The MotoGP World Championship live broadcasting rights are exclusively held by BT Sport, with the subscription service the home of MotoGP coverage in the UK since 2014, when it took over from the BBC.
Prior to BT’s takeover, the BBC aired all qualifying and races live on BBC2 for the MotoGP class, while Moto2 and Moto3 were shown online and on the BBC Red Button service.
MotoGP’s free-to-air presence has dwindled since BT’s takeover, with UK fans who don’t have access to BT having to settle for one-hour highlight shows on ITV4 on Monday evenings after each grand prix.
In 2022, however, ITV’s coverage will once again expand to showing two races live.
A representative from Dorna Sports - MotoGP’s rights holders - has confirmed to Autosport that the German and British GPs will be shown live and free in the UK.
The German GP at the Sachsenring will take place from 17-19 June, with ITV’s main channel showing the race live. Moto2 and Moto3 will also be shown on ITV4.
The British GP, which takes place on 5-7 August at Silverstone will have all three classes shown live on ITV’s main channel.
This follows a move from Dorna last season, in which it aired the French and British GPs live on ITV’s channels.
Exclusive live rights will remain with BT Sport through to the end of 2024 and it is not known at this stage if MotoGP will increase its free-to-air presence in the UK going forward.
It is also not clear at this stage if ITV will field its own bespoke coverage or simply run the world feed.
For last year’s French GP, ITV4 ran all of the world feed coverage, while at Silverstone it used its own presentation team but kept the world feed commentary.
The 2022 MotoGP season continues this weekend with the French GP.
Reigning world champion and home hero Fabio Quartararo leads the standings after finishing second to Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia last time out at the Spanish GP.
