F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone "turned down a plea from the cash-strapped BBC on Wednesday night to renegotiate its existing Formula One contract amid swingeing cuts to the corporation’s sports rights division," according to Daniel Johnson of the London TELEGRAPH. Ecclestone spoke to execs on Wednesday who wanted to save money on the current deal, which runs to the end of '18, after BBC Dir General Tony Hall announced plans to save £35M ($53.5M) on sports rights. Ecclestone told the BBC it must honor its existing contract, but he "is keen for the broadcaster to continue from 2019 onwards despite fears that they will leave the sport entirely." The corporation "currently shares the rights with Sky, who show all the races live, while half are on free-to-air." Ecclestone: "We had a chat with them today. What they would like to do is not spend as much money. They want to know if they can schedule it different ways or pay a bit less now. They don't have a lot of choice because they've got a contract with us. They're there for another three years" (TELEGRAPH, 11/18). In London, Kevin Eason wrote "a delegation from the corporation was in Ecclestone’s office in Kensington within minutes of the announcement." Ecclestone "listened to an appeal for a cut" in the fees, "but he was unmoved." He said, "Everything is great with the BBC. They just want to pay less money. I am getting very stupid and old, so I had to ask them if they had a contract with us. They said they had, so I told them that we had better stick to it then." Ecclestone "is not obliged to renegotiate until the 2018 deadline and he is not worried that the BBC will be forced to walk away." He said, "Formula One is still good for the BBC, so we won’t change if we don’t have to" (LONDON TIMES, 11/19).
