F1 broadcaster waves goodbye after EIGHT YEARS on TV

An F1 TV broadcaster has parted ways with the sport after an eight year partnership in the United States.

Ahead of the action at the Circuit of Americas this weekend, F1 announced that they have agreed to a five-year deal with Apple to host the exclusive broadcast rights of the sport from 2026 onwards.

This means current broadcaster ESPN will say goodbye to F1 at the end of the 2025 season, providing coverage since 2018.

In a statement, ESPN said: “We’re incredibly proud of what we and Formula 1 accomplished together in the United States and look forward to a strong finish in this final season. We wish F1 well in the future."

While no figures were announced from F1 and Apple’s deal, Apple will reportedly pay $140-$150million a year, compared to the reported $80-$90m ESPN was paying per year since 2023. In total the deal between Apple and F1 is said to be worth $750m (£558m).

What will F1 look like on Apple TV?

F1 will be available to all Apple TV subscribers as part of their standard monthly fee, and will have access to practice, qualifying, all sprint events and, of course, the main grand prix.

Reportedly, Apple will not initially produce their own commentary and are likely to buy that of F1 TV or UK’s Sky network.

F1 has worked closely with Apple over the past three years during the making of F1: The Movie, and the success of the project was likely a contributing factor in securing the deal, with the film grossing $630m at the box office.

According to Front Office Sports, F1 races across ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC were averaging 1.4 million viewers throughout September, which is higher than the all-time US record season-long average of 1.21 million that was set in 2022.

Speaking to FOS on ESPN’s departure F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said: “Our duty is to look into the future, and try to make sure that F1 can have the right platform for developing our growth.

“I really want to thank ESPN for what they did because they invested in us when no one was really ready to invest in us many, many years ago. But now is the time to look forward.”

Apple senior VP of services Eddy Cue suggested there were no plans to publish race-by-race viewership figures in the US, and added: “I don’t know, we haven’t really talked about it from that standpoint, but we don’t typically release our numbers.

“Obviously, there’s Nielsen and all the other things that measure. So, ultimately, some things will be released, for sure.”

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