Murdoch, Slim engineering takeover of F1

[Ciro Pabón]

Two things, in The Independent:

"As well as the Mexican telecoms billionaire, Rupert Murdoch's global media company has also held talks with at least one Formula 1 team about putting a consortium together to purchase the business, according to Sky News – which is itself owned partly by News Corp".

Maybe Ferrari wants to buy F1? Maybe McLaren? Will it be Mercedes? Would RedBull, the drink company, dare to? How much does it cost the business? It is a business. Oh, my, I just realized the news are in the business section... I have to confess I find that a small disappointment: one of the loves of my life can be bought and sold in its entirety, and there is people talking about that in meetings. Sigh. Sic transit gloria mundi.

"...although the current owners of the motor racing business, the private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, would consider an offer, they have not been contacted by News Corp, hold no plans to sell Formula 1, and were not previously aware of any bid being put together."

So, it is a duck but doesn't walk like a duck and it doesn't have wings, feathers or bill. Let's wait and see. Will they buy another loved one? Why? Isn't F1 better under the umbrella of the gray men of CVC that under extravagant owners like Murdoch and Slim? I think so.

OMG, I'm old. I'm rooting for Tom Roth.

[Jersey Tom]

Shoulda known Murdock was up to somethin...

[Pup]

"As well as the Mexican telecoms billionaire, Rupert Murdoch's global media company has also held talks with at least one Formula 1 team about putting a consortium together to purchase the business, according to Sky News – which is itself owned partly by News Corp".

Maybe Ferrari wants to buy F1? Maybe McLaren? Will it be Mercedes? Would RedBull, the drink company, dare to?

Genii. Bernie seems to be buds with those two and they're on the hunt for a big investment. In fact, I'd bet that Bernie is involved.

In fact, I think the original story said 'people connected to at least one of F1’s big car manufacturers'. And that sounds a lot like Genii to me.

[Fil]

They can have all the meetings they like, but the FIA has the right of veto on any transfer of ownership.

Would the FIA allow a sale to the Murdoch empire? What's in it for them?

I guess everyone has their price..

[Martin Keene]

If Murdoch gets hold of it, say goodbye to free to view F1...

[ben_watkins]

If Murdoch gets hold of it, say goodbye to free to view F1...

Exactly! Fans should rise up and say NO to Murdoch!

World domination is the only thing on Murdoch's mind...

[wrigs]

I don't quite get why Formula One is even owned by a third party company like CVC or News Corp. in the first place. I would think that the teams would be far better off if they had shared ownership of a "Formula One Administration Company" (not the FOA we know, of course).

In fact, I don't quite understand the need for neither a third party regulatory body nor a third party administration. If the teams themselves both made the rules and managed the profits from the commercialisation of the sport, I imagine the long-term future of the sport would be much more secure. The primary concern of the FIA, then, should be to simply enforce the rules and regulations made by the teams.

[Alge7a]

See Joe seaward . All is explained. Well speculated.

[Richard]

Meanwhile ....

Bernie Ecclestone has said reports that Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is in talks to buy Formula One are "rubbish".

Also, if it did go ahead, the UK rights would not be allowed to go to Sky:

In 1998, News Corp tried to buy the Manchester United football team but was blocked by the Competition Commission because of Sky's dominance in broadcasting the sport.

From .... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13143365

[andrew]

Ahh Joe Saward, the king of speculation.

I read somewhere that Murdoch's empire is not too big in the US. As F1 is a global brand I wonder if he is looking to piggy back onto this, probably as a sponsor, in time for the US GP?

I wouldn't worry about F1 disappearing from freeview just yet as this is only a rumour and may come to nothing.

Which would make Murdoch for cash? Series sponsorship with minimal initial outlay, or outright ownership, considering MrE will (quite rightly) be asking for an extremely large sack of gold befiore he sells the rights to F1?

[Just_a_fan]

If Murdoch gets hold of it, say goodbye to free to view F1...

The Concord Agreemtn prevents that currently. There is a requirement for free-to-air in the very heart of F1. For now.

See also:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13143365

[Just_a_fan]

I don't quite get why Formula One is even owned by a third party company like CVC or News Corp. in the first place. I would think that the teams would be far better off if they had shared ownership of a "Formula One Administration Company" (not the FOA we know, of course).

In fact, I don't quite understand the need for neither a third party regulatory body nor a third party administration. If the teams themselves both made the rules and managed the profits from the commercialisation of the sport, I imagine the long-term future of the sport would be much more secure. The primary concern of the FIA, then, should be to simply enforce the rules and regulations made by the teams.

The whole "ownership" of F1 is rife with nepotism since Max sold the rights to his old mate Bernie. I wouldn't be surprised if Max made a few quid out of it himself too...

However, back to the point that F1, per se, isn't owned by anyone other than the FIA. Bernie's mates hold the commercial rights to F1 and get to make money from it by promoting it as they see fit (within the bounds set by various contracts etc). That's why Bernie is always looking for the next new race location - countries have been paying him lots of money to host GPs for the last few years. If this trend diminishes (as is likely) then we may see the rights being sold by CVC. At that point we might see the likes of Sky getting in on the deal.

As for the teams owning a share - I'm sure they'd love to but that isn't going to happen unless FOTA can leverage a deal to buy out CVC. And that's a lot of money.

As for free-to-air requirements, I could see a situation where it is shown live on Sky (for a fee, of course) and then shown as a highlights package or "live repeated" on a free station shortly afterwards. This sort of thing already happens in the UK where the BBC shows some races live (Oz, Japan etc) and then again at the "traditional" time for those who can't get out of bed for the live event. It's also happened with rugby matches where England have a deal with Sky so some England games are only shown as "live recorded" or highlight packages an hour or so after the game itself has finished.

With the increasing use of the 'net to provide content, I could see Sky showing the live race online for a per-race fee. I might sign up for something like that (if BT ever get me a decent connection speed!) but I certainly wouldn't buy a full Sky package just for the F1 races...