BT Sport announces five-year UK TV deal for MotoGP

BT has signed a five-year deal to show MotoGP exclusively live in the UK from the 2014 world championship campaign onwards.

The deal, which MCN revealed would be confirmed today from last weekend’s Spanish MotoGP race in Jerez, was announced during a high-profile launch for the new digital sports channel in London.

The deal means free-to-air coverage of MotoGP on the BBC and all coverage of British Eurosport will cease at the end of 2013.

Details of the BT Sport’s plans were confirmed today in a launch that was attended by Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider Cal Crutchlow and Moto2 world title contender Scott Redding.

Access to all three BT Sport channels will be free to BT Broadband customers. Other customers will need to pay a £15 per month subscription to see BT Sport. It will be available to view on Sky’s satellite platform.

No details on who will present or commentate for BT Sport have been revealed yet.
A statement from Dorna earlier today read: “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.”

Dorna Managing Director Manel Arroyo, Dorna Sports said: “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.”

And Simon Green, head of BT Sport, added: “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.”