Streaming giant Netflix is looking to secure broadcast rights for Formula 1 in the USA, adding to its long-standing involvement in the sport.
The organisation has been affiliated with F1 since 2019 when it aired the first series of its fly-on-the-wall documentary series Drive to Survive, which is due to air its seventh season soon.
The dramatic nature of the series has helped it be credited with introducing F1 to a new generation of fans, incorporating off-track stories and talking head-style interviews with drivers and team bosses amongst the on-track action.
And, according to a report by Autosport, the company will now be looking to extend its relationship with F1 in the form of live broadcasting in America.
The current deal F1 has in the States is held by sports channel ESPN, which initially paid no fee for the rights under an agreement with F1’s owners, Liberty Media.
From its second year until 2022, it paid $5 million a year, but with a fee increase to now $90 million being reported, it has let its exclusivity period to renegotiate lapse, prompting other suitors into the mix.
Netflix has already begun building an extensive portfolio of live broadcasting, netting rights to show the next two Women’s World Cups, and also produced the most-streamed sports event in history in the form of the boxing bout between former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and influencer Jake Paul.
As well as this, the streamer recently acquired rights to WWE in a $5 billion deal.
It has also secured the services of ESPN’s former vice president of production, Kate Jackson, who, under her brief, had previously been involved in its F1 output.
It is thought that, if Netflix were to secure the rights, it would not use ESPN’s current broadcast model of airing races via Sky Sports F1’s UK coverage, but any such deal would not affect Sky’s deal, which is contracted to remain for the next four years.
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