Canal F1 Latin America

Canal F1 Latin America was a subscription television channel which was dedicated to the broadcasting of motor racing to the Caribbean as well as Central and Latin America (apart from Brazil). It was launched on 1 March 2015 and ceased transmission in most of its market on 1 January 2018 before being shut down in Chile the following month. The channel broadcast Formula One, the GP2 Series, the FIA Formula 2 Championship, the GP3 Series, the Porsche Supercup and the TCR International Series.

History

Mediapro acquired exclusive rights to broadcast Formula One (F1) motor racing live in the Caribbean as well as Central and Latin America (except for Brazil) from 2015 to 2019 in March 2014.^[1][2] It launched the Canal F1 Latin America channel on 1 March 2015 during the pre-season test session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya race circuit and the channel would broadcast motor racing on the channel 24 hours a day, seven days a week all-year round.^[3][4][5] Agreements were reached to carry the channel as well as several interactive channels in both standard and high definition forms in the countries of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela on the pay television satellite platform DirecTV;^[6] the same terms were reached with Sky México in Costa Rica,^[7] and with IPTV operator TotalPlay [es] in Mexico.^[8] The channel won the Formula One Television Trophy that same year.^[9]

For the 2016 Formula One World Championship, Canal F1 Latin America sponsored the Force India team.^[10] Mediapro reached an agreement with the Argentine cable television operator Supercanal [es] to carry the channel in the provinces of Catamarca, Chubut, Córdoba, La Rioja, Mendoza, Neuquén, Río Negro, San Juan, San Luis, Santa Cruz, Santa Fe, Tierra del Fuego and Tucumán and also with the Argentine local cable television providers association Red Intercable.^[1] Another carriage agreement was signed with pay-TV platform Movistar TV to carry the channel on its platform in Chile, Colombia and Venezuela.^[11] The following year, Canal F1 Latin America continued to be carried on the Mexican pay-television operator Megacable after a new carriage agreement was reached by it and Mediapro.^[2][12] This ensured that the channel could be broadcast to a total of 12 million Latin American households.^[13]

Whilst the channel attained record-high ratings on television, it considered whether it should continue broadcasting or cease transmission because it became increasingly expensive to operate.^[13] Canal F1 Latin America ceased broadcasting in Latin America on 1 January 2018 when the Fox Sports network acquired exclusive rights for the region;^[14][15] transmission ceased in Chile on 28 February 2018.^[16] The decision was influenced by F1's commercial rights being acquired by Liberty Media and it wanting a balance towards pay and free-to-air television as well as streaming platforms.^[13]

Programmes

Canal F1 Latin America broadcast every practice session, qualifying session and races at each F1 Grand Prix, GP2 Series until 2016, the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2017, the GP3 Series, the Porsche Supercup and the TCR International Series motor racing championships.^[13][17] Previews, the post-race press conferences, post-race analysis and debate of each F1 Grand Prix were broadcast part of the channel's coverage of F1 and the programmes for this were called GP Confidential, El resumen de la Fórmula 1, Directo Fórmula, Planeta F1, Warm Up and From the Paddock.^[5][9][13] Canal F1 Latin America also broadcast the Sweet Stop and Formula G&L shows, which were both focused on presenting F1 in a light-hearted manner and on each hosting nation's eccentricities. It also featured the Legends Racing programme in which previous Grands Prix were broadcast.^[9][13]

Personnel

Presenters and collaborators who had worked for the channel during its existence included Colombia's Tatiana Calderón, Diego Mejía, Juan Pablo Montoya, Christian Gonzalez, Christian Rouco, Enrique Scalabroni, Facu Regalia and Víctor Seara from Argentina, Mexico's Giselle Zarur, Álvaro Ademà, Albert Fábrega, Manuel Franco, Cristina Gullón, Carmen Jordá, Pedro de la Rosa, Raimon Durán and Nira Juanco [es] of Spain as well as Jessika Fortunato and Rodolfo González from Venezuela.^{[13][18][19][20]} Liborio García was employed to be Canal F1 Latin America's editor.^[5][18]

References

1. "Fresh carriage deals broaden reach of Canal F1 Latin America". SportBusiness Media. 16 September 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
2. "Canal F1 Latin America widens exposure in Mexico". SportBusiness Media. 7 April 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
3. Canseco, Marco (1 March 2015). "Se pone en marcha el Canal Latin America F1" [The Latin America F1 Channel is launched]. Marca (in Spanish). from the original on 2 August 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
4. "Sky contará con canal latino de F-1" [Sky contará con canal latino de F-1]. Panamá América (in Spanish). 15 March 2015. from the original on 27 December 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
5. "Sky distribuirá todos los GP de la Fórmula 1 en vivo a través del Canal F1 Latin America" [Sky will distribute all Formula 1 GPs live through the F1 Latin America Channel] (in Spanish). Televisa. 20 March 2015. from the original on 15 May 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
6. "Canal F1 LatinAmerica llega a DirecTV Colombia" [Channel F1 LatinAmerica arrives at DirecTV Colombia] (in Spanish). Comunidad OLA. 20 March 2015. from the original on 27 December 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
7. Calderón, Armando (20 March 2015). "Canal F1 Latinoamérica se transmitirá por SKY en Costa Rica" [Channel F1 Latin America will be broadcast on SKY in Costa Rica] (in Spanish). Mundo Motorizado. from the original on 19 March 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
8. Long, Michael (8 September 2015). "Mediapro strikes F1 carriage deal in Mexico". SportsPro. from the original on 21 October 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
9. "Canal F1 Latin America ofrecerá todo el Mundial de F1 para Latinoamérica" [Channel F1 Latin America will offer the entire F1 World Cup for Latin America]. Marca (in Spanish). 11 February 2016. from the original on 12 September 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
10. "Canal F1 Latin America". ChicaneF1. from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
11. Gonzalez, Juan Fernandez (9 April 2016). "Movistar TV revs up Formula One channel for Chile, Colombia, Venezuela". Rapid TV News. from the original on 27 December 2021. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
12. "Lanza Megacable canal F1 Latinoamérica a nivel nacional" [Launches Megacable channel F1 Latin America nationwide]. El Siglo de Torreón (in Spanish). 24 March 2017. from the original on 2 April 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
13. Papini, Gianfranco (24 March 2019). "La aventura latina de Mediapro con el canal F1 Latin América" [1Mediapro's Latin adventure with the F1 Latin America channel] (in Spanish). MomentoGP. from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
14. "Canal F1 Latin América desaparece, no va más para la temporada 2018" [Channel F1 Latin America disappears, it is no more for the 2018 season] (in Spanish). La FM. 6 February 2018. from the original on 27 March 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
15. "F1 LatinAmérica desaparecerá el 1 de Enero de 2018" [F1 LatinAmérica will disappear on January 1, 2018] (in Spanish). MomentoGP. 5 December 2017. from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
16. "Cierre Canal F1 VTR Chile" [Channel F1 VTR Chile closes] (in Spanish). Imgur. 1 January 2018. from the original on 27 December 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
17. . SportsLatAm. 27 January 2017. Archived from the original on 27 August 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
18. Balseiro, Jesús (4 March 2015). "Toda la temporada en directo, sólo en Canal F-1 Latin América" [All season live, only on Channel F-1 Latin America]. Diario AS (in Spanish). from the original on 27 December 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
19. [Canal F1 LatinAmerica Team] (in Spanish). Canal F1 Latin America. p. . Archived from the original on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
20. Torres, Carlos (20 October 2015). "Este miércoles, entrevista exclusiva de Canal F1 Latin America a Juan Pablo Montoya" [This Wednesday, Channel F1 Latin America's exclusive interview with Juan Pablo Montoya] (in Spanish). VGE Zone. from the original on 27 December 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2021.

External links

• (Archived)