Apple Now Wants to Buy Streaming Rights for Formula 1 Racing
Following the success of "F1: The Movie," Apple now wants to buy the streaming rights to the Formula One World Championship itself, according to The Financial Times.
The company is now apparently in active talks to acquire the rights to stream Formula 1 in the United States. The move comes amid the success of "F1: The Movie," which is Apple's first major box office hit, earning over $300 million globally already.
The move puts Apple in competition with Disney, which is Formula 1's current American broadcaster, via its subsidiary ESPN. ESPN had exclusivity to negotiate a renewal deal without competition from other bidders until last year, and the process is now open to rivals.
Disney pays $85 million per year for the rights, and Formula 1 also charges fans directly for its own streaming service. Liberty Media, Formula 1's U.S. owners, hope that the Apple Original Film and Netflix's "Drive to Survive" documentary has increased the value of Formula 1.
Formula 1 viewership doubled from 554,000 to around 1.1 million in 2024, rising further to 1.3 million in the first 10 events tis year. The next U.S. Formula 1 streaming deal could now be worth in excess of $121 million a year—a considerable increase.
Apple moved into live sports streaming in 2022, and now streams Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer on Apple TV+, so adding Formula 1 to its portfolio is highly plausible. Following its run in theaters, "F1: the Movie" is expected to become available on Apple TV+ later in 2025.
Popular Stories
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28.
The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
Last week, details about unreleased Apple devices and future iOS features were shared by Macworld. This week, we learned where the information came from, plus we have more findings from the leak.
As it turns out, an Apple prototype device running an early build of iOS 26 was sold, and the person who bought it shared the software. The OS has a version number of 23A5234w, and the first...
Software from an iPhone prototype running an early build of iOS 26 leaked last week, giving us a glimpse at future Apple devices and iOS features. We recapped device codenames in our prior article, and now we have a list of some of the most notable feature flags that were found in the software code.
In some cases, it's obvious what the feature flags are referring to, while some are more...
The first foldable iPhone will feature a series of design and hardware firsts for Apple, according to details shared by the Weibo leaker known as Digital Chat Station.
According to a new post, via machine translation, Apple is developing what the leaker describes as a "wide foldable" device, a term used to refer to a horizontally oriented, book-style foldable with a large internal display....
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. iOS 26.2 is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation iPhone SE.
The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon.
Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week.
iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
Apple today released macOS Tahoe 26.2, the second major update to the macOS Tahoe operating system that came out in September. macOS Tahoe 26.2 comes five weeks after Apple released macOS Tahoe 26.1.
Mac users can download the macOS Tahoe update by using the Software Update section of System Settings.
macOS Tahoe 26.2 includes Edge Light, a feature that illuminates your face with soft...
Apple released the AirPods Max on December 15, 2020, meaning the over-ear headphones launched five years ago today. While the AirPods Max were updated with a USB-C port and new color options last year, followed by support for lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio this year, the headphones lack some of the features that have been introduced for newer generations of the regular AirPods and the ...
