Hamilton helps F1 with TV pay day

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has a lot to thank Lewis Hamilton for.

The sport's rights holder recently signed a bumper five-year television-rights deal with the BBC thought to be worth up to $300m. Beginning in 2009, it will see Formula One broadcast on the BBC's sport website, radio and television channels.

The extra money offered by the BBC -- an estimated $5m-$10m annually -- appears to have convinced Ecclestone to exercise an option to exit a deal with ITV, a private free-to-air British channel, two years early.

Hamilton inadvertently helped push up Ecclestone's asking price.

At the end of last season ITV said there had been an increase of around 40 percent in the average number of viewers per race to 3.3 million compared with 2006.

Largely attributed to the "Hamilton effect," the sport also saw a five percent boost in its global audience thanks to the tense finish which saw Kimi Raikkonen, Hamilton and Fernando Alonso vying for the title right to the end of the season.

Ecclestone said he was excited and that the BBC had some innovative ideas to consolidate and expand its UK fan base.

The BBC, meanwhile, dubbed it the return home of the world's "biggest motor sporting event" after a 13-year sojourn on ITV and is hoping it will attract a large, young male audience.

Justin Walkey, a partner with Bird & Bird and head of their media and sports groups, agreed Hamilton had helped push up audience numbers but there were also other factors in play.

Walkey said Formula One and the Rugby World Cup had helped ITV to a good year in 2007.

The BBC, meanwhile, and Sky had lost out to ITV and Setanta on a deal (worth an estimated $550m) to screen England football matches and the FA Cup for four years from August 2008.

ITV has since also secured the rights to broadcast Wednesday night Champions League football matches. It secured first pick of 18 matches, including the final, in a three-year deal worth more than $300m.

Walkey said it was a "major blow" for the BBC, and left them confronting a line-up without any live football coverage.

"They [BBC] had to get their act together and get some marquee sports."

Walkey said Ecclestone obviously had clear ideas about what he wanted, which probably included no longer having advertisements screened during the race (as a public broadcaster the BBC cannot sell sponsorship rights).

Ecclestone had been quite innovative when it came to packaging Formula One rights for different types of platforms, including the production of high definition coverage and its screening in cinemas, he said.

Indeed, since last year television broadcasters have taken the feed produced by Ecclestone's own company -- Formula One Management -- for the majority of grands prix. This year only the Japanese and Brazilian races will be produced by a local broadcaster.

Previously, the host broadcaster for each race produced the feed -- a situation not liked by other broadcasters as it tended to focus on local drivers.

Walkey said Formula One was dependent on massive amounts of television coverage, which meant Ecclestone could not afford to have it broadcast on a pay-per-view platform in markets like the UK.

"That's the way in which the teams can justify sponsorship which is phenomenally expensive... they just want the largest number of eyeballs."

Walkey said it would be a challenge for the BBC to meet the production benchmark set by ITV, as sometimes it could get a "little complacent".

"In the end the competition [for broadcast rights] brings a better product for the consumer." E-mail to a friend

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