Tata to give live broadcast feed of all Formula 1 races for Sky

 The deal, which is a part of Sky's strategy to create Europe's leading entertainment company following its acquisition of Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland, will ensure a seamless race experience for viewers in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Italy, regardless of Grand Prix location, Sky sports said in a statement.

All video feeds of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship season will be distributed live in high- definition to Sky viewers using Tata Communications' Video Connect service. Sky teams based in the UK, Germany and Italy will work in close collaboration with Tata Communications' experts at race tracks and its remote operations teams, ensuring a seamless delivery of each race to people at home, it said.

"The integration of our operations in Europe is focused on accelerating innovation and serving our viewers better and Tata Communications' global fibre network will help us do just that," says Keith Lane, Director of Operations at Sky.

With half a billion viewers globally, F1 is the world's most popular annual sporting series but with races in locations as diverse as the streets of Singapore, the hills of Sao Paulo and the deserts of Abu Dhabi, it is also a hugely challenging environment for broadcasters, says Mehul Kapadia, Managing Director of F1 Business at Tata Communications. 

Meanwhile, undeterred by the trouble facing its steel operations in Britain, the Tata Group on Wednesday said that the strategy to globalise is not impacted by this development and that the company will continue to develop international presence. The $110-billion conglomerate draws 70 per cent of its revenue from international markets and a good portion of that comes from its two British acquisitions in the past decade -- Corus Steel and the auto business under the Jaguar Land Rover label.

"Some people are assuming that now the Tatas are giving up on their global brands. (That is) far from the truth... Right now, 70 per cent of our revenues come from international operations. We are actually now a truly global corporate rather than an Indian company," Tata Sons brand custodian and Group Executive Council member Mukund Rajan told reporters here.

"There has been a point of view that because of what is happening at some group companies, there is now an effort to consolidate back into India and that we are not so keen on overseas exposure... That is not correct," he added, citing the examples of TCS and the hugely successful acquisition of the JLR. Rajan said in the "wake of the recent events", many people have raised questions over the group's strategy when it comes to its global presence, and if we are consolidating back into India.