Antena 3 acquires F1 rights
February 8, 2012
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Antena 3 TV has acquired the FTA TV rights to the Formula One World Championship for two years, 2012 and 2013, with the first race to take place next March with the Grand Prix of Australia.
The channel will pay €40 million per year, the same amount Mediapro, shareholder in the commercial TV channel La Sexta, could not afford to maintain its F1 TV rights on La Sexta’s programming schedule.
Since 2008 La Sexta had been broadcasting F1 rights but a few weeks ago Mediapro decided to put them up for sale for lack of money to foot the F1 bill.
Mediaset-controlled channel Tele 5 was another likely candidate to acquire the rights but it dropped its bid for lack of transparency in the public tender at a time when Antena 3 TV and La Sexta are completing their merger.