Italian public-service broadcaster Rai has agreed a two-year extension to its rights deal for motorcycling’s FIM Motocross World Championship.
The broadcaster has struck a deal with Infront Moto Racing, an arm of the Infront agency which was last week rebranded from Youthstream. Rai has held rights to the series since 2017.
Under the new deal which begins this season, Rai now broadcast the entire campaign of MXGP and MX2 races live throughout the weekend. Rai will also offer its own on-site Italian production at the Motocross World Championship events due to be held in Pietramurata, Maggiora and Imola.
Italy is one of the leading countries for motocross in Europe, with Antonio Cairoli, a nine-time world champion. The contract extension comes after Youthstream said that “important meetings” were held with Rai at October’s Sportel trade fair in Monaco.
CBS Sports Network last week extended its Motocross World Championship rights agreement in the US with the rebranded Infront Moto Racing. The broadcaster’s new agreement runs from 2020 to 2022.
At the start of last week, Infront announced a renaming of Youthstream, the owner of exclusive worldwide television, marketing and global promotional rights to the Motocross World Championship. This came a little over after a year after its acquisition by Infront.
Along with the Motocross World Championship, Infront Moto Racing will also commercialise the rights to the Motocross of Nations, the Women’s Motocross World Championship, the Junior Motocross World Championship, the Snowcross World Championship, the Motocross European Championship and the Motocross of European Nations.