French MotoGP rights awarded

The AB Groupe and Eurosport France have agreed a three-year deal with commercial rights holders, Dorna Sports, for the television rights for MotoGP across France, until 2011.

Under the deal, digital-terrestrial channel NT1 will broadcast all 18 MotoGP races live throughout the season, including a pre-show for each race whilst cable-satellite channel Eurosport France will offer practice and qualifying sessions on Friday and Saturday, followed by all three races live on Sunday. Each channel will create its own individual program for the events.

Deputy Managing Director of Eurosport France, Patrick Goddet, said: “MotoGP is a premium right registered in Eurosport’s genetic code and viewers are very passionate about this extremely spectacular discipline. We are very proud to have concluded this new agreement with Dorna for the next 3 seasons. We will offer our subscribers exhaustive coverage of the 3 championship categories; MotoGP, 125cc and 250cc."

NT1 is one of the top three DTT channels in France and has around twenty million viewers whilst Eurosport France reaches 6.6 million homes, making it the most popular cable-satellite channel in terms of audience in the country.