Sky and Formula 1 have announced a new multi-year deal that keeps Sky Sports as the exclusive home of live F1 coverage in the UK and Ireland until the end of the 2034 season.
It’s a five-year extension on top of the existing agreement, which was already locked in until 2029.
Under the deal, Sky Sports and its streaming service NOW will remain the only places to watch every practice session, qualifying, sprint race and Grand Prix live. That’s been the case since 2019, and it’ll now be the case for another eight or nine seasons yet.
If you’re keeping count, that’s over two decades of Sky holding the live F1 rights by the time 2034 rolls around.
What You Can Watch for Free
For viewers without a Sky Sports subscription, the current arrangement allows Channel 4 to show highlights of every race, as well as live coverage of the British Grand Prix in full – including practice and qualifying at Silverstone.
That’s been a useful option for fans who don’t want to pay for a full Sky Sports package just to follow the season.
The catch is that Channel 4’s arrangement with Sky only runs until the end of 2026. Today’s announcement extends Sky’s position all the way to 2034 – but there’s been no official word yet on whether Channel 4 will continue carrying highlights beyond this year.
The announcement does mention that free-to-air highlights and live coverage of the British Grand Prix “will continue to be made available” – but doesn’t specify through whom, or for how long beyond the current arrangement.
How to Watch F1 Without a Full Sky Subscription
If you don’t have Sky but want to watch live, NOW is the more flexible route. You don’t need a Sky contract – you can sign up directly through NOW at a few different price points, depending on how much F1 (and other sports) you plan to watch.
As of this writing, there are a few NOW Sports deals available – but only if you’re willing to sign up for longer:
- Sports Day Membership – £14.99 for 24 hours of access. Good if you just want to catch a specific race weekend without any ongoing commitment.
- Sports Saver – £27.99/month on a 6-month minimum term (then £34.99/month). The cheapest monthly option, but you are committing to six months upfront.
- Sports Flexible – £34.99/month with no contract. Cancel any time.
- Sports + Entertainment + Boost – £31.99/month on a 6-month minimum term, bundling in Sky’s entertainment channels (without HBO Max) and Boost (which adds Full HD streaming and ad-free on-demand). After the six months, it reverts to £34.99 for Sports and £7.99 for Entertainment separately unless you cancel.
A quick note on picture quality: standard NOW Sports streams without Boost are not in Full HD. If that matters to you, factor in the Boost cost.
For occasional viewers, the £14.99 day pass is probably the most sensible option – particularly for a specific race you don’t want to miss.
For those who want to follow the whole season, the Sports Saver is the best value if you’re comfortable with the six-month minimum.
The Numbers
Today’s announcement leans heavily on viewing figures, and they are impressive. Sky says 2025 was the most-watched F1 season ever on its platform, recording 162 million viewer hours across the year.
Since taking exclusive live rights in 2019, total viewing has reportedly grown by 90%, with under-35s up 120% and female viewership more than doubling.
Some of that is down to Sky’s coverage itself – the SkyPad analysis, Ted’s Notebook, Martin Brundle‘s grid walks – which has a loyal following.
Some of it is almost certainly Netflix’s Drive to Survive effect, which brought a wave of new fans to the sport earlier this decade.
Either way, the numbers have moved in the right direction for both parties, which is presumably why they’ve been happy to lock things in for another decade.
Dana Strong, Group CEO of Sky, said: “We’re proud of the role we’ve played in supporting the sport’s growth through world-class storytelling, innovation and long-term investment. This new agreement secures Sky as the home of Formula 1 for years to come.”
What Else the Deal Covers
Alongside the main F1 calendar, the agreement includes Formula 2, Formula 3, F1 Academy and the Porsche Supercup – so the junior categories and the next generation of drivers coming through are all part of the package.
Sky’s sports add-on currently costs £20/month on a 24-month contract for existing Sky TV customers. For anyone who just wants F1 and doesn’t want to commit to a full Sky package, NOW remains the more practical option.
The Bottom Line
This is largely a “more of the same” announcement. If you’re already watching F1 on Sky or NOW, nothing changes. If you’ve been relying on Channel 4 for highlights, the next few months may bring some clarity on what happens from 2027.
And if you’ve been holding out hope that live F1 might return to free-to-air television any time soon – this deal makes that extremely unlikely for the foreseeable future.
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Even F1 TV is a con. Apparently there are three levels of subscription (Access, Pro & Premium). Pro and Premium give you access to watch live races – but these levels aren’t available for audiences in the UK…because of Sky exclusivity. Sometimes life is cruel.
Sky used to do a One Sport package for about £16 a month. Expensive for one sport but vastly cheaper than £28 for all sports.
Sadly, that has stopped, or at least they stopped it for those of us who stream Sky.
I pay £22/month for Sky Streaming. Adding Sport would double that figure. What pensioner can afford that?
Another thing – whilst we are on the subject of things about F1 that annoy us – British F1 drivers were born here, educated for free here, treated by the nhs for free here and then when they start making megabucks they move to Monaco. I struggle to support drivers who refuse to pay UK taxes. I pay my taxes, always have. I see them as my civic duty. When I started working (for very little income I might add) the basic rate of income tact in the UK was 33%. So I’ve paid high taxes. These guys disgust me.
I’ve been a faithful follower of F1 since my dad took me to see Jim Clark in the early sixties. Now I’m a disabled pensioner struggling to make ends meet and Sky has priced the only sport I watch so high I can no longer watch it.
Whilst I’m pleased that F1 is safer today, it’s also less exciting. I never agreed with DRS and don’t agree with ‘overtake’ mode’, as no other sport gives advantages to the person behind against the person in front. It isn’t fair racing.
I also don’t think that any car should be allowed to aim at another car on the front row of the grid. But I am old, and in F1, poor old people don’t count.
I predict viewing figures will be down year on year from now on, the pursuit of the green agenda with hybrid cars has taken a lot away for drivers and enthusiasts alike …. so subs may come down or at least not increase. Im loosing interest fast !
It’s not been about F1 or the Fans since Murey days
It’s about Money Money
It’s discusting to lock it down for so many years sooner Sky go bust the Better
I cancelled sky last year but never had Sporys to Expensive
It’s a long time ago now when F1 was on the BBC and commentary by Murray Walker, arguably you could say that’s when F1 started to get popular and accessible.
Now it’s even more a mercilessly commercial business where F1 is just a product to be sold at the best price possible. The new regulations for this year, for me, have taken away the enjoyment of watching the “racing” even just the highlights, so I’m not tempted to pay to view. I suppose I’ll see how the season progresses and also see what C4 does but I can’t see me boosting the bottom line of Sky/Liberty Media Corporation any time soon.
You should be able to AirPlay or Google cast content up to the LG or Samsung TV from a mobile device if you download the app onto a smart phone or a tablet if you download the F1 TV app off the App Store, whichever one you use.
Anyone tried VPN and Apple TV to get F1?
This is terrible news, locking it up for so long.
Whilst it may have grown audiences, it’s also because you can’t get it elsewhere.
We don’t all have the budget. It won’t matter to sky that I don’t plan to subscribe, and unless C4 continue, I will no longer be following F1 on screen.
I’m glad I was there at the tracks, and on tv for the glory days of 1960’s to 2010’s.
You can get F1 TV for the year at £19.99 but you can only watch highlights I agree you this decision is an outrage not impressed what a disgrace!
I thought F1 TV was not available in the UK
So F1 TV is available in the UK however you can’t download it on Samsung tvOS or LG webOS or TiVo OS devices it is £20 for the year you’ll get all of the highlights including extended highlights all current season races and all the old races are available as full replay upon there but the full races don’t come on F1 until a year later sky hold the full replay until after the season has ended so they usually come up on the platform a year later on top of that you cannot watch my races unless you sign up for sky. I know it’s a bad deal but for 20 quid cause she costs and you have to buy sky I know it’s not the perfect solution, but it’s a legal way around the issue.
https://f1tv.formula1.com/
Thanks,
I have an LG tv, so I’d guess I can’t get it on the TV. How odd, unless that’s deliberate.
Watching F1 on a small screen is a waste of tge spectacle, imho.
What does this mean for F1 TV because that’s £20 for the year does that mean seen as Sky run F1 TV. Will the F1 TV will be expanded to new TV platforms such as LG webOS Samsung TV OS & TiVo OS. Or is this announcement? Not acknowledge any of that it’s a good question to ask?
Sky don’t run F1TV. That’s run by F1 themselves.
Annoyingly in many other regions F1TV includes full live coverage of every session with the ability to watch onboard cameras and stuff both live and on demand with everything been available to watch on demand immediately after the session ends.
However due to Sky deal in the UK F1TV Pro isn’t available so we don’t get live coverage or full session or races replays of current season races. All that’s available in the UK is the archive and 30 minute highlights for the current season.
It’s a shame as the F1TV coverage in terms of commentary and analysis is way better than Sky.
We ditched Sky as soon as F1TV was launched in 2018 and have been watching via a VPN.
At the moment you can also see highlights on sky one(I’m with virgin but get sky one in package)