According to Business Insider, Netflix is participating in the auction for the rights to broadcast Formula 1 races in live streaming, a contract currently in the hands of Disney/ESPN.
100 million dollars for the rights of F1 in the USA
NBCUniversal and Amazon Studios are among the other contenders for those rights, owned by Liberty Media which is asking for $100 million for the 2023 season, five times what Disney/ESPN is currently paying. Netflix CEO -Ted Sarandos- had said in the past that his company did not want to enter these bidding wars for the broadcast of live sporting events, unlike Amazon Prime Video for example. But following a very disappointing first quarter, Netflix may reconsider its position in order to attract new subscribers.
The success of the F1 documentary series: Drive to Survive probably also plays into this new orientation of the OTT service.
