Fox Deportes, the US Spanish language pay-television broadcaster, has acquired rights for North American motor-racing series Nascar.
Fox Deportes will show live coverage of six races from Nascar’s top-level Sprint Cup series, including the Daytona 500, Nascar’s most prestigious race, and delayed coverage of a further nine races from the series.
Fox Deportes will also produce Nascar-related programming that is focused on the Spanish-speaking market.
“The thirst for Nascar programming, and in particular race broadcasts, is very strong and we’re constantly looking for ways to expose the sport to new fans in new places,” Steve Herbst, Nascar’s vice-president of broadcasting and production, said.
Vincent Cordero, executive vice-president and general manager of Fox Deportes, added: “It’s a historic milestone in the evolution of Fox Deportes, and we’re excited to be working with Nascar to add the most popular motorsport in America to our overall programming mix for the first time.”
Fox Deportes reaches more than 20 million households in the US via cable and satellite.
The broadcaster’s parent company, US network Fox, has US rights to Nascar races in an eight-year deal that will end in 2014. Fox is expected to begin talks over a new deal before the end of the 2012 season in November.