Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei "launched a stinging criticism" of the amount paid by NBC to broadcast Formula 1 in the U.S., describing the multi-million dollar fee as a "popcorn fart," according to Christian Sylt for FORBES. In January, Liberty paid $8B to acquire F1’s parent company, Delta Topco. The series has been broadcast in the U.S. by NBC since '13, when the network spent more than $3M to acquire its rights. Maffei: "The U.S. is, you know, it's a popcorn fart. It’s nothing. The opportunity is good, certainly in percentage terms, not in absolute dollar terms. It is very low. It is with NBC, and it’s not on the main NBC, it’s on their sports channel." A popcorn fart is slang "meaning something which is hardly worth the effort." Maffei’s comment "is ironic as Liberty claims it wants to drive F1’s popularity" in the U.S. To achieve this aim, "it could be more effective not to charge" for the U.S. broadcast rights in return for a network agreeing to boost its marketing of F1. Liberty is "taking F1 in the opposite direction and is instead eyeing the growth opportunity" from increasing the number of pay-TV broadcasters. Maffei’s comment is not "just ironic but highly surprising too as it is unusual for the boss of a listed corporation to use such a pejorative term" to describe a client which is paying his company millions of dollars. Last year, F1 announced Sky Sports will become F1’s exclusive broadcaster in Britain from '19 in a deal estimated to be worth $150M annually. It is an "increase of around 50% on the current agreement." NBC’s contract expires at the end of this year, so Maffei’s comments "could indicate that Liberty is looking for a sharp boost" to the fees paid for screening F1 in the U.S. (FORBES, 3/6).
12-YEAR LOW: MOTORSPORT's Jonathan Noble reported F1's TV viewership in Britain fell to a "12-year low" last season, with audience figures "plummeting by 5.1 million viewers." The move from the BBC to Channel 4, as well as Lewis Hamilton enduring "his fair share of frustrations," have been cited as the "two factors that have contributed to the decline." According to a report by the London Independent, F1's annual Global Media Report that is sent to TV broadcasters revealed that just 21.8 million viewers watched the sport last year -- "despite there being a record 21 races." The 5-million fall in U.K. audiences "accounts for half of the 10-million drop that F1 experienced worldwide." F1's global viewership figures dropped to 390 million in '16, "which is the sixth consecutive year that F1 audiences have declined" (MOTORSPORT, 3/6). Writing for the INDEPENDENT, Sylt reported the F1 Global Media Report highlighted F1's "struggle to appeal in Britain where its home Grand Prix is under threat after spectator numbers fell by 1,000 to 139,000 last year." The decline "is on track to continue as Sky will become the exclusive broadcaster of F1 in Britain" from '19. Pay-TV broadcasters are prepared to "outbid their free-to-air rivals for F1 as it fuels subscriber numbers." They "tend to have smaller audiences" than broadcasters that do not charge to watch and this can "dent the teams’ income from sponsors as rates are proportionate to the number of viewers." However, the increased fees from pay-TV broadcasters "more than compensates for this" as the teams share 63% of F1’s profits as prize money (INDEPENDENT, 3/6).
