Formula 1 owner Liberty Media believes the U.K. TV rights deal it inherited from the previous management, led by Bernie Ecclestone, that will "put it entirely behind a paywall" from '19-24, is "detrimental to the sport," according to Giles Richards of the London GUARDIAN. F1 Managing Dir, Commercial Operations Sean Bratches sees free-to-air TV as "key to the future" of the sport but F1 will be shown exclusively on Sky for five years from '19. On Tuesday, CEO Chase Carey criticized Ecclestone as having a "short-term, deal of the day focus." Bratches said, "Free to air is critically important to us. My vision as it relates to media rights is a hybrid of free to air and pay. Our plan is to balance the two but have a prominent, over the year, free-to-air voice." Sky’s coverage began in '12 when the BBC was "still showing 10 races a season." The '15 F1 global media report showed a "drop of 3.8 million viewers" in the U.K. Bratches was "aware of the global decline" but insisted F1 could not renegotiate. He said, "That deal is an agreement that we inherited" (GUARDIAN, 6/21).
