Well, spiritual home, that is. As of next season the television rights have been bought by the BBC, three years into a five-year contract between Bernie Ecclestone and ITV.
Now, I'm no legal expert but I should expect that Bernie must have put a clause in that contract about breaking the contract if a better offer is recieved or some such.
Nor do I know much about the financial side of the BBC's Sports department, but as ITV had reputedly paid over £30million to show five seasons, the BBC must have spent a substancial tad more to win the rights for coverage. This will probably be to the detriment of other sports coverage on the Beeb (I hope it's football that suffers most!).
The best thing about this deal though, is that as of next season, we won't have to put up with badly-timed advertising breaks. We will be able to enjoy every moment of every race from grid to flag.
Now all I want to know is this - Will they be using "The Chain" as the theme music? Please let it be so!
2008-03-21 @ 16:24