For the first time in its inaugural season as the exclusive U.S. home of Formula 1, Apple TV is making a complete race weekend available to anyone who wants to watch.

The streamer announced its making the entire Austrian Grand Prix weekend free to U.S. viewers starting Friday, June 26, through Sunday’s race on June 28. That means all five sessions — two practice rounds Friday, a third Saturday morning, qualifying Saturday afternoon, and the Grand Prix on Sunday — are available in the Apple TV app without a subscription.

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Apple TV (@appletv)

Apple signed a five-year, $750 million deal to take F1’s U.S. rights from ESPN, which had held them since 2018. ESPN had the ability to match Apple’s offer but declined. It was a consequential decision to walk away from, given that ESPN had just set a record 1.3 million viewers per race in its final F1 season, with 16 of 24 races setting individual viewership highs. F1 had grown 135% during its time on ESPN, from 554,000 viewers per race at the start of the partnership.

Apple TV accounts for less than half a percent of all television viewing in the United States, and its estimated domestic subscriber base of 18.7 million is a considerably smaller pool than the 60 million cable and satellite households ESPN could reach. After the Australian Grand Prix opener, Apple told The Hollywood Reporter that viewership had topped ESPN’s numbers from a year prior, but declined to release any data to support the assertion.

While Apple hasn’t offered much transparency into how many people are watching, F1 executives have been more vocal about what they believe the move to streaming solves. Chief media rights officer Ian Holmes has argued that housing every session on one platform improves discoverability for fans.

“If it’s on ESPNEWS and then the next session is on ESPN College and then ESPN3, it doesn’t help discoverability,” Holmes told Sports Business Journal earlier this year. “Whereas having it all housed effectively on a single page definitely increases the knowledge of exactly what content is available.”

That page, next weekend, is free. And with it comes access to the full suite of features Apple has touted since acquiring the rights. Apple’s broadcast runs in 4K Dolby Vision with 5.1 audio, multiview support for up to four simultaneous feeds, onboard cameras, live telemetry, and a choice between F1 TV and Sky Sports presentations.

The post Apple TV is making an entire F1 race weekend free for the first time appeared first on Awful Announcing.