Sky Deutschland Sees Bump In F1 Ratings, Sky Sports Scores Rugby Tour

German pay-TV channel Sky Deutschland "recorded a big boost in its F1 broadcast ratings," according to Dominik Sharaf of MOTORSPORT-TOTAL.com. During the first 10 F1 races of the '12 season an average of 364,000 viewers watched Sky's F1 coverage. That is a 10% increase compared to '11. The channels market share increased by 3% over the same time period to 16%. The highest number of viewers was obtained during "last Sunday's broadcast of the German F1 Grand Prix." The win of Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso "attracted 450,000 viewers." Sky Deutschland also broke the 3 million subscriber mark for the first-time in '12. Sky's TV deal with F1 "expires" at the end of the '12 season (MOTORSPORT-TOTAL.com, 7/26).

SKY HIGH: Sky Sports has won the exclusive live rights to the British & Irish Lions tour of Australia in '13. The deal extends the relationship between Sky Sports and the British & Irish Lions into its 17th year. The Lions third full-scale tour of Australia will begin with a game against the Barbarians in Hong Kong on June 1 and will also include fixtures against Australia's Super 15 sides and three Tests against the Wallabies. It will be the fifth tour for which Sky has had the exclusive live rights since '97 (Sky).