Al Jazeera broadcasts Formula One for free
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 The race for sports fans has taken a new turn with Al Jazeera Sport’s purchase of the rights to broadcast Formula One, and its decision to air the content free of charge to motor sport enthusiasts across the region. Previous rights holder, ART Sports, had offered Formula One only on a pay-tv basis. Marwan Azar, head of the station’s international relations, told the MEB Journal that the content will remain free-to-air as long as the FIA, Federation Internationale des Automobiles, allows it: “Al Jazeera Sport was not conceived following a pay-tv model or pay-per-view. It is an open-for-all channel,” Azar said, in a reference to Al Jazeera’s forced encryptions of some European soccer league matches. “We fought back hard, but eventually since our footprint overlapped with other European broadcasters, we had to encrypt,” said Azar. Although Al Jazeera Sport’s footprint has not changed, Azar said airing the races would not threaten European broadcasters: “It is not easy viewing (Formula One) in a foreign language because commentators are constantly giving out information about the race and the sport in general.” He would not say how much Al Jazeera paid for the rights: “This kind of information is always classified.”
With around six sport channels targeting the Middle East market, only two, ART and Orbit, have adopted a full-time pay-TV model. Charles Balchin, head of ART Sports, believes that although ART and Al Jazeera are neck in neck in competition, a successful pay-TV business model is difficult to beat. “Advertising in the Middle East is still very young. The kind of figures I’ve seen handed around make it impossible to cover your costs based on advertising alone,” Balchin said. According to ART studies, Formula One was dropped because the rights that had to be paid were not in line with the revenues the sport would generate. “We spent thousands and thousands of pounds on research. Formula One in the region is not as popular as some might imagine,” Balchin said.
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