Japanese commercial broadcaster Nippon Television Network has agreed a two-season deal to provide live coverage for motorcycling’s Endurance World Championship.
The contract covers the 2018-19 and 2019-20 EWC seasons and has been struck with championship promoter Eurosport Events.
After showing highlights of the 2017-18 season’s races, Nippon TV will give Japanese audiences access to live coverage of every round of the 2018-19 campaign.
Starting with the Bol d’Or this coming September, all EWC races will be streamed live on the digital streaming platform Hulu, while the BS Nippon TV channel and CS Nittele G+ channel will broadcast highlights of each race as well as live coverage of the Suzuka 8 Hours.
François Ribeiro, head of Eurosport Events, said: “When we took the decision two years ago to make the Suzuka 8 Hours the Grand Finale of the EWC, we were hoping it would raise the Japanese bike industry’s interest in endurance and attract Japanese teams/riders into the World Championship.
“We are delighted to have Nippon TV on board up to the end of 2019-20 season – their broadcast standards are the highest in Japan and they have the strongest bike racing community fan base thanks to long-time MotoGP coverage.”