German SKY TV thinks of ditching F1

[John S]

UK SKY's F1 due to start, sister outfit wants out. Hope for us yet maybe????       

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sky-deutschland-getting-race-formula-261100?

[Ian]

Don't get your hopes up too far John, I reckon by 2013 sky will have it all.

[Alianora La Canta]

That's twice Sky has dropped/tried dropping a European F1 market (out of not very many) because it didn't work out for them. The same thing happened in Italy - they shared rights from 2007 to 2010 but is no longer in that market because the free-to-air broadcaster took most of the viewers and the relevant Sky channel couldn't afford to take exclusivity.

Since the UK is on the same model (as opposed to places in the Far East, where rights are much cheaper and Sky therefore was able to fund a completely exclusive deal) , I anticipate Sky will have made the same mistake yet again, will fail to break even, find it cannot afford to take on the BBC's remaining share and therefore bail out with burnt fingers in 2016 or 2018.

[cosworth151]

Could it just be a negotiating tactic, trying to beat Bernie down on the price? We all know that it won't work, but maybe he doesn't know Bernie all that well.

[Scott]

RTL is THE F1 network in Germany.  Sky picks up the crumbs - whole different deal as the UK.