CCTV wins F1 broadcast rights in China
Details
Rebecca Hawkes
| 22 March 2018

State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) has won rights to air Formula One (F1) motor racing, beginning this Sunday (25 March) with the Australian Grand Prix.


CCTV will show around 100 hours of live coverage during the new F1 season, comprising both qualifying races and each Grand Prix. Action will be available on the CCTV-5 and CCTV-5 Plus sports channels, along with the CCTV-5 mobile app and the CCTV sports website.

Free-to-air broadcaster CCTV first began broadcasting F1 in 1994. Since 2002, pay-TV operator Great Sports has held rights to air the sport in China.

“We are very happy to bring back Formula One on CCTV,” said Ian Holmes, Formula One’s director of media rights. “CCTV is the dominant broadcaster in China, with more than 1.1 billion people watching its channels each year, offering our sport an extraordinary opportunity for Formula One to engage with mass audiences.”

The rights deal will help the motor racing body with its ambitious plan to significantly grow the fan base and deepen engagement with our sport” in the key market of China, said Formula One director of strategy Yath Gangakumaran.

Fang Gang, CCTV’s director of sports channels, added: “Since 1994, the partnership between CCTV and Formula One has brought the pinnacle of motorsport to China and more than one generation of fans grew up with this combination.

“Formula One remains one of the best spectacles on the planet and technical regulations in recent years highlight the sport’s emphasis on sustainability which is close to CCTV’s vision.”