F1 News
Marko thinks Liberty Media is 'naive': 'They still have to make compromises'
- GPblog.com
Just as in England, Formula 1 will disappear behind the payment wall in Germany. After years of seeing the sport on the open channel of RTL, it will now go to Sky Sports. A good choice, according to Helmut Marko.
''The figures will indeed drop temporarily, but Sky wanted to pay four times as much as RTL, so the teams also benefit from this with the distribution of the money from Liberty Media. However, this income is not important to us as Red Bull'', says Helmut Marko to Der Spiegel.
Germany loses a lot of viewers
In Germany, 4.7 million people are watching Formula 1. 4.1 million people watch via RTL and more than 550,000 people watch via Sky. A big difference, but according to Marko, you don't have to worry so much about that. ''Experience shows that these figures go up by themselves. Sky will make some offers, broadcast free races and then that difference will just be bridged again'', says the top man of Red Bull Racing.
Marko, however, is less enthusiastic about Liberty Media. ''They are very direct, but sometimes a bit naive. They don't fully understand the political process in Formula 1 either. In fact, they have now bought a company (Formula 1), without fully owning the house. They have to make compromises with the FIA and ten teams'', Marko concludes critically.