And the winner is… Speedvision. With just three days to go to the season opening race in Melbourne a decision has finally been announced concerning where U.S. Formula 1 fans will be able to see this year’s races.
Speedvision founder and CEO Roger Werner announced this morning that his network had reached an agreement with Formula One for exclusive U.S. broadcast rights to the 2001 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season. Actually the deal is not quite exclusive to Speedvision as the U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis will probably also be carried by one of the major broadcast networks. There is no news yet on which network it will be but ABC and FOX could both be possibilities. ABC and its ESPN cable sports network apparently lost out to Speedvision in an attempt to carry the entire 2001 season and FOX Sports Net — which has carried tape delayed overseas events and live U.S. and Canadian races for the past three years — seems to have been left out of the new deal.
For exact air times of races and qualifying sessions see the listings on the Speedvision Web site.