Eurosport Loses MotoGP Coverage From 2009

Yesterday (26.Jun.08) Dorna announced

that coverage of the MotoGP World Championships will no longer be available on Eurosport from the 2009 season

The BBC will have exclusive coverage of MotoGP in the UK and this is very disappointing news for the following reasons:

1. Currently the BBC only shows the MotoGP race on terrestrial TV (BBC2).  The 125 and 250 races are only shown on the BBC's BBCi service;
2. In the past some races have not been shown live;
3. The BBC does not show qualifying all the time, and when it does it is only available via BBCi;
4. Unlike Eurosport, the BBC does not show any of the free practice sessions or the qualifying sessions for the 125's and 250's;
5. From 2009 the BBC will also be showing F1, thus if a race clashes with a MotoGP then the F1 race is probably going to get preference;
6. If the BBC increases it's MotoGP coverage then more than likely it will only be via BBCi.  The Problem is that you are not able to record BBCi on a SKY+ box.

Dorna have said that their reason for taking this action is to try and increase MotoGP coverage across Europe by giving priority to free-to-air television networks, but by taking this action they will actually be decreasing the coverage available to UK MotoGP fans.

If you are a MotoGP fan and want to petition Dorna against this action that they have taken then you might find the following e-mail address's useful:

Dorna UK :- Tony Partis - dornauk@dorna.com
Licensing :- Phaedra Haramis - commercial@dorna.com
TV Production :- Sergi Sendra - tvproduction@dorna.com