Ecclestone told the official F1 website that the competing teams and their sponsors would lose visibility if the sport moved to pay-television.
"Murdoch hasn't got anything really big to drive their television audiences and Formula One would be good for that. They have been trying to buy the television rights from us for a long time but we won't [sell] because they are not free-to-air television broadcasters. They are a subscription service," he said. News Corp has pay-television operations in the UK (BSkyB), Germany (Sky Deutschland) and Italy (Sky Italia).
Ecclestone said that News Corp had already approached him about some kind of deal for these territories. "We couldn't do it," he said. "Sky is doing an incredible job, but if you look at their audience they are nowhere. With these figures it would be almost impossible for teams to find sponsors. That would be suicidal."
Ecclestone said that the sport's majority shareholders, CVC Capital Partners, were not interested in selling. Meanwhile, it has emerged that CVC can also block any attempt by News, which is being partnered in the talks with Exor, the Italian investment vehicle owned by the Agnelli family, to take over Formula One by buying out the minority shareholders. According to TV Sports Markets, CVC owns just over 63% of Formula One's parent company, Delta Topco. The shareholders of Delta Topco are bound by a 2006 agreement which gives CVC a veto over the sale of any of the other shareholders' stakes and first refusal if they decide to sell.
James Murdoch, News Corp's deputy chief operating officer, said last week that "Exor and News Corporation will approach potential minority partners and key stakeholders in the sport". For all the latest TV sports rights news visit www.tvsportsmarkets.com/news.
