F1 | The failure of the national team to qualify for the World Cup shocks Rai: is a move towards Formula One ready?

The sensational exit of the national team from the next world championships in Russia could significantly change the situation regarding the assignment of rights linked to Formula One. According to reports The RepublicIn fact, Rai could shift part of the budget initially budgeted for the World Championship to Formula One, trying to broadcast all twenty-one Grands Prix of the next 2018 world championship. The failure of the national team to qualify has practically halved the cost of the rights linked to World Cup (initially an outlay of 180 million was hypothesized, but after the draw at San Siro the same sum was practically halved, dropping to around 70 million. Ed.), opening up to a sensational possibility of an agreement with Sky.

Rai has already made a proposal to Liberty Media for the division of the rights, but has not yet received any response from the US management. In Viale Mazzini they focus strongly on this aspect and hope that the new fan policy adopted by Liberty can open a glimmer of understanding with all the parties involved. Sky itself, at the moment, seems to be the biggest obstacle for the transmission of free-to-air rights. Murdoch's TV has put forward a proposal of 80 million for the acquisition of all the Grands Prix, obviously to be broadcast live and exclusively, and an offer of this type would be out of reach for Italian TV.

Rai's objective would be to speak directly with pay TV, perhaps aiming for a larger agreement which would also include a Champions League match to be broadcast on Wednesday. The dream would be to have all twenty-one GPs free-to-air and on pay TV, but presumably a similar agreement to this year's will be reached, with nine events free-to-air and the rest deferred. Rai would continue to broadcast the races, while Sky (which is studying coordination from Milan to lower management costs. ed.) would receive around 30 million from the outlay of the rights. The possibility of broadcasting appointments on TV8 in MotoGP style is still alive, but at the moment such a hypothesis does not seem to be convenient for anyone.

There will be further news within a few weeks.

Roberto Valenti