We announced today that from next season the BBC will be sharing coverage of Formula 1 with Sky Sports.

There has been considerable reaction to the news so I feel it's important to explain some of the background behind what has happened.

The headline is that under a seven-year deal starting next season, we will be showing 10 of the races in the F1 calendar, plus the corresponding qualifying and practice sessions, live on BBC TV.

We will broadcast extended highlights for the rest of the grands prix just a few hours after the chequered flag has been waved. Sky will have live action from all races, qualifying and practice sessions.

There has been a great deal of unsettling speculation recently about F1 rights. Amid all the rumour and counter-rumour, our production and on-air team have shown huge professionalism, dedication and expertise to keep delivering the high quality output that has become the trademark of our coverage.



The speculation is now over. This new arrangement extends the BBC's commitment to F1 by a further five years - our existing contract, which gave us exclusive rights in the UK, was due to expire in 2013. But of course it does mean our coverage will not be as comprehensive as it has been in recent years.

So why are we sharing the coverage with Sky when up to now it had just been us?

Ultimately, of course, decisions about which media organisations get the chance to broadcast F1 are taken by Bernie Ecclestone's Formula 1 Management (FOM). But from the BBC's perspective the new set-up provided us with an opportunity to continue our association with this gripping sport, which has captured the imagination of our audiences since it returned to BBC screens in 2009, with viewing figures at a 10-year high this season.

And while our coverage from 2012 may not be as extensive as it has been up to now, the bare facts are that the BBC needs to save money. Given the financial circumstances in which we find ourselves, we believe this new deal offers the best outcome for licence-fee payers.

In a sense this partnership with Sky is another example of how the landscape of sports broadcasting has been transformed in recent years. There was a time when the BBC and other public service broadcasters could expect to televise all the big sports themselves. Now though we have a 'mixed economy', with some events on satellite while others are on terrestrial.

And although this may be the first time the BBC has shared Formula 1 with another broadcaster, there is a long-standing pattern of partnerships between free-to-air and pay TV to cover major sports. So the Champions League can be watched on both Sky and ITV; US Masters golf is now shared between ourselves and Sky (with audiences for that event up this year); and then of course there is the Premier League - with live games on Sky and ESPN, while our ever-popular highlights programme Match of the Day keeps football fans entertained on a Saturday night.

This new F1 arrangement will allow us to tell the story of the whole F1 season for BBC viewers, while providing extended access to the biggest moments in the calendar: including the glamour of Monaco, the excitement of the last race of the season, plus the British grand prix at Silverstone, which remains one of the highlights of the UK's sporting summer.

In addition to our award-winning TV output, we will continue with our exclusive radio coverage on 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra as well as our comprehensive F1 website and mobile services and the regular broadcasts on BBC News outlets. We know F1 fans appreciate the extensive multi-platform coverage we offer and, as well as capturing those big moments on TV, we pledge to keep audiences up to date with all the news and action throughout the season, wherever they are.

You will appreciate these are early days, with much still to decide, including some of the detail around our own production. We will let you know as soon as there is more to say on that front - but in the meantime there is the small matter of the 2011 season to focus on.

Ben Gallop is the BBC's Head of F1