Formula One broadcast returns to India beyond the ambit of the F1 subscription as Fancode bagged a multi-year broadcasting deal to live-stream the races this season.
The sport’s popularity has soared in recent years, driven in part by the success of Netflix show ‘Drive to Survive’.
The sport’s commercial rights holders Liberty Media have capitalised by adding new venues in the Middle East, some returning classics in Europe and three races in America, with Miami and Las Vegas joining long-time fixture Austin.
Teams have begun to rotate personnel to cope with the demands of such a long calendar while pre-season testing this year was reduced to just three days.
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In January 2020, Formula One released an official broadcast report, which listed India as one of the biggest followers of the sport, with 31.1 million fans. However, in 2023, F1 failed to sign a broadcasting deal with Star Sports, which has been the official broadcaster of Formula One for ages, in the country.
As a result, motorsports fans were forced to rummage for streaming channels, and land at F1 TV, the official streaming service started by Formula One racing.
But this year, the baton moved to FanCode, which will now stream the longest-ever F1 season, consisting of 24 races starting February 29 in Bahrain, across multiple devices including smart TVs, mobile phones, and tablets.
(with inputs from Reuters)
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