F1 rights bring with it an audience of between 200,000 and 400,000 subscribers, according to industry figures. Across the past decade, the championship has added five more race weekends, with 24 different circuits on the 2025 calendar.
The F1 season would complement Stan’s existing motor sports offering, which includes Indycar, the World Endurance Championship, and the World Rally Championship. Stan also holds the rights to all four tennis grand slams, as well as the Summer and Winter Olympics and the Paralympics.
Last month, Nine agreed to a new broadcast rights deal with Rugby Australia worth $210 million across five years. Wallabies, Wallaroos and Super Rugby matches will air across Nine, 9Now and Stan. Nine owns Stan, and is also the owner of this masthead.
Stan’s subscriber base has stagnated over the past few years, facing increasing competition from international streamers with more money for programming.
Meanwhile, Foxtel has a much more extensive suite of motorsports rights, which includes NASCAR, MotoGP and the Supercars championship. Its rights package for the latter also expires in 2025.
It is one of several negotiation battles Foxtel faces this year, with its partnership with the NRL also set to be tested, while also recently losing its exclusive access to ESPN, the broadcaster of the NBA and NFL, now also offered as part of a Disney+ subscription.
F1’s broadcast rights are being sold separately in Australia to an ongoing process in the United States, however a bid by Netflix for the global rights has been speculated. The sport’s interest has grown significantly in the US since its last renegotiation with ESPN, the US now hosting three races.
