ITV retains British Touring Car Championship rights until 2026

UK commercial broadcaster ITV has extended its long-running coverage of the British Touring Car Championship for a further five years to 2026.

The renewal with rights-holder Toca starts in 2022. The current deal also runs for five years, from 2017 to 2021.

ITV’s rights remain exclusive and it has committed to show at least 340 hours each season: 180 hours across its linear channels and 160 hours online. This will be in the form of both live and highlights coverage.

It will exploit the live rights on its men’s-oriented channel, ITV4, showing at least seven hours from each race day.

Highlights will be shown on ITV4 and the flagship ITV channel.

All live and highlights coverage will also be available ‘as live’ and on-demand on the broadcaster’s ITV Hub app. ITV will also post ‘as live’ race clips to its social-media channels.

The broadcaster will continue to show BTCC qualifying sessions on the dedicated BTCC portal of the ITV website.

ITV has broadcast the BTCC continuously since 2002.