The new agreement includes the coverage of the three free practice sessions on Fridays and Saturdays, qualifying sessions on Saturday afternoons and races on Sundays.
Commenting on the deal, Ian Holmes, Director of Media Rights at Formula 1, said: “Germany is one of the most important countries for Formula 1, where motors sport has deep roots, and RTL Television has been a fantastic and loyal partner for many years. The extension of the agreement comes as a natural consequence of such a strong and mutually fruitful relationship and will guarantee that our fans in Germany will continue to watch Grands Prix on free TV. The agreement is part of our strategy that aims to increase and strengthen television coverage on a worldwide basis, whilst tailoring it to the characteristics of each TV market.”
Frank Hoffman, Managing Director of Programs at RTL Television 1 said: “I’m very pleased that as a free-to-air TV station we were able to secure one of the most attractive sports rights packages out there in such a bitterly contested market. We now want to take this long-running success story that we share with Formula 1 and make it into an exciting future project. The new owners have now entered into a new and exciting era together with us and all of our experience, know-how and innovative power will be at their side.”
The agreement with RTL Television is added to the others which have been sealed throughout 2017: among them Australia, France and United States. RTL is one of the historical TV partners of Formula 1, having broadcast the races live from 1984 to 1988 and then from 1991 onwards. The audience figures for 2017 recorded an average of 4.295m viewers per race, with the average live share slightly increasing from 25.1% to 26.2% compared to 2016.