Dorna Sports issued the following press release on the acquisition of the broadcast rights for MotoGP in the United Kingdom for the next five years. More information and full commentary will be released soon, but there are a few key details which are already known.
Firstly, for details on how to receive BT Sport, see the BT Sport website. Secondly, although the commentary team is as yet unknown, the names of Julian Ryder and Keith Huewen are circulating, though this could of course be wishful thinking.
Thirdly, it seems almost certain that British Eurosport will no longer provided delayed broadcast of the MotoGP races, as that deal was tied up with the BBC contract. After the jump is the press release from Dorna:
BT Sport to bring MotoGP™ to British audiences from 2014
Dorna Sports announces today an agreement with BT Sport for the exclusive broadcast rights to the FIM MotoGP™ World Championship, starting from the 2014 season, to be shown across all its platforms in the UK and Ireland.
The five-year agreement will see MotoGP as premium programming in the thrilling line up of top sports on the new BT Sport channels. Motorcycle racing’s premier Championship will be part of this exciting new venture and will join other headline properties such as the Barclays Premier League and Aviva Premiership Rugby.
MotoGP fans won’t miss a minute of the action as race weekends will be covered in full starting from the free practices on the Friday and including full coverage of Moto2™ and Moto3™ as well as the elite category MotoGP.
Coverage will be hosted on-site with additional studio coverage from BT Sport’s state of the art facilities at the Olympic Park in Stratford, East London.
BT Sport will create an exciting second screen experience, giving fans the ability to see races from the riders’ perspective and with more interactive features showing off the most technologically advanced bikes.
This will give the UK audience a whole new MotoGP viewing experience, immersing them in every aspect of the Championship.
The MotoGP line up will be further enhanced by additional motorcycle-related programming in between Grand Prix weekends.
BT Vision and YouView viewers will be able to catch up on any live action they miss as BT Sport will make the programming available on demand, on television and on digital.
BT Sport will be heading into the world of MotoGP at full throttle, with extensive promotion across all media outlets including outdoor advertising, newspapers and magazines, as well as cross-promotion during its flagship football and rugby coverage.
Manel Arroyo, Dorna Sports, Managing Director, commented: “We’re proud that MotoGP will be part of such a huge and exciting project as BT Sport. I’m sure that BT Sport will provide the in-depth coverage that MotoGP deserves and in turn MotoGP will provide the sporting drama and excitement to help launch BT Sport as a major player in the TV market. Our new partnership comes at the perfect time, with British riders flourishing in the Championship and we look forward to our British fans being able to follow every single minute of the action.”
Simon Green, Head of BT Sport, said: “The agreement with MotoGP is really exciting. We want BT Sport to offer a wide range of sports that appeal to many different audiences and MotoGP is a thrilling sport with a massive and committed fan base in the UK and Ireland. We believe existing fans will be thrilled with our comprehensive coverage and how we intend to develop the Moto GP brand and think we can also help the sport win many new fans.”
Source: Dorna Sports; Photo: © 2010 Graeme L. White & Glen Cozens / James Cook University – All Rights Reserved
This article was originally published on MotoMatters, and is republished here on Asphalt & Rubber with permission by the author.
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