Apple is once again getting involved in motorsport: The tech giant is apparently offering Liberty Media over $150 million per season for Formula 1 TV rights
US tech company Apple has apparently made an offer to acquire the broadcasting rights for Formula 1 in the US. This was reported by online business magazine Business Insider, citing an unnamed source who is allegedly familiar with the current state of negotiations.
BusinessF1 first reported on Apple’s alleged interest in Formula 1 back in October 2023. At the time, there was speculation that the US company was even aiming for a global TV deal for its in-house streaming service Apple TV+, worth up to two billion US dollars per year.
Since then, the Formula 1 movie “F1 – The Movie” starring Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt in one of the leading roles was released in June 2025. The blockbuster has grossed $360 million to date, making it one of the most commercially successful cinema projects of summer 2025. Apple produced “F1 – The Movie” and will make it available exclusively on Apple TV+ for streaming in the future.
Against this backdrop, it seems logical to now also acquire the live broadcasting rights for Formula 1 races. According to Business Insider, the offer submitted to rights holder Liberty Media is said to be $150 million or more per season.
This would be a quantum leap for Formula 1 in terms of monetizing US broadcasting rights. The current broadcaster, ESPN, acquired these rights in 2018 and originally paid nothing for the deal. Following the success of the Netflix documentary series “Drive to Survive” in the US, ESPN is now said to be paying Formula 1 between $75 million and $90 million per year.
Viewing figures have doubled since 2018. Currently, around 1.3 million US viewers watch each Grand Prix. That is a lot by American standards, compared to previous years. However, it is still low by global standards. Even in Germany, RTL still reaches around 1.5 million viewers. And that’s with 83 million Germans compared to 340 million Americans.
ESPN seems to have withdrawn from the negotiations for the future. According to information from Business Insider, the sports channel, which is part of the Disney Group, is not prepared to bid for the high sums being asked for the next TV contract in the US.
Meanwhile, Liberty Media has agreed a multi-year contract with Brazilian broadcaster Globo for Formula 1 broadcasting rights, which will come into effect in 2026. Globo had been showing the pinnacle of motorsport live on Brazilian television for four decades until the end of 2020, when the contract was lost to the TV network Rede Bandeirantes.
Globo has secured exclusive broadcasting rights for Brazil. The contract stipulates that 15 Grands Prix will be shown on free-to-air television. Anyone who wants to watch the entire season with all sessions live will have to subscribe to Globo’s pay-TV service. This is a similar situation to Germany, where only Sky really shows all sessions live, but selected races are sublicensed to RTL.
