The BBC and Sky Sports will share the rights to Formula 1 between 2012 and 2018 under a new rights deal.
In a groundbreaking but controversial deal, the pay-TV broadcaster will screen every session of each grand prix live – including all free practice sessions, qualifying and the race.
The BBC will broadcast half the races live, as well as the qualifying and practice sessions from those races.
The corporation has already confirmed that they will show the Monaco Grand Prix, British Grand Prix and the final race of the season.
Highlights of the races it is not showing live will be shown in the evenings on BBC TV.
If there are an odd number of races in the season, the final selection will be screened exclusively live by Sky Sports.
The BBC has been the exclusive broadcaster of F1 in the UK since 2009, after taking over the rights from ITV.
But its contract with Formula One Management was due to expire after the 2013 season, and the corporation were under pressure to axe its Formula 1 broadcasts entirely to make savings as part of its wider cost-cutting drive.
The level of the licence fee was frozen, which prompted the BBC to embark on a 20% cost-cutting exercise aimed at saving £600m a year by 2014.
The BBC is expected to save up to £30m a year as a result of scaling back its Formula 1 coverage.
Axing a selection of its prestigious but expensive sporting events was one of the proposals put forward, with all of its top sports under threat.
But the new F1 deal ensures a sustainable compromise between pay and pivotal free-to-air exposure for the sport, its commerical partners, sponsors, and viewers.
It is the third time in the history of UK Formula 1 broadcasting that two channels will be transmitting Formula 1. BBC and Eurosport shared coverage in the 1990s, while ITV and the Sky-owned pay-per-view service F1 Digital+ went head-to-head in 2002.
Both broadcasters will make their Formula 1 programming available online and via mobile devices, and a whole host of interactive options will be made available to viewers.
Sky Sports has confirmed to Autosport that they will not screen any commercial breaks during its race coverage, and they will not resurrect its pay-per-view F1 Digital + service, which was part of Bernie Ecclestone’s failed pay-per-view operation that ran on the Sky Digital platform in 2002.
“We won’t have adverts while the races are running. We know they were very unpopular in the past and we don’t have to go down that route,” a Sky Sports spokesperson said.
The broadcaster promises to revolutionise the sport by giving it ‘the full Sky Sports treatment’.
“This is fantastic news for F1 fans and Sky Sports will be the only place to follow every race live and in HD,” said Barney Francis, Managing Director of Sky Sports.
“As well as unrivalled build up to each race on Sky Sports News, we will broadcast in-depth live coverage of every session.
“We will give F1 the full Sky Sports treatment with a commitment to each race never seen before on UK television.”
Whilst relinquishing exclusivity, the BBC will continue to show Formula 1 on its free-to-air platforms for the next seven years.
“We are absolutely delighted that F1 will remain on the BBC,” said Barbara Slater, Director of BBC Sport.
“The sport has never been more popular with TV audiences at a 10 year high and the BBC has always stated its commitment to the big national sporting moments.
“With this new deal not only have we delivered significant savings but we have also ensured that through our live and extended highlights coverage all the action continues to be available to licence fee payers.”
In an interview for BBC Sport, Slater added that the corporation has to be “pragmatic” in a “tough financial climate”.
But the loss of exclusive rights to Formula 1 could help the BBC when it comes to retaining the rights to other flagship sports events, such as Wimbledon and the Six Nations.
Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone hailed the deal as “super”.
“There will be highlights as well as live coverage on two different networks now, so we get the best of both worlds,” he said.
In his Evening Standard column, BBC presenter Jake Humphrey said: “I’d like to start by saying how proud I am of the past two-and-a-half years of F1 coverage on the BBC.
“The aim of the whole team was to try to bring the viewers as close to possible to a sport that, at times, can seem very alien to the wider public.
“I guess it is with that in mind that it is with a little sadness that we won’t be covering every race live from 2012 onwards.
“On the flip side, it is important to retain perspective and to point out that the BBC will still be the place to come to for broad, inclusive F1 coverage.
The presenter also commended its rival for revolutionising sports coverage in the UK, but fears a backlash from casual F1 fans over the new arrangement.
“Sky has done wonderful things with cricket and football, it offers incredible depth of the sports it covers and has already signalled its intention to take the sport to new levels.
“We’ll see how a sport that is so dependent on big TV audiences will react to the news of partly non-free-to-air F1 coverage.”
Daily Telegraph’s Formula 1 correspondent Tom Cary said that fans were lulled into a false sense of security by Bernie Ecclestone’s assurances that the sport would stay free-to-air, considering the pressure on the BBC to cut costs, and the lukewarm interest from other terrestrial broadcasters.
“It has been almost overlooked amid the howls of outrage that the BBC has in fact extended its coverage for a further five years (it was due to end in 2013) until 2018.
“The best races are remaining on free-to-air, which is much better than you get with football on the BBC, while the rest of the season will be covered by highlights shows. That is still get a very good service for the licence payer.
“And for those who do have Sky it promises to be a fascinating era with different commentators/innovations.
“The media landscape is shifting at an extraordinary rate and the concept of a sport such as Formula One remaining on one free-to-air platform is probably outdated.”
BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra will continue to broadcast exclusive coverage of every session at each grand prix.
