Saran Media Group, the Istanbul-based media-rights agency, has acquired rights in Turkey to the Extreme E electric off-road motorsport series.
Saran Media Group’s S Sport and S Sport 2 channels will show all races, with coverage to also be provided via the S Sport Plus digital platform. The length of the agreement was not disclosed but it has been signed ahead of Extreme E’s inaugural season in 2021.
As well as live race coverage, the deal covers repeat, catch-up and highlights shows and the full Extreme E documentary series.
S Sport is also available on the Digiturk, D-Smart, Tivibu, Turkcell TV+, VodafoneTV and KabloTV digital platforms. A renewed distribution agreement with Türk Telekom’s Tivibu was announced earlier this month.
Extreme E will stage races in some of the most remote environments in the world, with events planned in Senegal, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Greenland and Brazil. All of the race locations have been severely damaged by climate change or human influences and the series will look to highlight their ecosystems and raise awareness.
The agreement with Saran Media Group further boosts the reach of Extreme E, which recently struck rights deals with StarTimes and ESPN in sub-Saharan Africa, Discovery across Europe and North America, and ORF in Austria.
Extreme E has also signed rights deals with the likes of the BBC (UK), Fox Sports (US, Canada and the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and Australia), Mediaset (Italy), Sony India (Indian subcontinent), and China Sports Zhibo.tv (China).
Extreme E was launched by Alejandro Agag, the founder of electric car-racing series Formula E. Last week, details of the new E1 Series, an Agag-backed electric powerboat championship, were revealed.
Yanni Andreopoulos, who has been named chief marketing and commercial officer of the E1 Series, said the new championship would use the existing network of broadcasters built by Formula E and Extreme E as it looks to be shown “as far and wide as possible”.
Speaking to SportBusiness, he added: “Of course, this is an entirely new form of racing and a new type of Championship, so we’ll also be looking for new partners who can bring our content to different audiences. We want to reach as many people as possible, on all platforms, and will use a diverse range of content, offering our partners the best possible return on their investment. That’s the key objective of the E1 Series for our broadcast partners.”