New F1 TV will be the 'best way to watch F1', says digital boss

Formula 1's new F1 TV Pro streaming service which will launch ahead of this year's Australian GP will provide fans with the best viewing experience of the sport.

Liberty Media's plans of an Over-The-Top streaming product have come to fruition, with F1 TV set to be launched in 40 countries across several regions.

The revolutionary subscription service will broadcast live all race weekend sessions as well as press conferences and pre-race and post-race interviews.
In addition, subscribers will be able to watch support races from Formula 2, GP3 Series and Porsche Supercup, among others.

Among the channels viewers will have at their disposal, one will offer the option of selecting an on-board camera of choice while the other will display a wealth of race and technical data.

• F1 launches new Grand Prix subscriber digital service

"It's actually a bit groundbreaking from a sports perspective in that for the first time ever one individual sport will be streaming 24 different feeds from the same event on a live, simultaneous basis," explained F1 director of digital and new business Frank Arthofer, as quoted by Racefans.net.

The online service will cater to F1's hardcore fans, whether they enjoy a TV cable subscription or not.

"Firstly it’s fans who don’t have cable but are Formula One fans in a given market where it’s available on a pay-TV basis and they’d like to subscribe directly," says Arthofer.

"And the second demographic is the super-hardcore fans.

"We have by our estimates around 500 million Formula One fans in the world, about 5% percent of the world’s population, which is quite a number.

"If even conservatively 1% of that customer base is a super-avid hardcore fan, that’s 5 million addressable audience to who would potentially be willing to pay the incremental fee for what is really the best way to watch Formula One in the market."

Arthofer made clear however that Formula One intended on protecting the media rights of countries where the service will not be introduced at the outset, as the UK, by blocking outside VPN connections.

"We’re working with our technology partners who are yet to be named – with the exception of Tata – who will be part of the product to put in place best-in-class content security and protection," added F1's digital boss.

"That’s always been a fairly conservative position we’ve taken from a Formula One perspective. Put another way, we’ve been aggressive in protecting our IP and will continue to do so on this service."

Fans in countries or regions where F1 TV will not be distributed could eventually gain access to the service sometime in the future.

"In the markets where we haven’t carved the [digital] rights out, like the UK as an example, we’re very open to working with our partners to consider a path to up-selling this product to our broadcast partners’ customer base," said Arthofer.

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