Bristol Street Motors Sponsors Channel 4 Formula E Race Coverage

21/01/2022 16:04 Share

Bristol Street Motors is to be the sponsor of Channel 4’s coverage of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

Formula E and Channel 4 today announced the broadcaster will become the UK’s exclusive free-to-air TV home of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in a multi-year broadcast agreement beginning this season.

Sponsored by Bristol Street Motors, Channel 4’s race coverage will be presented by the established Formula E team of hosts Vernon Kay and Nicki Shields, expert analyst Dario Franchitti and commentator Jack Nicholls with local pundits joining around the world. It will be produced by FETV, a co-venture between motorsport production specialists Aurora and North One.

UK-based fans of the only all-electric motorsport World Championship will have the opportunity to see more live races in Season 8 than in any previous season.

Every race in the Championship’s biggest-ever 16-race calendar will be aired live on Channel 4 and All4, or on Channel 4 Sport’s well-established channel on YouTube.*

Race highlights will be broadcast on Channel 4 and All4 which will serve as the catch-up destination for all the action from the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

In addition, the new qualifying format featuring all 22 drivers in head-to-head knockout Duels competing for pole position will be available live before every E-Prix on the Channel 4 Sport YouTube channel.

Season 8 begins with a double-header around the walls of the UNESCO World Heritage site of Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, on 28 and 29 January. Racing continues through Season 8 in the centre of iconic world cities including Rome, Monaco, Berlin, London and New York and for the first time, Jakarta, Vancouver and Seoul. Most races in Asia and Europe will air live on Channel 4 and All4.

Round 1 will air live from Diriyah on the Channel 4 Sport YouTube channel from 16:30pm GMT on Friday, 28 January. Channel 4 and All4 will broadcast live coverage of Round 2 on Saturday, 29 January from 16:30pm GMT.

Robert Forrester, Chief Executive of Bristol Street Motors, said: “Our partnership with Channel 4 has been amazing for us, so we are delighted to be sponsoring their Formula E coverage.

“It is fantastic that all-electric motorsport is gaining a higher profile, especially as we move towards more significant sales of Electric Vehicles.”

By the conclusion Season 7 (2020/21), the live television audience made up the majority of Formula E’s global TV viewership (62%) for the first time in the Championship’s history. The cumulative audience increased to 316m – a 32% year-on-year growth – driven by new distribution agreements with free-to-air (FTA) channels in key markets, which also lifted Season 7’s live audience above pre-pandemic levels.

This latest deal follows on from Channel 4’s announcement that it will show ten live Super League matches each season for the next two years thanks to a partnership with Sky. It is the first time in the competition’s 26-year history that it will be shown on free to air terrestrial television.

Channel 4 has made a wide range of high-profile sports and events available free to air to UK audiences over the past 12 months. These have included: live coverage of Emma Raducanu’s stunning US Open victory; live British Lions rugby; live Test match cricket coverage of England’s tour in India; live coverage of the Ireland rugby union autumn internationals; and live in-depth coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games which attracted 20 million viewers.

* Live broadcast schedule is provisional and subject to change.