MotoGP in “advanced talks” to change its US TV broadcaster
MotoGP could be set to switch its TV partner in the United States
MotoGP is reportedly set to switch to a new TV broadcaster in the United States.
The motorsport series is in “advanced talks” with Warner Bros Discovery to move onto their channel this year, Sports Business Journal reports.
The move is an attempt from MotoGP to “look for growth in America”.
MotoGP has been broadcast in the US by NBC since 2020 but the report claims that their partnership has expired.
The deal in negotiations with Warner Bros Discovery would mean all Saturday sprint races and Sunday grands prix would be live on linear cable TV.
Warner Bros Discovery own TNT, TBS and TruTV.
Warner Bros Discovery and MotoGP are already TV broadcast partners in other territories including the UK.
TNT Sports, owned by Warner Bros Discovery, broadcast MotoGP to the UK audience.
MotoGP also held talks in the past few weeks with Fox, the report states.
Fox is separately in talks to pick up broadcast rights in the US to IndyCar from 2025.
MotoGP’s switch in TV partner stateside is an “effort to gain a greater foothold in the US”.
But it comes at a time where Bridgepoint - the majority shareholder in MotoGP rights holder Dorna - are in talks over a sale.
Sky News report that Bridgepoint are seeking £3.4 billion and a sale could be agreed “within weeks”.
Liberty Media, the owners of Formula 1, are among the parties in talks.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
