ITV Sport is signing off a£35m deal with North One Television which will see the indie exclusively produce its Formula One coverage for the next five years.
ITV Sport is signing off a £35m deal with North One Television which will see the indie exclusively produce its Formula One coverage for the next five years.

The agreement, which is set to start with this weekend's preview of the F1 season, will see the All3Media company take sole control of producing the broadcaster's coverage, having previously co-produced it with Granada.

North One will act as host broadcaster for the British Grand Prix in Silverstone and undertake all the presentation for the foreign Grand Prix races for ITV. The agreement runs through until the end of 2010.

In the deal, which is still being finalised, North One will produce over 100 hours a year from the F1 season, which starts in Bahrain on 11 and 12 March and runs through to the end of October. North One will also provide coverage of the qualifying sessions and a highlights show.

ITV's new F1 season will see a new on-screen line-up with former BBC presenter Steve Rider returning to ITV to front F1. There will also be new graphics, a new title sequence and a new theme.

North One chief executive Neil Duncanson is executive producer.

ITV director of sport Mark Sharman said: "We have taken a long hard look at all aspects of F1, including the creative and editorial approach as well as the financial equation. At this point it makes sense to commission the programmes as a full independent production."