Originally Posted by The Full Sparky:
“I think it might also be a bit more complicated than, you've paid a pound more than terrestrial broadcasters, here's the rights - given the impact on advertising and sponsorship revenue.”
Audience numbers would certainly get taken into account, but it's not just a few quid difference in the offerings. I believe the BBC were paying just under £30m/season when they held live rights to all the races in 2009-2011. I'm seeing suggestions that Sky will be paying in the region of £100-150m/season.
Originally Posted by Ten_Ben:
“How on earth is that going to pay for itself? No-one on this thread (or elsewhere that I've seen) has said they're planning to subscribe to Sky, so that can only mean whopping price rises which will potentially lead to a proportion of other subscribers cancelling.”
As you say, prices will have to go up, cutbacks will be made to the production (such as happened with The F1 Show & Midweek Report this season) and more advertising (would not be surprised to see Sky adopt the same ad-scheduling as C4 will be using as soon as they gain exclusivity with a quick 1-advert break just before the formation lap and another during the slowdown lap).
Sky's Premier League football rights double in price from this August I believe as well (to around £1400m/season) so there's plenty of money that they need to claw back.