BBC Northern Ireland stays on board with North West 200

Public-service broadcaster BBC Northern Ireland has extended its rights deal to the North West 200 motorcycling event for a further five years.

The new contract starts in 2015 and runs through to 2019.

Under the terms of the deal, all practice sessions and races will be provided with live video coverage on the BBC Sport NI website.

There will also be three television highlights programmes around the Thursday night and Saturday races.

The North West 200 takes place on an annual basis using public roads between the towns of Coleraine, Portstewart and Portrush. This year there will be three races from May 15-17.