MotoGP series promotor Dorna has confirmed to The Race that next weekend’s British Grand Prix will not – contrary to the original plan – be broadcast free to air in the United Kingdom on ITV1, corroborating information first published by industry news website Motorsport Broadcasting.
“Due to competition in ITV’s schedule we will be showing highlights of the Silverstone MotoGP round but plan to show full live coverage of the season finale in Valencia.” the broadcaster said in a statement released to The Race via Dorna.
It’s believed that those scheduling conflicts involve football, with 2023 FIFA Womens’ World Cup knock-out stage games involving pre-tournament favourite the United States set to get underway earlier that morning ahead of the FA Community Shield later in the afternoon (a tournament ITV only secured the rights to in mid-June).
Instead, this year’s race will be shown only on the newly-rebranded TNT Sports (formerly BT Sports), where it remains locked behind a £30-a-month paywall. UK MotoGP viewing figures have plummeted from when it was shown for free on the BBC and regularly attracted over one million viewers per race.
Last year’s race at Silverstone, also shown for free on ITV but hampered by the series’ inability to advertise it extensively thanks to the terms of BT Sport’s agreement with Dorna, attracted nearly a quarter of a million viewers on ITV compared to only 80,000 on BT Sport, meaning that the loss of free coverage marks a significant hit to the 2023 race.
It was only on June 9 that ITV said it would air both the Silverstone race and that weekend’s Mugello round, which had seemed a boost at a time MotoGP is struggling for both TV audience figures and grand prix crowds in Britain.
“On the 4th August all eyes will turn to Silverstone for one of the highlights of the two-wheeled sporting calendar as MotoGP returns after a six-week summer break,” ITV had said in that June 9 release. “Full programming and coverage details for the British Grand Prix will be announced later this summer.”
The lack of series visibility is something that Silverstone CEO Stuart Pringle highlighted ahead of this year’s MotoGP British GP, admitting it was hurting its ambitions of expansion in what was once a large market for motorcycle racing.
“We’ve got to be supported with the tools to get the job done,” Pringle told The Race.
“MotoGP is not enormously visible in the United Kingdom at the moment and it hasn’t been for a while. That makes our job harder.
“It’s not impossible, but we’ve got to think differently about how we attract people to this compelling sport.”
ITV will continue to air post-race MotoGP highlights for the British Grand Prix and the remainder of this year’s rounds, with an hour-long recap show scheduled for ITV4 on Monday August 7, more than 24 hours after the race concludes.
