Sky has agreed a new broadcast partnership with Formula One Management, which extends until 2024.

However, in a massive blow to fans, from 2019, the sport will no longer be available free-to-air.

The new agreement comprises:

Exclusive: Sky Sports will be the home of 1 in the UK and Ireland from 2019 to 2024, offering live coverage of every Grand Prix.

Free to air: The British Grand Prix, together with highlights of all other races and qualifying sessions, will be shown on a 'free-to-air' basis.

Sky Sports Mix: Additionally at least two other 'prime time' live races a season will be offered on the soon-to-be-launched Sky Sports Mix along with other F1 content.

UHD: For the first time every race starting with the 2017 Championship will be shown in the stunning picture quality of Ultra High Definition via Sky Q, the next-generation home entertainment system.

Sky Sports F1 will continue to be the only place to watch each Grand Prix weekend live for the next three seasons in the UK, with 21 races live in 2016 beginning with the Australian Grand Prix last weekend.

"I am delighted that we will continue to work together," said Bernie Ecclestone. "Sky's commitment to the Sport and standard of coverage is second to none."

"This is a brilliant deal that takes Sky's partnership with F1 to the next level," added Barney Francis, managing director of Sky Sports. "Since 2012, we have demonstrated unrivalled commitment to F1, offering fans innovations including a dedicated channel and the very best broadcasting talent. We are delighted that we are strengthening our coverage for viewers even further, with live and exclusive F1 from 2019 and the chance to watch in Ultra High Definition for the first time from next season. We are pleased to support F1 and look forward to working with them to progress, develop and enhance coverage of the Championship during the agreement."

"I joined Sky Sports because I wanted to be part of a dedicated F1 channel with a total and long term commitment to the sport," said Martin Brundle. "And we have certainly delivered on that. In a fast changing media landscape, our coverage will get even better for F1 fans."

The announcement comes just a couple of hours after the drivers issued an open letter to the sport's powers-that-be, in which they called for an overhaul of F1's "obsolete" and "ill-structured" rule-making process and admitted to fears as to the direction the sport is heading.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Spindoctor, 25/03/2016 11:33

"I'm a footie fan, and have a much longer history as an F1 fan, dating back to the early 1960s. I refuse to pay the Murdoch Tax to watch Premier League. Over the last 5-10 years, as F1 continued its long, and probably terminal decline, I've sworn that I'll stop watching. Bernie and Rupert have made that decision for me. I guess I owe them my thanks.

Sky markets NOW Sports passes for £6.99 per 24hrs, which might include F1, I couldn't be bothered to work out if it does, or doesn't. If it's available,you'll be paying £14 to watch Qualifying & the race, so it makes it an expensive option."

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2. Posted by Steve 76 , 24/03/2016 23:41

""The Internet provides access to many surprising things, including the means to enjoy copyrighted content without paying for it. Whether it’s movies or TV shows, music, books, games, software or other protected digital content, the Internet offers users ways to get their entertainment fix free of charge. Naturally, copyright holders are right to try to fight piracy, which they do on a regular basis, but a court in the European Union on Thursday ruled in favour of a certain type of copyright infringement.

As long as an Internet user is streaming copyrighted content online, GigaOm reports that it’s legal for the user, who isn’t willfully making a copy of said content. If the user only views it directly through a web browser, streaming it from a website that hosts it, he or she is apparently doing nothing wrong.

The ruling is part of a complex legal battle between a European media service that used to include headlines and ledes from various news stories in daily digests sent to readers via email. Copyright holders including the Associated Press sued Meltwater, the company in question, in the U.S. and U.K.

In Europe, one of the case’s matters also concerned regular Internet users. The group suing Meltwater argued that recipients of Meltwater’s emails had to pay license fees for the content they received, and the court basically ruled that Internet users who see content online, without actually willingly making a copy of it, should not be held accountable for any resulting copyright infringement.

This doesn’t mean that website owners who host copyrighted content illegally, which can be accessed and streamed by Internet users, are off the hook though. It’s just the end-user that’s covered under existing law from having to pay any fines for streaming any kind of illegally hosted copyrighted content from the Internet. This should be good news for all those German Internet users who received fines at home for streaming certain porn videos from a site last year.

Following below, is a relevant quote of the court’s ruling, which can be accessed in its entirety by following the source links at the end of this post.

Article 5 of Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society must be interpreted as meaning that the copies on the user’s computer screen and the copies in the internet ‘cache’ of that computer’s hard disk, made by an end-user in the course of viewing a website, satisfy the conditions that those copies must be temporary, that they must be transient or incidental in nature and that they must constitute an integral and essential part of a technological process, as well as the conditions laid down in Article 5(5) of that directive, and that they may therefore be made without the authorisation of the copyright holders."

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3. Posted by Steve 76 , 24/03/2016 23:32

"6. Posted by JackTheCat, 13 hours ago"The Sky coverage is brilliant and now without losing viewers to the dreadful free to air offerings it can be even better. Great news!

At the end of the day it's not a lot of money to watch a sport you claim to love. Anyway I am sure if you are determined you will find a KODI box with a hooky illegal stream on it to cater for your thieving ways so you will still get it for 'free'!"

I pay to watch thanks and work in motor sport composite fabrication, So stick that in your pipe before you jump to conclusions,
There will be no f1 if it keeps going as it is.
I was just saying there is alternative ways to watch.
Funny how its illegal to stream (I always thought streaming was fine as long as you don't download and save)yet retailers sell the boxes legally.
I also go to the the f1 race weekends but will not do so after this year. Nor will I buy any more F1 related merchandise.

Plenty of cheaper alternatives with proper racing,"

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4. Posted by alfsboy, 24/03/2016 19:25

"Thats me out. I wont give Murdoch a brass farthing. "

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5. Posted by mickl, 24/03/2016 14:42

"As long as Sky lumps the F1 channel in with the sports package no amount of protestation by fans will have an effect as football fans far outnumber F1 fans. In effect the footie is subsidising F1 as Sky probably knows, if it does offer it as a standalone channel package it won't support itself financially.

I do think Bernie want's F1 to die along with him."

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6. Posted by GrahamG, 24/03/2016 14:11

"The final "nail in the coffin for me.
After many years of watching the sport deteriorate into a "fun fair" with the constant tinkering with the rules daft tyres and (if it's possible) even dafter "qualifying" and now no terrestrial viewing have finally made my decision. I didn't watch the Aussie GP and won't be watching any others this year. Basically if they don't want me to watch it I'm happy to oblige.
I'm going sports car racing where innovation is encouraged and tyres last!"

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7. Posted by Edgar Jessop, 24/03/2016 13:44

"I have cancelled my Sky subscription in protest. This will sideline F1, what a shame.
Hope Eccleston is happy with a bit more cash."

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8. Posted by ScottC, 24/03/2016 12:15

"I started watching F1 around the time the BBC got serious in the early '80s (which would coincide with Bernie's land grab) but I'd watched it on and off whenever it was on. Since 2009 though, I've become more of a fan of what has become WEC so I've been weaning myself off F1 since then. Over the years it's been mostly good but the last 4 seasons (last 2 of Vettel and first 2 of Hamilton domination) I have found that I only have a passing interest so I won't be paying whatever it is Sky require (I saw someone quote £55 per month on FB) to watch and hence from 2019 it will be, "Adios F1" for me."

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9. Posted by JackTheCat, 24/03/2016 10:05

"The Sky coverage is brilliant and now without losing viewers to the dreadful free to air offerings it can be even better. Great news!

At the end of the day it's not a lot of money to watch a sport you claim to love. Anyway I am sure if you are determined you will find a KODI box with a hooky illegal stream on it to cater for your thieving ways so you will still get it for 'free'!"

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10. Posted by Darvi, 24/03/2016 9:14

"I share the views below and also will not pay Sky to watch F1. It's ironic that, at a time that the sport has lost its way and needs strong leadership and support, CVC/FOM are alienating so many enthusiasts. I think they have overlooked the volume of alternative (free) entertainment. I hope that they get what they deserve."

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11. Posted by slim, 24/03/2016 8:30

"Lets stop the talk and ACT NOW, people power can win but only if EVERYBODY refuses to pay, how many races do you think will pass before something gives, imagine no income for Murdoch from pay to view and then the advertisers will drop out from both Sky and later the teams, ultimately CVC could end up with a worthless investment, how nice to see all of them getting the final justice they deserve, me ? I'll still get my racing satisfaction by going to Goodwood and other such events. Don't let the *******s grind you down this it's far to important OK !"

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12. Posted by TokyoAussie, 24/03/2016 0:46

"Japan dropped its last free-to-air coverage this year. The only way to watch F1 in 2016 is pay TV. The channel that broadcasts F1 costs 1,000 yen (or about US$10), so it's not an outrageous cost, but you still need a cable TV or satellite TV subscription to receive it, so a lot of fans here cannot watch the sport anymore.

The big grab for money, which immediately heads off to CVC and not back into the sport, is surely killing F1."

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13. Posted by Steve 76 , 23/03/2016 23:46

"Long time f1 fan,Will be no point going to a race weekend if we cannot follow the season without paying.
Less money going into tracks ,merchandise and bernie pockets.
Why can sky not let us pay for 1 channel instead of making us pay for complete sport package?
(http://www.wirelesshack.org/a-guide-to-kodi-and-watching-free-movies-and-tv-shows.html)KODI TV

Oh well at least I'll be able to watch some proper racing, tt, road racing, touring cars, superbikes and hill climbs at local tracks and still save money compared to f1 ticket prices.(riders and drivers are a bit more down to earth too)

Bernie is determined to kill f1 off then,don't need young fans,don't need social media,don't need viewers.
When does he think the current 40 to 50 years old started watching f1.
He just wants the money.
"

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14. Posted by jo6pac, 23/03/2016 20:49

"Yep turned off satellite a few yrs ago and I might watch 2 races a year an the Spanish channel in Calif. for free."

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15. Posted by Ro, 23/03/2016 19:59

"So, after 2019, unless you pay the scumbags at SKY, F1 will not be shown on terrestial TV? Joke...I for one will not pay either. Ive already stopped buying Autosport (Sorry for swearing Chris) as I think Pitpass is by far a better way of following F1. A warning to Bernie E .... no terrestial coverage, F1 is dead "

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Sky extends F1 coverage deal to 2024

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