Media giant IMG is to produce the BBC’s 5 Live Formula 1 coverage for the next two seasons after winning a competitive tender process.
The incumbents, USP Content, have produced the coverage since 2006, but that arrangement has now ended. The production contract, valued by the BBC at around £325,000 per season, will cover a preview show on Thursday evening, every session live, a pre and post-season review and the post-race Chequered Flag podcast.
The commissioning brief released by the BBC expressed a desire to increase their podcast download figures, as well as tackling the Thursday preview show in a different way.
The brief also implies that the current broadcasting line-up of Jack Nicholls, Jennie Gow and Jolyon Palmer is to remain in place for 2019.
USP Content helped launch the Formula 1 broadcasting careers ofcurrent Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft, Anthony Davidson, and reporter Natalie Pinkham, who all started with the sport on 5 Live.
In the second half of 2018, IMG Studios grabbed won production rights to Quest’s Football League highlights and coverage of the US PGA Championship on Eleven Sports.
With only one race live on free-to-air television, there will be a greater emphasis on the BBC’s radio coverage of F1.
