Formula 1 chief Bernie Ecclestone says takeover reports of the sport are media driven
Formula 1 Management chief executive officer Bernie Ecclestone has discarded rumours that he is currently in negotiations with a consortium led by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation for selling the sport’s commercial rights to them.
These rumours were flared up by the media that stating that News Corp. was listing itself for a bid for the sport’s commercial rights. Formula 1 commercial rights are currently owned by CVC Capital Partners in majority and they are managed by Ecclestone.
It is believed that it was a planned media campaign on Formula 1 as most of the media companies which spread this rumour were owned by Murdoch.
Bernie played down these rumours as quickly as he could in order to avoid any sort of misunderstanding between Formula 1 organisers and its clients.
“It's media driven. It looks very much like someone who is trying to see if they can make [money]. All of these people that get involved with these things, they get some victims and say 'We can make this happen, I'm sure we can do this' and then all they
do is keep pumping fees in,” said Bernie.
Other than that, the main reason why Formula 1 has signed with News Corp. is that the organisers of the sport are committed to broadcasting the sport free-to-air television stations while Murdoch on the other hand has its own policies and they work on a
subscription policy for television stations.
Ecclestone added that if Formula 1 is sold, than it would still prefer the free-to-air media policy for certain areas of the world as the organisers of the sport want to give the sport as much boost as they can in terms of exposure.
“If, and I think the chances are close to zero, but if Murdoch was to buy certainly he'd have to broadcast some free to air like it is now,” he said.
The organisers of the sport are currently hoping to spread the sport all around the world by introducing new venues.
The Korean Grand Prix was introduced in 2010 and in 2011, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) is hoping to introduce an Indian Grand Prix to the sport as well which is expected to take place at the end of October.
Other than that, it is expected that the FIA would reintroduce the US Grand Prix at a new venue in Austin, Texas along with a Russian Grand Prix in 2012 as well.
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