UK commercial broadcaster ITV has agreed a one-year extension to its partnership with the World Rally Championship covering the forthcoming 2014 season of the motor-racing series.
Under the terms of the deal, digital television channel ITV4 will broadcast a weekly highlights show after each WRC event, along with daily highlights from the season-ending Wales Rally GB, which takes place on November 14-16.
ITV4 is renewing a partnership with WRC Promoter, the commercial arm of the championship, which saw the broadcaster reintroduce WRC programming to its schedules in the 2013 season. Pay-television broadcaster BT Sport has also acquired UK rights for the WRC in a one-year deal that will run until the end of 2014.
BT’s agreement commences with the opening event of the 2014 season, the Rallye Monte Carlo, which begins tomorrow. BT Sport’s WRC programming will run across the broadcaster’s three television channels, BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN. Coverage will include preview and review shows for each rally plus a daily highlights show.