The Nordic Entertainment Network Group (NENT Group) will broadcast Formula 1 in the Netherlands from 2022 to 2024 after outbidding current rights holder Ziggo Sport.

Ziggo Sport, a joint venture between Vodafone and Liberty Global, have aired Formula 1 since 2013 across cable, satellite, and internet.

From next season however, coverage will air via NENT Group’s streaming service platform.

Viaplay, which has yet to launch in the Netherlands, will cover every F1 season live, with NENT promising “in-depth coverage from every event and innovative programming.”

Six races will be available on a free-to-view basis, including the Dutch Grand Prix.

Despite the change in broadcast rights, F1 has confirmed that their own streaming service, F1 TV Pro, will remain available to fans in the Netherlands, as it has been since launch at the start of 2018.

The announcement increases NENT Group’s stranglehold on F1 in the Nordic regions. Earlier this month, the group announced that they would be airing F1 exclusively in Poland from 2023 onwards.

Today’s news brings the total number of territories that they hold, or will be holding, F1 rights in to ten (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden).

Commenting on their Twitter, Ziggo said that they were no longer able to afford F1, with NENT, along with a third party, increasing the asking price.

NENT are understood to be paying around €30 million per year to broadcast F1 in the Netherlands, a 36% increase on the €22 million that Ziggo are paying currently.

NENT’s arrival in Netherlands part of a much bigger jigsaw

Ziggo has benefited significantly in recent years from the rise of Max Verstappen, the Dutch driver now in his 7th F1 season.

The opening race of 2021 in Bahrain averaged 2.51 million viewers across their television channels, with more than 18% of the population watching the race.

Although not truly free in the sense of the word, the small fee involved to watch F1 in Netherlands during Verstappen’s rise has not resulted in interest in the sport stifling. How NENT’s emergence from 2022 will change interest in the sport, time will tell.

NENT will be hoping that the Verstappen hype will translate into new subscribers on their service. The quote from NENT Group President and CEO Anders Jensen gives a sense of where NENT want to head.

“The Netherlands is an ideal market for Viaplay and a very attractive next step towards our ambition of becoming the European streaming champion,” Jensen says.

“Our long-term and multi-market partnerships with key sports rights owners, together with our ever-increasing line-up of original and exclusive content, will enable us to offer Dutch viewers something new and unique.”

“When bringing Viaplay to a new market, we look for clear opportunities to grow, innovate, collaborate, and take leadership. The Netherlands delivers on all counts.”

For the NENT Group, Formula 1 is a small part of the jigsaw, but an important one as NENT attempts to break into what they believe is a strong market for streaming.

Note how the quote from NENT curiously fails to mention F1, but does reference NENT’s goal of “becoming the European streaming champion.”

NENT sees itself in a long-term battle with Netflix. In the territories where NENT is active, NENT holds a strong second spot, only behind Netflix.

If NENT, which targets 4.5 million international subscribers by the end of 2025 for Viaplay, can expand into further European territories, it has long-term potential to dent Netflix’s position in the market.

There is a lot of movement in the streaming sector currently, following news earlier this week that AT&T and Discovery are to create a new streaming giant.

This is the first time that a ‘streaming first’ entity has taken on Formula 1 rights in a big market. It is, I suspect unlikely to be the last.

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Live MotoGP will return to free-to-air television in the UK this season, Motorsport Broadcasting can exclusively confirm.

ITV, which currently airs highlights of every MotoGP race on ITV4, will air live race day coverage from two rounds in 2021.

The first, from Le Mans on Sunday 16th May, will see ITV4 air all three classes, Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP itself live from 09:45 to 14:10.

In addition, the British MotoGP round, currently scheduled for Sunday 29th August, will air live on ITV’s main channel.

ITV will take MotoGP’s World Feed offering for their live coverage, with Steve Day and Matt Birt on commentary, and Simon Crafar down in pit lane.

It is the first time that MotoGP has aired live on free-to-air television since the BBC’s coverage ended following the 2013 season, and the first time ever that MotoGP has aired live on one of ITV’s television channels.

Since then, coverage has aired exclusively live on pay TV outlet BT Sport, with free-to-air highlights switching between ITV4, Channel 5 and Quest over the years.

Motorsport Broadcasting has reached out to ITV for comment.

A surprising development…

The news that live coverage of MotoGP is heading to ITV and ITV4 caught many fans off guard, as well as this writer, but as they say, everything happens for a reason.

As mentioned, BT Sport have aired live coverage of MotoGP since 2014, and while there is no doubt that their coverage is excellent, audience figures have not changed in the 7 years since.

According to audience data from BARB, around 200,000 viewers tune in to each MotoGP race on BT, fluctuating between 150,000 and 250,00 viewers depending on the competition.

An average of 236,000 viewers tuned in to watch Ducati’s Jack Miller win in Jerez on Sunday 2nd May on BT Sport 2, the race likely peaking with around 300,000 viewers.

Outside of live Premier League and UFA Champions League football, BT’s MotoGP audience was their biggest during that week across their portfolio of channels.

BT’s figures are more impressive when you consider that there are no British riders on the grid for the first time since 2010, with neither Bradley Smith or Cal Crutchlow competing this year.

So, why bring ITV into the live fold now? Clearly MotoGP’s commercial rights holder Dorna believe that BT’s audience is extremely loyal, and unlikely to drop if a handful of races air on ITV or ITV4. They have 7 years of audience evidence to back up that point.

However, Dorna also have the same data to prove that airing live on BT alone is not going to bring long-term audience growth to the UK market. If anything, BT’s audience is stagnant, and needs a refresh.

While we can debate all day whether Formula 1 moving to Sky has harmed the sport in the long-term, what we cannot argue is that F1’s audiences on Sky are increasing, and the evidence to support that statement is clear.

…and one that may benefit BT’s MotoGP coverage

What Dorna will be hoping for is that, by airing some races live on ITV or ITV4 in a much more attractive EPG slot, BT’s audience figures for the remaining races will benefit indirectly, helping to bring a fresher, potentially younger, audience to the BT product.

ITV can promote live MotoGP round their other motor sport programming, such as the British Touring Car Championship, which will only help. At this stage though, we are only talking about two race days airing free-to-air live, the picture for 2022 and beyond is unknown.

Some of you may be wondering how ITV or ITV4 are able to air the series live when BT Sport’s contract with Dorna is for ‘exclusively live’ coverage of MotoGP.

One industry insider has suggested that BT’s deal with Dorna only covers exclusivity across the pay TV spectrum.

In other words, no other pay TV broadcaster can air MotoGP live, but a free-to-air broadcaster could if Dorna offered the rights package out.

It is not in Dorna’s interest to do the latter on a full season basis, because it devalues the existing BT contract, and would inevitably result in BT walking away from the sport.

At the end of the day, BT brings a lot of money into the MotoGP paddock, and Dorna will want to keep them ‘on side’ throughout this whole process.

So, while a handful of races may air live on free-to-air television moving forward (if this is indeed part of a new strategy from Dorna), do not expect every race to suddenly air live, free-to-air.

BT are in MotoGP for the long haul: they recently extended their contract to cover MotoGP until the end of the 2024 season.

But this development is a welcome one for MotoGP fans as Dorna looks to expand the reach of the sport through both traditional and over-the-top methods moving forward.

Updated on May 14th to reflect the fact that the British Grand Prix will air on ITV and not ITV4.

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