It was recently announced that GrandPrixRadio, the Formula 1 radio programme of Olav Mol and Jack Plooij, is losing its broadcasting rights in the Netherlands. These have in fact been bought up by Viaplay. At NPO Radio 1 podcast The Press Tribune Plooij talks about the situation.

With the radio broadcasting rights now going to Viaplay in the Netherlands, Mol and Plooij were suddenly empty-handed. At FOM (Formula One Management), they managed to secure at least the rights in Belgium. The problem with this is that you can only listen when one is over the border in our southern neighbours.

Plooij doesn't experience the whole situation as pleasant and is therefore not happy with Viaplay. " It's just to bully us, " he says. "We are going to see how this is going to go, this [was] the first weekend. But, we are being watched incredibly, also by the FOM."

'I would like to help'

Many Dutch people simply no longer have access to GrandPrixRadio and it remains to be seen whether this problem will be solved for the two commentators. Mol and Plooij did not have a good 'track record' regarding Viaplay anyway: the service decided, after Ziggo Sport lost the viewing rights in the Netherlands, not to include the two. Mol and Plooij were forced to start something else.

Still, that does not mean Plooij is completely unreasonable when it comes to Viaplay. Chiel van Koldenhoven holds the current pit reporter position at Viaplay and Plooij says he is willing to help him, should the former ever ask for it. However, he does mention that Van Koldenhoven is unlikely to do so because he is already very experienced himself. Plooij praises him as a good journalist.