SINGAPORE: Formula One racing fans will be able to watch the inaugural 2008 F1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix 'live' from the comforts of their homes.

MediaCorp TV's Channel 5 has clinched the rights for the 'live' telecast of the world's first street night race.

One F1 fan said: "The tickets are really expensive, so I'll just watch it 'live' on Channel 5."

"I will meet up with some friends and watch it 'live' at home because it's very hard to get a seat in the crowd," another added.

MediaCorp said the free-to-air channel reaches about 90 percent of TV viewers in Singapore and it expects viewership for the upcoming F1 'live' coverage to be higher and above that of other sports events like the Southeast Asian Games.

Lucas Chow, CEO of MediaCorp, said: "There's a strong following on the F1 race in Singapore. There are a lot of motoring fans. And with the race now in Singapore, I would expect that even though you may not be a racing fan in the past... you may (now) want to find out more about the race."

Viewers do not have to wait till September to do so. Channel NewsAsia will begin telecast of a year-long series called "Inside Grand Prix" starting this Friday.

The 18-episode programme goes behind the scenes to showcase the teams and players of every race.

Besides special race supplements in the TODAY newspaper, fans can look forward to a yet-to-be-named F1 coffee-table book by a motor sports journalist. The hardcover copy is expected to be ready by August 2008.

Ian de Cotta, author of the F1 coffee-table book, executive sub-editor at MediaCorp Press, said: "What I'm trying to do is to bring back the races I enjoyed as a kid. From 1964, I was attending the Singapore Grand Prix at Old Upper Thomson Road. It was such great fun attending those, really good memories. I want people to remember that and not forget the history. F1 is coming back to Singapore."

MediaCorp also expects the race to boost advertising sales. It is already in talks with about ten companies with more than half of them interested in premium advertising packages that are priced at S$250,000.

Patrick Yong, senior vice president, Field Marketing, MediaCorp Enterprises, said: "Advertisers and business partners see this as something that they can leverage (on). As it is held in Singapore, it will impact their immediate market and I expect it to do much better than a lot of other sporting or international events that we have."

The Formula One SingTel Singapore Grand Prix kicks off on 26 September.


- CNA/so