[Keith Collantine]

Formula One will remain on free-to-air television in Germany until at least 2020 following the announcement of a new three-year deal today.

The press release does not appear to indicate the coverage will be live:

Formula 1® is delighted to announce the extension of the partnership with RTL Television for the next
three years. The German broadcaster will have the exclusive free-to-air rights to cover Formula 1 Grands
Prix from 2018 to 2020. The new agreement includes the coverage of the three free practice sessions on
Fridays and Saturdays, qualifying sessions on Saturday afternoons and race on Sundays. In addition, RTL
has been granted a number of sublicensing rights.

Ian Holmes, Director of Media Rights, Formula 1 said:
“Germany is one of the most important countries for Formula 1, where motors sport has deep roots, and
RTL Television has been a fantastic and loyal partner for many years. The extension of the agreement
comes as a natural consequence of such a strong and mutually fruitful relationship and will guarantee that
our fans in Germany will continue to watch Grands Prix on free TV. The agreement is part of our strategy
that aims to increase and strengthen television coverage on a worldwide basis, whilst tailoring it to the
characteristics of each TV market.”

Frank Hoffman, Managing Director of Programs at RTL Television 1 said:
“I’m very pleased that as a free-to-air TV station we were able to secure one of the most attractive sports
rights packages out there in such a bitterly contested market. We now want to take this long-running
success story that we share with Formula 1 and make it into an exciting future project. The new owners
have now entered into a new and exciting era together with us and all of our experience, know-how and
innovative power will be at their side.”

The agreement with RTL Television is added to the others which have been sealed throughout 2017:
among them Australia, France and United States. RTL is one of the historical TV partners of Formula 1,
having broadcast the races live from 1984 to 1988 and then from 1991 onwards. The audience figures for
2017 recorded an average of 4.295m viewers per race, with the average live share slightly increasing from
25.1% to 26.2% compared to 2016.

[Girts]

Also, Timo Glock and Nico Rosberg are going to be their new experts, replacing Niki Lauda.

[kartguy07]

The RTL homepage refers to “live and exclusive in German free TV” as well as “for the complete race weekend”

[kartguy07]

Personally I thought Niki Lauda was one of the better points of RTL – their commentators are appalling and their long adverts were almost a relief from the drivel. We’ll see whether Sky Deutschland is an option for 2018, even if their coverage is not as good as the UK counterpart.

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