlight form. Obviously it would be bad for all parties if there were no FTA highlights, but the only reason Sky allow FTA highlights is (I believe) they have to under their contract with FOM. There have been calls to increase the number of events covered by the Ofcom Code on Sports, but nothing has really come of them thus far.
RandomMallard
6th July 2023, 18:59
I will add though, this is good for C4 and F1 in the UK. I much prefer C4’s offering (which is shared with the FOM feed) compared to the Sky feed, which often feels a bit lazy to me, especially from Crofty on comms. Plus a multi-year extension like this for C4 is a nice bit of security so they can commit their team to long term contracts as well.