Categories: 2016 SeasonF1 News, Reports and Race Results

Ecclestone warns BBC over F1 contract

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Bernie Ecclestone has warned the BBC he could force it to see out its current contract to show F1 until 2018.

As reported by industry monitor Broadcast, the BBC is keen to end its deal three years early in order to save money, with ITV set to step in and take on live coverage of half the races per season in the UK.

Ecclestone confirmed on Friday that the BBC's future is in doubt but warns there would be a penalty if the broadcaster attempted to terminate its contract prematurely.

"The bottom line is that they are cutting back on all types of sport and if we really, really, really had to, we'd say 'you have got a contract and you better get on with it.' They can't leave the contract early," Ecclestone told the Press Association.

"The Beeb have always done a very, very good job. I have no problem at all with them. It is just they can't afford to continue with what they have done in the past."

And Ecclestone says no decision has been taken on whether ITV could return to take on the BBC contract, with Sky Sports continuing to show live coverage of every race.

Asked if ITV would take over the deal in 2016, Ecclestone replied: "To do that we would have to agree to have that done so I don't know.

"We like the BBC for obvious reasons. It was free-to-air and they did a good job as I say with all the support they gave at the circuit. At the moment I don't know what we are going to do."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.