Swiss public-service broadcaster SRG has acquired rights to Formula E as the electric car-racing series prepares to return motor racing to the country for the first time in over six decades.
The agreement will run from the ongoing 2017-18 season through to the end of the 2019-20 campaign. It comes as the inaugural Zurich E-Prix will take place on June 10.
Motor racing was outlawed in Switzerland in 1955 following the disaster at that year’s Le Mans 24 Hours race in France that claimed the lives of dozens of spectators.
Formula One’s 1954 Swiss Grand Prix was the last motor racing event to be held in the country, but a law change in 2015 lifted restrictions on fully-electric racing and paved the way for Formula E to head to the streets of Zurich.
SRG will broadcast the Zurich E-Prix live throughout Switzerland, while the RSI, RTR, RTS and SRF platforms will also be able to cover the series live on television and digital media.
In February, pay-television broadcaster MySports acquired rights to Formula E and is broadcasting all races live, along with offering qualifying and practice sessions and magazine programming.
Commenting on the SRG deal, Pascal Derron, managing director and founder of Swiss E-Prix Operations, said: “This brings us a decisive step closer to our vision of presenting the promising technology of e-mobility to a broad public.”
In other news, SRG has extended its contract with the Swiss Unihockey floorball body until 2022-23. The agreement provides live and post-production rights for the quarter and semi-finals of the next five playoff seasons.
The broadcasting rights for the domestic Unihockey-Superfinal were acquired by SRG last year until 2022-23 as part of a contract with sponsor Mobiliar and the national associations of the four indoor sports of floorball, basketball, handball and volleyball.