This is a timeline of the history of
motorsport on television in the UK.
1930s to 1970s
1965
2 January – The first edition of World of Sport is broadcast. Motorsport in various different forms is a regular feature on the programme throughout the programme's run.
1978
7 May – The first edition of Grand Prix is broadcast when the BBC provides highlights of the
1978 Monaco Grand Prix.[1] The new programme allows the BBC to provide coverage of every
Formula One race for the first time. Previously, Formula One coverage had been non-comprehensive and had been shown by both the BBC and ITV.
28 September – The final edition of World of Sport is broadcast. Motorsport had been a regular part of the programme and consequently, ITV’s coverage of motorsport events is somewhat reduced.
For what is the BBC's final year of its contract to show Formula One, the Corporation shows full live coverage of the qualifying round for each Formula One race. In previous years, the BBC had only shown live coverage of qualification for the
British Grand Prix with qualifying for all other rounds restricted to a brief report.
March – ITV takes over as the broadcaster of
Formula One motor racing. It shows full coverage of qualifying as well as the race itself, something that the previous rights holder, the BBC, generally did not do until 1996.
31 May – The first edition of International Motor Racing is shown on ITV, broadcasting highlights from Formula One's feeder series
Formula 3000 and certain support championships that run on Formula One weekends, such as the
Porsche Supercup.
To fill the gap left by the loss of Formula One to ITV, the BBC begins showing some live coverage of the British Touring Car Championship.
1998
20 December – The final edition of Rally Report, now called Top Gear Rally Report, is broadcast on BBC Two.
1999
No events,
2000s
2000
January – Channel 4 began to broadcast highlights of Iceland's
Formula Off Road
Channel 5 begins showing live coverage of
MotoGP. It shows the event for the next three seasons.
2001
March – Motorsports channel
Motors TV launches in the UK.
The BBC’s coverage of the
World Rally Championship ends. It had shown highlights of each round, along with live coverage of Rally GB, for many years.
2002
19 January – Channel 4 begins airing highlights from the
World Rally Championship, after securing the rights from the BBC.
1 March –
F1 Digital+ launches. It offers enhanced multi-screen coverage of
Formula One on a pay-per-view basis.
ITV takes over from the BBC as broadcaster of the
British Touring Car Championship. ITV shows live coverage as opposed to only highlights when the BBC had the contract.
12 December – After just one season,
F1 Digital+ closes.[6]
2003
The BBC wins the rights to the
MotoGP World Championship. Previously, the corporation had only covered the British round of the championship.
9 November – Channel 4's coverage of the World Rally Championship ends after two years with live coverage of the final stage from
Wales Rally GB.
27 December – The final edition of International Motor Sport, previously known as International Motor Racing until 2003, is shown on ITV.
2004
25 January – ITV takes over coverage of the World Rally Championship from Channel 4. The channel airs highlights of each round of the championship in a single 60 minute programme, usually on Sunday afternoons, in contrast to that Channel 4 had aired highlights on all three days of each round.
14 March – The first edition of Speed Sunday is broadcast on ITV, a new Sunday afternoon motorsport magazine programme, commissioned as part of ITV's expanding portfolio of motorsport rights.
12–13 June – ITV airs coverage of the
Le Mans 24 Hours, the first year the race has been covered on free-to-air television in three years.
24 October – The final edition of Speed Sunday is broadcast on ITV. The programme is axed after just a single series due to low ratings.
2005
No events.
2006
22 January – ITV takes the official highlights programme for the World Rally Championship for the 2006 season, rather than producing its own programme as it had done so previously, this was seen by many as a cost-cutting measure.
2 December – ITV's coverage of the World Rally Championship ends after four years. For the 2007 season, the highlights programme had been shown on
ITV4 instead of the main channel.
2008
27 January –
UKTV takes over the rights to the World Rally Championship, with the highlights programme airing on
Dave.
March – ITV announces that they have enacted a clause within their contract enabling them to leave
Formula One coverage after the 2008 season. It is believed this was done for commercial reasons and to allow more money to be spent on securing coverage of the
UEFA Champions League.[7]
Eurosport shows the
British Superbike Championship for the first time, and now holds the rights to the event until 2027.[8]
March – Channel 4 launches a new motorsport magazine programme Mobil 1 The Grid.
29 March –
Formula One returns to the BBC after the Corporation obtains live exclusive rights to the event following ITV’s decision to end its coverage.[10]
2010s
2010
No events.
2011
12 January – ESPN signs a deal to show exclusive coverage of the
World Rally Championship.[11] ESPN will screen 30-minute nightly bulletins at the end of every WRC day, with on-event coverage bookended by an hour-long preview and review show.
29 July – It is announced that the broadcasting rights of
Formula One are to be shared between the BBC and
Sky Sports from 2012 until 2018. Sky Sports will broadcast every race live, whilst the BBC will be able to broadcast up to half of the races in each season live, including both the
British Grand Prix and the final race of the season, with all remaining races being broadcast in extensive highlights shows.
2012
9 March –
Sky Sports F1 launches following Sky’s purchase of the rights to show live coverage of every race of the
Formula One season.[14]
BT Sport begins showing
MotoGP. Coverage is more extensive than that shown by the BBC as it includes free practices and qualifying as well as full coverage of Moto2 and Moto3.[17]
17 March – ITV becomes the broadcaster of the new
Formula E series, showing the 10 events on
ITV4.[18]
21 December – Budget cuts result in the BBC deciding to end its coverage of
Formula One three years early. The rights transfer to
Channel 4 for the remainder of the BBC's contract.[20]
18 March – Channel 4 shows
Formula One motor racing for the first time. This comes about following the BBC's decision to end its deal with Formula One early.[22] For the next three seasons, Channel 4 shows roughly half of the races live. The coverage is broadcast under the title of Channel 4 F1 and broadcasts live coverage of ten selected races live without advertisements and every race (even live) is shown as highlights, including the
British Grand Prix and
final race weekend.
4 September – Channel 5 acquires the UK broadcasting rights to
Formula E from the
2016–17 season following Formula E's termination of its contract with
ITV.[23] It shows all races from round three and then shows all of the following season.
2017
1 March –
Motors TV relaunches itself as Motorsport.tv. The change also sees the channel start to broadcast in high definition.[24]
Coverage of
MotoGP returns to Channel 5 although this time the coverage of restricted to highlights only. Channel 5 covers the event for the next two years.
Premier Sports, and its sister channel
Freesports, broadcast live and also highlights of the speedway leagues Sweden's Elitserien and the Polish PGE Ekstraliga.
30 September – After more than 17 years on air,
Motorsport.tv, previously known as Motors TV, closes its linear channel, switching to online-streaming only.[26]
15 December – The BBC begins its coverage of
Formula E and shows most of the races on the BBC Red Button.
2019
17 March –
Sky Sports becomes the exclusive broadcaster of all
Formula One races, apart from the
British Grand Prix which continues to be shown on Channel 4. Channel 4 also broadcasts highlights of all the other races.[27]
2019 also sees the return to Sky Sports of the
IndyCar Series after six seasons with BT Sport..
2020s
2020
March – Eurosport replaces BT Sport as rights holder to British Speedway.[28]
2021
April – Sky Sports begins showing
Extreme E motor racing.[29]
12 December – Coverage of the final race of the 2021 Formula One season, the
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, is shown free-to-air after Sky Sports agrees a one-off deal to simulcast the race live on Channel 4, due to
Lewis Hamilton and
Max Verstappen starting the race level on points in the championship.
2022
29 January – Channel 4 broadcasts
Formula E for the first time with round 2 of the
2022 Diriyah ePrix. Channel 4 had signed a multi-year broadcast agreement just 8 days before this event. The opening round had been streamed live on
YouTube.[31]
This is a timeline of the history of
motorsport on television in the UK.
1930s to 1970s
1965
2 January – The first edition of World of Sport is broadcast. Motorsport in various different forms is a regular feature on the programme throughout the programme's run.
1978
7 May – The first edition of Grand Prix is broadcast when the BBC provides highlights of the
1978 Monaco Grand Prix.[1] The new programme allows the BBC to provide coverage of every
Formula One race for the first time. Previously, Formula One coverage had been non-comprehensive and had been shown by both the BBC and ITV.
28 September – The final edition of World of Sport is broadcast. Motorsport had been a regular part of the programme and consequently, ITV’s coverage of motorsport events is somewhat reduced.
For what is the BBC's final year of its contract to show Formula One, the Corporation shows full live coverage of the qualifying round for each Formula One race. In previous years, the BBC had only shown live coverage of qualification for the
British Grand Prix with qualifying for all other rounds restricted to a brief report.
March – ITV takes over as the broadcaster of
Formula One motor racing. It shows full coverage of qualifying as well as the race itself, something that the previous rights holder, the BBC, generally did not do until 1996.
31 May – The first edition of International Motor Racing is shown on ITV, broadcasting highlights from Formula One's feeder series
Formula 3000 and certain support championships that run on Formula One weekends, such as the
Porsche Supercup.
To fill the gap left by the loss of Formula One to ITV, the BBC begins showing some live coverage of the British Touring Car Championship.
1998
20 December – The final edition of Rally Report, now called Top Gear Rally Report, is broadcast on BBC Two.
1999
No events,
2000s
2000
January – Channel 4 began to broadcast highlights of Iceland's
Formula Off Road
Channel 5 begins showing live coverage of
MotoGP. It shows the event for the next three seasons.
2001
March – Motorsports channel
Motors TV launches in the UK.
The BBC’s coverage of the
World Rally Championship ends. It had shown highlights of each round, along with live coverage of Rally GB, for many years.
2002
19 January – Channel 4 begins airing highlights from the
World Rally Championship, after securing the rights from the BBC.
1 March –
F1 Digital+ launches. It offers enhanced multi-screen coverage of
Formula One on a pay-per-view basis.
ITV takes over from the BBC as broadcaster of the
British Touring Car Championship. ITV shows live coverage as opposed to only highlights when the BBC had the contract.
12 December – After just one season,
F1 Digital+ closes.[6]
2003
The BBC wins the rights to the
MotoGP World Championship. Previously, the corporation had only covered the British round of the championship.
9 November – Channel 4's coverage of the World Rally Championship ends after two years with live coverage of the final stage from
Wales Rally GB.
27 December – The final edition of International Motor Sport, previously known as International Motor Racing until 2003, is shown on ITV.
2004
25 January – ITV takes over coverage of the World Rally Championship from Channel 4. The channel airs highlights of each round of the championship in a single 60 minute programme, usually on Sunday afternoons, in contrast to that Channel 4 had aired highlights on all three days of each round.
14 March – The first edition of Speed Sunday is broadcast on ITV, a new Sunday afternoon motorsport magazine programme, commissioned as part of ITV's expanding portfolio of motorsport rights.
12–13 June – ITV airs coverage of the
Le Mans 24 Hours, the first year the race has been covered on free-to-air television in three years.
24 October – The final edition of Speed Sunday is broadcast on ITV. The programme is axed after just a single series due to low ratings.
2005
No events.
2006
22 January – ITV takes the official highlights programme for the World Rally Championship for the 2006 season, rather than producing its own programme as it had done so previously, this was seen by many as a cost-cutting measure.
2 December – ITV's coverage of the World Rally Championship ends after four years. For the 2007 season, the highlights programme had been shown on
ITV4 instead of the main channel.
2008
27 January –
UKTV takes over the rights to the World Rally Championship, with the highlights programme airing on
Dave.
March – ITV announces that they have enacted a clause within their contract enabling them to leave
Formula One coverage after the 2008 season. It is believed this was done for commercial reasons and to allow more money to be spent on securing coverage of the
UEFA Champions League.[7]
Eurosport shows the
British Superbike Championship for the first time, and now holds the rights to the event until 2027.[8]
March – Channel 4 launches a new motorsport magazine programme Mobil 1 The Grid.
29 March –
Formula One returns to the BBC after the Corporation obtains live exclusive rights to the event following ITV’s decision to end its coverage.[10]
2010s
2010
No events.
2011
12 January – ESPN signs a deal to show exclusive coverage of the
World Rally Championship.[11] ESPN will screen 30-minute nightly bulletins at the end of every WRC day, with on-event coverage bookended by an hour-long preview and review show.
29 July – It is announced that the broadcasting rights of
Formula One are to be shared between the BBC and
Sky Sports from 2012 until 2018. Sky Sports will broadcast every race live, whilst the BBC will be able to broadcast up to half of the races in each season live, including both the
British Grand Prix and the final race of the season, with all remaining races being broadcast in extensive highlights shows.
2012
9 March –
Sky Sports F1 launches following Sky’s purchase of the rights to show live coverage of every race of the
Formula One season.[14]
BT Sport begins showing
MotoGP. Coverage is more extensive than that shown by the BBC as it includes free practices and qualifying as well as full coverage of Moto2 and Moto3.[17]
17 March – ITV becomes the broadcaster of the new
Formula E series, showing the 10 events on
ITV4.[18]
21 December – Budget cuts result in the BBC deciding to end its coverage of
Formula One three years early. The rights transfer to
Channel 4 for the remainder of the BBC's contract.[20]
18 March – Channel 4 shows
Formula One motor racing for the first time. This comes about following the BBC's decision to end its deal with Formula One early.[22] For the next three seasons, Channel 4 shows roughly half of the races live. The coverage is broadcast under the title of Channel 4 F1 and broadcasts live coverage of ten selected races live without advertisements and every race (even live) is shown as highlights, including the
British Grand Prix and
final race weekend.
4 September – Channel 5 acquires the UK broadcasting rights to
Formula E from the
2016–17 season following Formula E's termination of its contract with
ITV.[23] It shows all races from round three and then shows all of the following season.
2017
1 March –
Motors TV relaunches itself as Motorsport.tv. The change also sees the channel start to broadcast in high definition.[24]
Coverage of
MotoGP returns to Channel 5 although this time the coverage of restricted to highlights only. Channel 5 covers the event for the next two years.
Premier Sports, and its sister channel
Freesports, broadcast live and also highlights of the speedway leagues Sweden's Elitserien and the Polish PGE Ekstraliga.
30 September – After more than 17 years on air,
Motorsport.tv, previously known as Motors TV, closes its linear channel, switching to online-streaming only.[26]
15 December – The BBC begins its coverage of
Formula E and shows most of the races on the BBC Red Button.
2019
17 March –
Sky Sports becomes the exclusive broadcaster of all
Formula One races, apart from the
British Grand Prix which continues to be shown on Channel 4. Channel 4 also broadcasts highlights of all the other races.[27]
2019 also sees the return to Sky Sports of the
IndyCar Series after six seasons with BT Sport..
2020s
2020
March – Eurosport replaces BT Sport as rights holder to British Speedway.[28]
2021
April – Sky Sports begins showing
Extreme E motor racing.[29]
12 December – Coverage of the final race of the 2021 Formula One season, the
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, is shown free-to-air after Sky Sports agrees a one-off deal to simulcast the race live on Channel 4, due to
Lewis Hamilton and
Max Verstappen starting the race level on points in the championship.
2022
29 January – Channel 4 broadcasts
Formula E for the first time with round 2 of the
2022 Diriyah ePrix. Channel 4 had signed a multi-year broadcast agreement just 8 days before this event. The opening round had been streamed live on
YouTube.[31]