BT Sport has announced its full plans for its debut season of MotoGP coverage as the channel prepares to offer fans the most extensive output of the sport ever seen on UK television.
The channel has a five-year deal for exclusive rights to televise motorcycle racing’s premier championship with the opening race of the 2014 season in Qatar on March 23.
TV personality Melanie Sykes has been confirmed as BT Sport’s main on-site presenter with former British and World Superbike champions Neil Hodgson and James Toseland offering regular expert analysis.
In a popular move for motorcycling fans, BT Sport will be reuniting Julian Ryder and Keith Huewen in the commentary box for every race weekend.
Ryder, previously Eurosport’s MotoGP commentator of more than 14 years, will be joined by former British motorcycling champion Huewen, who has been the face and voice of Sky Sports’ motorsports coverage over the past two decades.
They will be assisted in the commentary box by Motorcycle News chief grand prix correspondent Matt Birt, while experienced MotoGP broadcaster Gavin Emmett will be BT Sport’s roving reporter in the pit lane.
BT Sport’s comprehensive coverage of MotoGP launches on March 18 with a special preview show, featuring interviews with all the top riders and action from the key official pre-season tests.
For each of the 19 race meetings in 2014, BT Sport will show all the free practice and qualifying sessions live on Fridays and Saturdays, full coverage of the Moto2 and Moto2 races on Sundays, plus the main event itself – the elite MotoGP race.
Every race will be hosted on-site at each event by Sykes with additional studio coverage coming from BT Sport’s state of the art facilities at the Olympic Park in Stratford, East London.
In addition to the live action, a new hour-long programme – MotoGP Tonight – will be broadcast at 8.00pm on Tuesdays after every Grand Prix weekend.
This will be presented by BT Sport’s Craig Doyle and former Olympian and European and Commonwealth games 400 metres champion and biker, Iwan Thomas.
The pair will be joined by an array of guests from the motorcycling world, plus round up all the news and gossip from the paddock.
Award winning production company North One Television, who were behind ITV’s Formula 1 coverage from 1997 to 2008, will be in charge of BT Sport’s exclusive MotoGP coverage.
Simon Green, head of BT Sport, said: “It’s really exciting to be launching such a thrilling new sport on BT Sport, with a tremendous new team and what we believe will be a fresh approach to MotoGP and some fantastic new shows.
“MotoGP is the top, two-wheeled motorsport. It’s massive in the UK and we’re heading into it at full throttle and following every second of the action.
“We’re sure we’ll appeal to committed fans, but we also think we will win over and welcome new fans to the sport.”
Manel Arroyo, managing director, Dorna Sports, said: “I’m pleased that MotoGP is 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 so that British fans can follow the fortunes of British riders in the Championship.”
BT Sport takes over the UK broadcast rights from the BBC this season in a move which has divided opinion among fans, but the new channel promises to bring more extensive coverage of MotoGP than ever before.
Live race weekend coverage on BT Sport will usually start on Friday mornings and will include all practice sessions and races throughout the weekend, with around five hours of coverage each day.
The opening night-time event in Qatar will be an exception to this, with coverage in addition on Thursday, March 20, from 3.00pm to 7.45pm.
BT Sport is creating an exciting second screen MotoGP experience as part of the BT Sport app.
Users will be able to watch the main coverage and choose from seven other camera views, including four fitted to bikes hitting more than 200mph, a helicopter view and live timing and tracking screens.
Full races and highlights including interviews and features will also be available to watch on the app.
In August last year, BT Sport announced it had signed up leading British MotoGP riders, Cal Crutchlow, Bradley Smith and Scott Redding as BT Ambassadors.
Other motorsport on BT Sport includes exclusively live coverage of the 26 stages of the World Rally Championship, widely regarded as the most challenging motorsport competition in the world, plus NASCAR and IndyCar on ESPN.
Not a BT Sport subscriber? Find out how to get BT Sport via bt.com/sport
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