Electric car-racing series Formula E has extended broadcast rights deals in Australia and New Zealand, along with signing a new digital media partnership with Motorsport.com.
Australian pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports has signed a three-season extension covering the forthcoming 2017-18 campaign, plus the 2018-19 and 2019-20 editions.
Fox Sports will show every race live along with a dedicated highlights programme for each round of the series, whose fourth season gets underway in Hong Kong this weekend. Fox Sports will also broadcast every episode of Formula E's official magazine show Street Racers.
Digital free-to-air broadcaster Three has renewed its deal to air Formula E highlights in New Zealand, as well as the Street Racers show. The length of the deal was not disclosed, but it will at least cover the 2017-18 campaign.
Earlier this month, public-service broadcaster TVNZ agreed a one-season extension to own rights deal. TVNZ will provide fully free-to-air coverage of the 2017-18 Formula E season via its TVNZ 1 and TVNZ Duke television channels, along with the TVNZ OnDemand service.
Meanwhile, motorsport media brand Motorsport.com has signed on as Formula E’s official digital media partner.
The deal will at least cover the 2017-18 season and Motorsport.com will showcase an enhanced news coverage package for the championship across its worldwide network. Specialist electric vehicles website InsideEVs.com will also feature additional news coverage of the championship and its participating manufacturers and regular guest columns from a number of leading Formula E drivers.
New video content including Street Racers will be shown on Motorsport.tv’s broadcast platforms on traditional cable television, plus its online OTT apps and website.
The new media partnership is an extension of the existing relationship between Motorsport Network and Formula E. Motorsport Network chairman, Zak Brown, announced in January that the media organisation had taken an ownership stake in the series.
Brown said: “Motorsport Network’s investment in Formula E was driven by the audience growth and engagement we saw in the series on our platforms including Motorsport.com and Autosport.com.
“The global reach of our network including additional dedicated coverage on InsideEVs.com will help Formula E showcase its exciting racing to an even broader audience. Similarly, there is a new breed of motorsport fan around the world that is inspired by electric mobility that will discover Motorsport Network for the first time thanks to our partnership.
“We also plan to work closely with the championship’s manufacturers to help them showcase their vision of the future of electric vehicles.”