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6th Febuary 2008

The organisers of the British Touring Car Championship have confirmed that they have finalised a new three year agreement of UK television coverage of the championship which will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2008.

Under the terms of the new deal with the UK commercial terrestrial network ITV the BTCC will, in 2008, enjoy a total of 46 hours of live air time on the ITV4 digital in addition extended coverage of the main ITV 1 channel. Eight of the ten rounds of the championship will be shown live and non-stop on ITV4.

Alan Gow, the BTCC series director, said, “This is fantastic news for everyone associated with the BTCC – our teams, drivers, partners and fans – who will all benefit from the increased ITV coverage of our events. To have 76 hours of BTCC programming is simply phenomenal... that’s a staggering 4,560 minutes of ITV scheduling, broadcast on both the ‘free to air’ digital and terrestrial platforms.

“With five hours of live coverage on race-day, ITV4 is able to now devote more time and resources to fully cover our events as well as to reflect on the BTCC’s history, in what is the championship’s 50th anniversary season.

“ITV has been the BTCC’s TV broadcaster since 2002 – and the fact that it has embarked on such an expansion of its coverage, while also committing to a multi-year agreement, is solid proof of its enthusiasm for the championship as a major sporting spectacle for its viewers.”

Mark Sharman, ITV’s director of News and Sport, said, “We are delighted to have secured coverage of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship for ITV4 – as the channel is an increasing destination for premium sports events and is now available to almost nine out of ten UK homes, as well as being simulcast on itv.com.

“This new contract will see a significant increase in the airtime we are devoting to the BTCC, allowing us to broadcast the races live and reflect more of the excitement and scale of the ten events.”

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