Apple just closed their F1 deal, and I think it’s good news for me?
Apple Newsroom: Apple Is the Exclusive New Broadcast Partner for Formula 1® in the U.S.
F1 TV Premium, F1’s own premier content offering, will continue to be available in the U.S. via an Apple TV subscription only and will be free for those who subscribe.
Apple TV will deliver comprehensive coverage of Formula 1, with all practice, qualifying, Sprint sessions, and Grands Prix available to Apple TV subscribers. Select races and all practice sessions will also be available for free in the Apple TV app throughout the course of the season.
I've said before that I think F1 TV is an absolutely perfect sports streaming service. It gives you live, commercial free feed to every single practice, qualifying, sprint, and grand prix session throughout the year. It has additional programming, and it has archives of every practice, qualifying, sprint, and grand prix session for the past several decades, so you can easily go back and watch historic events. And it does all of this at a very reasonable $100-150 per year subscription.
From the sound of things, it appears I'll be saving about $100 per year, as this will be bundled into Apple TV+, which I already pay for. That's great news, and I'm also happy to see that Apple does not appear to be doing their own commentary or programming here. I'll get to continue listening to the cast and crew of F1 TV that I really enjoy. However, Apple's announcement doesn't make it clear if previous races will be available, so I guess I can just hope for now.
Shortly after this announcement was made, I got an email from F1 TV, informing me of basically the same information, as well as the fact that my annual subscription will not renew in March as it normally would. As an American, I will not have the option to sign up for the service at all, as Apple TV is the only way to watch. Again, everything here sounds good. I just really hope I can still watch those old races and qualifying sessions like I can today.
