F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza Kicks Off Tonight: Don't Get Locked into an Annual Contract—Where to Watch the Broadcast

Image source: Official Hami Video F1 event page

As I'm sitting down to write this, it's 8:30 PM Taiwan Time, and the pre-race show for Monza is actually already on air, with lights out for the main race set promptly for 9:00 PM. If you're only opening this article right now, chances are you've already missed the start tonight. But no worries—there are still plenty of races left this F1 season. The real focus of this guide is figuring out "where to watch every race going forward," not just for tonight's single event.

Who Holds the Broadcasting Rights? Let's Clear That Up First

Let's start with the bottom line: starting this year (2026) all the way through 2029, the broadcasting rights for four full F1 seasons belong exclusively to ELTA. This is an officially announced exclusive license, meaning whether it's tonight's Monza race or any race down the road, this is currently the only legal avenue in Taiwan—there is no second option. However, ELTA doesn't just offer a single access point; it distributes the feed across three channels: its own OTT platform ELTA.tv, ELTA Sports channels 1 to 4 on Chunghwa Telecom MOD, and Hami Video, which mirrors the MOD feed. The sessions motorsport fans care about most—Qualifying, the Grand Prix main race, and the Sprint—are available across all three portals. But niche sessions like Free Practice, F2, F3, and F1 Academy are hosted exclusively on ELTA.tv; subscribing to Hami Video or MOD won't get you access to those.

Taking Monza as an example, the official schedule slated Qualifying for 21:45 Taiwan Time on September 5, and the main race pre-show starting at 20:30 on September 6 (with lights out officially at 3:00 PM local Italian time). I verified this timing directly via a screenshot from Hami Video's dedicated F1 section.

Image source: Screenshot from the official Hami Video F1 schedule page

Which of the Three Portals Should You Choose?

If you already have Chunghwa Telecom MOD at home, you don't need to spend an extra dime—just flip your MOD set-top box to the ELTA Sports channels and you're good to go. The downside is that, just like traditional cable TV, it's a pure live linear broadcast. There's no official replay or catch-up feature provided, nor can you switch to an ad-free version with original English commentary.

ELTA.tv offers the most comprehensive content and the best overall experience among the three. You get an ad-free feed with original commentary, plus practice sessions and support races like F2 and F3 on its exclusive MAX 5 through 8 channels—which can only be watched here. On pricing, I found a 3-year plan priced at NT$ 4,567 (New Taiwan Dollar), which averages out to around NT$ 126 per month. There are also 1-year and 2-year plans available, with monthly averages hovering around NT$ 140. It's best suited for hardcore motorsport enthusiasts who are willing to pay a little extra for comprehensive coverage and a clean, uninterrupted viewing experience.

Hami Video, on the other hand, is the option I'd recommend most casual viewers look into first. The reason is simple: it's purely app-based. You can watch on your phone, tablet, or PC web browser without having to install a set-top box. A single account allows simultaneous streaming on up to 3 devices, and beyond your F1 fix, the subscription includes over a hundred live TV channels and on-demand content—it's not just a single-purpose app for racing. The trade-off is that main sessions like the Grand Prix and Qualifying will have commercial breaks cut in, and you won't get practice sessions or feeder series like F2 and F3. You should know this going in so you don't expect the same experience as ELTA.tv. The platform doesn't have hard-and-fast public rules on when ads will appear or how long they'll run. In practice, it's just like watching a sports channel on cable TV: right in the middle of the action, the entire screen cuts away to run commercials rather than keeping the race running in a picture-in-picture window. If a critical overtake or crash happens during an ad break, you'll simply miss it. This is an inherent drawback of mirroring a linear MOD broadcast feed, not something uniquely poor about Hami Video. It holds a 4.5-star rating on the Taiwan App Store (with 27,700 reviews), and overall, the user experience is fairly smooth.

On pricing, Chunghwa Telecom's official site lists the standalone "TV Sports Pack" at NT$ 199 per month with no contract. If you're an existing Chunghwa Telecom mobile or broadband customer, committing to a 12-month contract brings it down to NT$ 129 per month (reverting to NT$ 199 starting from month 13), while a 24- or 36-month contract can push it down to just NT$ 100 per month. If you just want to finish watching the rest of this season without being locked into a contract, the official Hami Point Voucher Mall also sells standalone 90-day access codes priced at 597 points (equivalent to NT$ 597). These codes are valid through the end of January 2027, and the 90-day countdown only begins once redeemed. If you don't want to commit to an ongoing subscription you might forget to cancel, this is the simpler option. This one-time 90-day code is what I personally have on hand; actual pricing is whatever is listed on the redemption page at the time you buy.

One more thing worth knowing about is catch-up and replay. The ELTA Sports broadcast on MOD is strictly a live feed: when the race ends, that's it—no replays. If there's a big time zone difference and you can't watch it live, you'll simply miss out. Hami Video's official FAQ states that "channels supporting replay functionality can be replayed," but doesn't disclose how many days replays are retained. I'd suggest using the app's built-in customer support chat to ask about current rules before subscribing, rather than trying to guess based on potentially outdated info in this post. For anyone who struggles to crawl out of bed for midnight races, this factor alone will heavily influence whether you should pick MOD or Hami Video.

Don't Rush to Subscribe to F1 TV Pro: No Live Streams in Taiwan

While doing research, I initially thought Formula 1's own F1 TV Pro would be an option. At around US$ 11 to US$ 13 a month, with access to onboard cameras and real-time telemetry, it sounds very tempting. But upon testing and verifying, connecting to the official F1 website from a Taiwan IP only lets you subscribe to the stripped-down F1 TV Access. You get live timing and telemetry data, but live video streams are geo-blocked. This is because ELTA bought the "exclusive" broadcasting rights—F1 itself cannot legally sell a second competing live feed within the same market. That's standard practice in the broadcast rights business, not F1 deliberately singling out Taiwanese viewers. There are plenty of online tutorials showing how to bypass region locks using a VPN, but that enters a gray area that skirts territorial licensing. I don't recommend that route here; sticking to one of ELTA's three legitimate avenues is far more practical.

How I'd Personally Choose

If you already have MOD at home, just switch channels and watch—you won't have to spend a single extra cent. If you don't have MOD and just want to catch the remainder of this season, I'd go with the Hami Video 90-day code: pay once to cover the rest of the season, with no worries about forgetting to cancel an auto-renewing subscription. The only downside is tolerating the mid-race commercial breaks. Only diehard fans who absolutely must watch practice sessions and demand an ad-free feed with original commentary really need to upgrade to ELTA.tv—keep in mind it only sells prepaid annual or multi-year plans, so even though the monthly average works out lower, you're still putting down a bigger lump sum upfront.

There's one crucial timing detail I should flag: the 2026 season finale is the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 6, a date already confirmed by multiple international outlets. The 90-day code's validity countdown begins the exact moment you redeem it. If you redeem it right now in early September, those 90 days will expire right around early December—quite possibly a day or two before the season finale, causing you to miss the final race. If your goal is to follow through to the very end of the season, I'd recommend waiting a bit before redeeming, or doing the math on the calendar beforehand so you don't burn through your 90-day window too early. Broadcasting rights and packages can shift from year to year, so before putting your money down, I still advise checking the official ELTA or Hami Video websites to verify their current plans and pricing. This is all based on what I could confirm when I checked, and it might change.