UK pay-TV heavyweight TNT Sports has snapped up live coverage rights to the upcoming 2024 season of electric motor racing’s Formula E.
Through a deal unveiled yesterday (December 6), TNT Sports (owned by Warner Bros. Discovery) will provide exclusive linear TV coverage of the 10th Formula E season next year, while all of the 17 races on the calendar will be also shown live on the discovery+ streaming platform.
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In addition, there will be “extensive editorial coverage on TNTSports.co.uk to tell the stories of Formula E and its teams.”
The 2023 Formula E season was covered live in the UK by commercial free-to-air (FTA) broadcaster Channel 4, which itself took over from the BBC, the UK’s public-service broadcaster. Indeed, next year will represent the first time the series is shown in the UK behind a paywall.
Channel 4 had already made clear it would not be renewing the two-season deal it agreed to ahead of the 2022 campaign.
Next season will constitute Formula E’s biggest-ever in terms of races, with 17, following on from a 2023 campaign that saw more viewers than ever before tune into live TV coverage of the series.
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By GlobalDataJeff Dodds, Formula E’s chief executive, said: “This is incredible news for sports fans in the UK who already watch premium live sports on TNT Sports. From next month they will get to enjoy the new thrill of Formula E racing, the most competitive motorsport on TV.
"For existing Formula E fans, we are excited to present TNT Sports as the new home of Formula E in the UK.”
Trojan Paillot, senior vice president of sports rights, acquisitions, and syndication at Warner Bros. Discovery Europe, added: "We are pleased to agree to a new supercharged partnership with Formula E that will deliver sports fans in the UK and Ireland with exclusive live coverage of every race throughout the season. Not only does this further expand our motorsport portfolio but integrates Formula E as part of the most varied premium sports offer in the UK.”
TNT Sports also holds rights to a range of other motorsport properties, such as the MotoGP World Championship and the World Rally Championship.
The 2024 Formula E season will begin in Mexico City on January 13 and will take in new venues across Italy, Japan, and China, before ending in London, UK, on July 21.
Last month, German commercial network ProSiebenSat.1 disclosed that it would not be covering the 2024 Formula E season in that market, leaving the series on the hunt for a new German FTA partner.
ProSiebenSat.1 cited decreased viewership as the reason for ending the deal.
November also saw, however, Formula E announce the renewal of its exclusive multi-year media rights tie-up with South Korea’s Eclat Media Group, the operator of Asian sports broadcast network SPOTV.
The renewed deal, which first began at the start of 2022, will see practice sessions, qualifying sessions, and live races all broadcast in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam, on both SPOTV's linear channels and via the SPOTV Now streaming service.
Elsewhere, it has been revealed that Japanese firm Bridgestone will take over as the sole tire supplier to Formula E from 2026.
Motorsport’s FIA governing body yesterday published the list of suppliers for the GEN4 Formula E race car, which will debut in 2026.
Bridgestone has not supplied a single-seater world championship since 2010, when it did so for the iconic Formula 1.
It will take over from Hankook, the Korean company, which will instead become the tire supplier for the World Rally Championship competition in 2025, replacing Pirelli.
