Apple considers $2B Apple TV+ streaming rights grab for Formula 1

AppleInsider

Apple is mulling over another potential sporting deal for Apple TV+, with claims it is thinking about offering $2 billion per year for the exclusive streaming rights to Formula 1 coverage.

[via Pexels/Rezk Assaf]

Apple already offers a number services relating to sports on Apple TV+, including MLB "Friday Night Baseball" and the MLS Season Pass. In a new report, Apple is thinking about shifting into motorsport.

According to Business F1 Magazine, as covered by GPBlog, Apple is currently working on an offer that the Formula 1 Group "cannot refuse." The current proposed deal is thought to be valued at $2 billion per year, which is allegedly double what the Formula 1 Group receives for global TV rights.

Unusually, the deal would not provide Apple with full exclusivity from the start, but instead around 25% of the overall streaming rights package. As existing rights contracts expire, that percentage would go up, potentially hitting 100% within five years.

Even more so, Apple could be paying a fixed sum per year instead of seeing the price increase as the percentage increases. This fixed fee may also apply for a seven-year term.

Formula 1 is not an entirely new field for Apple, as it has produced content for Apple TV+ in the field, including a documentary about seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Apple CEO Tim Cook has also waved the checkered flag during the US Grand Prix in October 2022.

Read on AppleInsider

2morrow

Yes please

Nikon8

Yes please 

12Strangers

That would be truly awesome.

M68000

F1 is available now as it’s own streaming service.  I’ve considered getting it. So this “deal” could mean that eventually the only place to get F1 would be on Apple ??    Not sure i like that. 

anonymouse

M68000 said:

F1 is available now as it’s own streaming service.  I’ve considered getting it. So this “deal” could mean that eventually the only place to get F1 would be on Apple ??    Not sure i like that. 

Well, this is a streaming deal. My guess is that Sky would retain the broadcast rights they have now, which likely means you could still watch it on ESPN (in the US), but probably not streamed on ESPN.

draenar

bob-tahoma said:

Time to start carving up these monopolies. 

You mean carving up F1?  So that Andretti can race, despite Wolff, Horner, at al seeking to avoid further competition?

danox

Apple needs front row spatial recording footage, for the Apple Vision Pro? Have to lock up those contracts before the world catches on after getting a demo of the Apple Vision Pro at the Apple Store next year.

chasm

If $2B is about double what they’re currently getting, Apple should offer $1.5 billion instead. I’m sure Formula 1 is exciting and a worthy addition to the sports lineup for Apple TV+, but I have difficulty seeing a way for Apple to make that money back in the length of time the total deal is going to run (allegedly seven years, or a $14B commitment), particularly not with 100 percent of the content avaiable to them at first.

Assuming they do a season pass for F1 akin to the price of an MLS one, you’d need (standby while math is done) … 20 million people to kick in $100 each just to break even — and remember, they won’t be getting all the races for up to five years.

On paper, 20 million is about five percent of the total *global* TV audience for the sport, but most of those fans don’t currently pay extra fees to see F1 racing. I’m sure Apple has done a better job of crunching the numbers than I have, so I trust Cue knows what he’s doing, but I think it will be a money-loser for quite a while before becoming profitable and a big subscriber driver for Apple TV+.

eriamjh

It's not worth it, Apple.

draenar

eriamjh said:

It's not worth it, Apple.

Apple will be able to advertise its own products on these streams - and to an audience used to paying for premium products.  Moreover, when and if there is an Apple Car, having this sponsorship would be a good way to get an Apple Car pace car in some races, putting them in with Mercedes and Aston-Martin.  I am sure that Cue and Apple have done the numbers on this.

chasm

draenar said:

Apple will be able to advertise its own products on these streams - and to an audience used to paying for premium products.  Moreover, when and if there is an Apple Car, having this sponsorship would be a good way to get an Apple Car pace car in some races, putting them in with Mercedes and Aston-Martin.  I am sure that Cue and Apple have done the numbers on this.

(My opinion) There is no Apple Car.

Apple might well partner with some existing carmaker to enhance an existing car design, or produce an interior experience as great as CarPlay, which might tie into some exterior stuff (mirrors, lights, gas gauge, et al) as we've already been teased about. But Apple is not going to open dealerships, manufacture their own car (they would have had to start licensing and building the production facility more than 10 years ago if they wanted to build one and that's not even considering the battery factory they'd need), work with mechanics on repairs and parts, etc. NA GA HA PEN.

Apple is not going to burn the relationships they currently have with existing car makers and destroy the chance of any other car company ever licensing CarPlay again by suddenly competing directly against them. NA GA HA PEN.

GM is about to commit serious hari-kari by trying to impose their subscription-based, data-collecting*, Google-designed spyPlay infotainment system in their cars when something like 80 percent of US car buyers have already said "no CarPlay, no sale." I certainly would not even remotely consider a vehicle that didn't have it.

*you'd be VERY surprised how much information companies like Tesla collect and sell to marketers about YOU and your passengers without your informed consent.

Kierkegaarden

danox said:

Apple needs front row spatial recording footage, for the Apple Vision Pro? Have to lock up those contracts before the world catches on after getting a demo of the Apple Vision Pro at the Apple Store next year.

Man, that would be incredible!

radarthekat

danox said:

Apple needs front row spatial recording footage, for the Apple Vision Pro? Have to lock up those contracts before the world catches on after getting a demo of the Apple Vision Pro at the Apple Store next year.

Beat me to it.  To my mind this may be Apple creating a flagship AR/VR experience for Vision Pro and future related products.  And if only Apple can provide that type of experience at the level of realism Vision Pro offers, it will become the de facto platform for virtually experiencing more than just Formula One.  Apple will be the obvious, and perhaps only, choice for many other experiences.  But something must lead the way, and I can think of nothing better than the greatest racing series that’s already cemented itself as a global cultural phenomenon.  The two are a natural fit, and the price may prove a brilliant move for Apple.  

radarthekat

chasm said:

If $2B is about double what they’re currently getting, Apple should offer $1.5 billion instead. I’m sure Formula 1 is exciting and a worthy addition to the sports lineup for Apple TV+, but I have difficulty seeing a way for Apple to make that money back in the length of time the total deal is going to run (allegedly seven years, or a $14B commitment), particularly not with 100 percent of the content avaiable to them at first.

Assuming they do a season pass for F1 akin to the price of an MLS one, you’d need (standby while math is done) … 20 million people to kick in $100 each just to break even — and remember, they won’t be getting all the races for up to five years.

On paper, 20 million is about five percent of the total *global* TV audience for the sport, but most of those fans don’t currently pay extra fees to see F1 racing. I’m sure Apple has done a better job of crunching the numbers than I have, so I trust Cue knows what he’s doing, but I think it will be a money-loser for quite a while before becoming profitable and a big subscriber driver for Apple TV+.

A lot of folks figured $3 billion for Beats was a poor deal for Apple, but what’s come out of it makes that deal look like a steal in retrospect.  This deal won’t be about merely gaining streaming subs; it’s about the future of how the world experiences sports virtually.  This has Vision Pro stamped all over it.  

gatorguy

With it being a device that every individual viewer would need to wear I just don't see it as " the future of how the world experiences sports virtually".

There's a camaraderie when fans get together to view an event, and the Vision Pro would remove the friendship, feeling of family, and "we're a team" from the experience. Now if it were gaming I would agree. That's more of an individual thing....

EDIT-
... which by the way, I blame in part for the increasing detachment in homes. The XBox's and Nintendo's were already interfering with our family life, we just idn't recognize it at the time.. Then along came everyone with a smartphone or tablet to put more walls between kids and parents, friends and family when they get together. Just look around the classroom, workplace, and restaurant. There's a reason the car at the front of the line at a stoplight hasn't moved, and one glance at your family sitting around the living room or dining table gives you another clue. Not that it's great, but at least with a TV we're occasionally interacting and commenting on whatever we're viewing together, and the show is sometimes a spark for discussion or deeper understanding later.

Rather than enriching our lives, bringing us closer, and working together in our homes for the betterment of the family, IMHO the Vision Pro will be another device to separate us. It will have its good uses for business of course, and its fun uses for alone times, but our social and family lives will be worse for it.

Steve Jobs, Biil Gates, and Sundar Pichai were smart to keep these devices away from their own families as much as possible. 

williamh

I don’t think F1 racing is carbon neutral and that’s something Apple cares about.  Maybe Apple ought to push or pay to start an e-racing league.  

foregoneconclusion

Sounds like some of the Richie Rich Apple executives have lost their minds. Why would they need exclusive rights? The same team/driver win most of the races in F1. It's not something you watch for the competition. 

rotateleftbyte

chasm said:

I’m sure Formula 1 is exciting

These days, F1 is just a mega marketing event with a bit of racing at the icing on the top.  It costs a small fortune to attend even the practice sessions.
If you want proper racing then almost any of the clubman series would be a better bet than the borefest that F1 has become.
I say that as someone who started going to F1 in the days of Graham Hill with my Father. After James Hunt/Nigel Mansell, it became IMHO very uncompetitive.
Some of the battles involving Mansell, Lauda, and Senna were epic. Today? ZZZZzzzzzzzzz

Apple should stay well away.

danox

radarthekat said:

danox said:

Apple needs front row spatial recording footage, for the Apple Vision Pro? Have to lock up those contracts before the world catches on after getting a demo of the Apple Vision Pro at the Apple Store next year.

Beat me to it.  To my mind this may be Apple creating a flagship AR/VR experience for Vision Pro and future related products.  And if only Apple can provide that type of experience at the level of realism Vision Pro offers, it will become the de facto platform for virtually experiencing more than just Formula One.  Apple will be the obvious, and perhaps only, choice for many other experiences.  But something must lead the way, and I can think of nothing better than the greatest racing series that’s already cemented itself as a global cultural phenomenon.  The two are a natural fit, and the price may prove a brilliant move for Apple.  

Apple, in their initial introduction of the Apple Vision Pro at WWDC gave hints about the new video technique that was used for the Vision Pro, and has almost certainly recorded many, if not all of the Messi matches, and the same goes for recording a few musical concerts, travel, nature, and special events here and there around the world, for a extended showcase of the Vision Pro capabilities. I have a feeling that the shortsighted won’t be laughing next year about that guy filming his family….

macxpress

bob-tahoma said:

Time to start carving up these monopolies. 

What exactly are they a monopoly of? Do you even know what a monopoly is beyond the board game?