Ecclestone Says News Corp. Bid for F1 May Fail, Telegraph Says

News Corp. (NWSA) will probably fail to buy the Formula One racing tournament because F1 Chief Executive Officer Bernie Ecclestone doesn’t want to put the sport on pay television, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

“It isn’t possible that F1 could go on to pay-TV, we wouldn’t want to do that,” Ecclestone told the Telegraph.

Ecclestone told the newspaper he’s “terribly sorry” for News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, and that people might object to the bid because of the phone-hacking scandal at the newspaper publisher. He has had no contact from News Corp. about a takeover, the newspaper said.

News Corp. and Exor SpA (EXO) said in May that they were “exploring the possibility of creating a consortium to buy F1,” the newspaper said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Abigail Moses in London at Amoses5@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Armstrong at Parmstrong10@bloomberg.net.