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Formula One latest victim of tough Dutch market

Formula One became the latest high-profile victim of the flagging Dutch television market, with commercial broadcaster RTL secured a rights-fee cut understood to be in the region of 60 per cent.
RTL’s new deal runs from 2010 to 2012, renewing a previous agreement. Formula One Management also had talks with rival commercial broadcaster SBS and considered a joint-offer from public service broadcaster NOS and pay-broadcaster Sport1.

The sports rights market has collapsed since billionaire entrepreneur John De Mol’s commercial channel Talpa folded in 2007 and the onset of the economic downturn in late 2008. The Dutch television advertising market fell almost nine per cent in 2009, forcing cost-saving measures at both RTL and SBS. NOS, which has also suffered budget cuts, secured a 65 per cent cut in Uefa’s Champions League fees last June.

Formula One was also not helped in the negotiations by a 16-per-cent drop in RTL’s Formula One audiences last season.

For more information see the latest issue of TV Sports Markets.