The channel RTL will show seven Formula 1 races on free TV in 2024. It is now clear which Grands Prix these will be.
Last December, RTL and the pay-TV broadcaster Sky announced a cooperation. This also includes the fact that the Cologne broadcaster is allowed to show several Formula 1 races this year.
A total of seven Grand Prix will be shown on RTL. It is now clear which races the two broadcasters have agreed on. RTL will first show the opening race of the season in Bahrain on March 2nd. It continues with the Grand Prix in Budapest/Hungary (July 21st), Spa-Francorchamps/Belgium (July 28th), Zandvoort/Netherlands (August 25th), Monza/Italy (September 1st) and Baku/Azerbaijan ( September 15th). The last race that RTL will broadcast is in Las Vegas (USA) on November 24th.
And: RTL doesn’t just show the races. The respective qualifying or sprint will also be broadcast by the Cologne broadcaster or on its streaming platform RTL+. All races can also be seen on Sky. The pay TV channel shows all 24 race weekends, with 17 of them being presented exclusively there.
Problem for Sky: Verstappen dominates
The agreement is part of a two-year partnership between Sky and long-standing rights holder RTL. The dominance of Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen cost Sky many viewers last season.
RTL was the regular Formula 1 channel on free TV from 1991 to the end of 2020. In 2021 and 2022, the Cologne broadcaster broadcast four races via sub-license, but decided against a new contract at the beginning of 2023 after declining TV ratings. The search for an RTL successor was unsuccessful, which is why Sky showed four races as free-to-air live broadcasts via YouTube, TikTok and Sky Sport.
Football is also part of the deal
In addition to Formula 1, the cooperation between the two broadcasters also affects the football business. In the future, Sky will be allowed to show two games per match day of the Europa League or the Europa Conference League, which were previously shown exclusively on RTL.
In return, RTL receives one English Premier League game per week. The station also hosts conference calls for the 2nd Bundesliga three times a year. One of them already happened last weekend at the start of the second half of the season. The other two are planned for the 32nd matchday of the current season and the start of the new season.