One of the big broadcasting stories in the past 24 hours was the news revealed by Four Wheels that Globo will no longer be screening Formula 1 as of the start of the 2015 season. That article, has however since been denied by Globo. A Brazilian site, aptly named TV News, has today posted an article, quoting a Globo executive re-iterating that the channel will be keeping live coverage until 2020 as contractually required to do so.

Had Globo pulled out of covering Formula 1, it would have been a huge story given how long Globo has been covering the sport for. Four Wheels claimed that SporTV will take over the rights, which no longer appears to be the case. Globo has been covering Formula 1 since the 1972 Monaco Grand Prix. The TV News site says that Formula 1 viewing figures have dropped down to record lows, perhaps unsurprisingly given that Felipe Massa is the only main Brazilian driver on the grid. The numbers are half of what they were in 2008, and a quarter of what they were in Ayrton Senna’s heyday. As a result of the low numbers, one thing Globo have done is reduce their practice coverage, this came into effect from last month’s German Grand Prix.

Either way, the situation in Brazil is definitely one to keep an eye out for, if Globo’s ratings keep dropping, I suspect we will continue to hear these rumours in the months ahead…