Disney+ becomes Formula E's global streaming home, with six African markets in range

Formula E has agreed a multi-year deal making Disney+ the global streaming home of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship across 144 territories from the 2026/27 season, the widest digital distribution in the championship's history.

The agreement, announced alongside ESPN, covers every practice session, qualifying session and race from the start of Season 13 in December. In the United States, coverage runs on Disney+ alongside ESPN+. Subscribers also get preview and review shows, highlights, analysis, behind-the-scenes programming and full race replays on demand after each event.

Formula E, majority-owned by Liberty Global, is keeping its existing free-to-air and linear partners in place around the world rather than moving wholesale to streaming.

"This is a landmark moment for Formula E and reflects the incredible momentum behind our championship. Disney's unrivalled global reach and storytelling will introduce Formula E to millions of new fans while bringing them closer than ever to the drama, innovation and excitement of electric racing,"

Jeff Dodds, Chief Executive Officer of Formula E.

"This agreement reflects the global demand for Formula E. Disney's unprecedented scale complements our valued linear TV broadcast network, allowing us to serve core markets locally while accelerating our digital footprint globally and bringing our fans closer to the action than ever before."

Michaella Snoeck, Chief Media Officer at Formula E

What it means on the continent

Disney+ launched in South Africa in May 2022 as part of a 42-country EMEA rollout that also brought the service to Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. Four years later, that is still the entire African footprint. Viewers in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia and everywhere else on the continent cannot subscribe at all.

Formula E's African distribution today runs almost entirely through pay-TV. SuperSport carries the championship across more than 40 sub-Saharan markets under a rights deal first struck in 2021, with MBC holding North Africa. SuperSport belongs to MultiChoice, now controlled by Canal+ following last year's takeover. In South Africa, e.tv also carries races free-to-air.

The Disney+ agreement for most African viewers, changes nothing about how they watch. What it changes is who counts. Canal+ now sits between African audiences and a growing share of the world's sport, holding UEFA club competitions across sub-Saharan Africa from 2027/28, AFCON, the PSL and Formula E. A rights buyer with that position sets the price of access for the continent.

Formula E's own record in Africa sharpens the point. The championship has raced on the continent once, in Cape Town in February 2023, a round voted the best of the season and credited by Western Cape officials with generating R2.13 billion in direct and indirect economic activity. It has not returned since. Local promoter e-Movement put the staging cost at €15 million (roughly R300 million) and called it unaffordable without national government co-funding that never arrived. The 2026/27 calendar runs 21 races across 13 cities, from Jeddah to Mexico City, Austin, Miami, São Paulo, Sanya, Berlin, Monaco, Brands Hatch, Zandvoort, Madrid, Shanghai and Tokyo and none of them is in Africa.