Motorsport.tv was a pan-European digital

television channel A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...

dedicated to motorsport. It ceased broadcasting in late September 2018 to concentrate on web-streaming only. Launched in 2000 as Motors TV, it broadcast an extensive range of national and international racing series featuring cars, motorbikes, boats and aircraft. It premiered championships include the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

, the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercont ...

, United SportsCar Championship, Australian

Supercars Championship The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australia ...

British Formula Three The British Formula Three Championship was an international motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It was a junior-level feeder formula that used small single se ...

and a host of FIM-sanctioned motorcycle competitions. It was broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week across Europe.

History

The channel launched as Motors TV in France in September 2000. The English version of Motors TV began broadcasting in March 2001. Since then it has grown in both viewership and series featured, adding premier international events such as the

Junior World Rally Championship The FIA Junior WRC, also known as JWRC and previously known as Junior World Rally Championship, is an international rallying competition restricted to drivers under 29 years old. The championship currently consists of five select rallies of th ...

Formula 3 Euro Series The Formula 3 Euro Series was a European-based junior single seater formula for Formula Three chassis that was launched (in its current form) in 2003 as a merger of the French Formula Three Championship and German Formula Three Championship. The ...

, German Touring Car Championship,

V8 Supercars The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...

and the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...

. In addition to sporting events the channel also broadcasts magazine programmes such as ''Inside Grand Prix'', ''Build or Bust'' and ''Best of Crash''. On 20 January 2015, Motors TV announced that they would start broadcasting in the Pan-American regions on 28 January 2015. In November 2016,

Motorsport Network Motorsport Network is an American media and technology company headquartered in Miami, FL and London, UK. The company's proprietary brands, websites and OTT operations focus on motor racing and consumer automotive content serving and presenting ...

bought Motors TV. On 1 March 2017, Motors TV was rebranded to become Motorsport.tv. There will be a launch of an HD channel and the station will be available via desktop, mobile and streaming devices. In November 2017, Motorsport.tv announced a partnership with the

Automobile Club de l'Ouest The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (English: Automobile Club of the West), sometimes abbreviated to ACO, is the largest automotive group in France. It was founded in 1906 by car building and racing enthusiasts, and is most famous for being the orga ...

to stream on-demand archive footage of the

. In September 2018 it became clear that the Motorsport.tv linear channel would close on 30 September 2018. From that date, the service switched to online-streaming only.

Series broadcast

Single-seater

Formula Renault 3.5 Series,

Superleague Formula Superleague Formula was an open wheel single seater motor racing formula, which started in 2008, at Donington Park in the United Kingdom. The league introduced team sponsorship by association football clubs. It used the slogan 'The Beautiful ...

Formula Two Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009– 2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name ...

, European F3 Open,

Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Formula Renault Eurocup was a Formula Renault motor racing championship. Eurocup raced only on European circuits. It served as a support series to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series as part of the World Series by Renault from 2005 to 2015. Renault Sp ...

, Grand Prix de Pau, Inside Grand Prix, GP3 Series, British Formula Ford

Endurance and GT

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the ...

International GT Open The International GT Open is a grand tourer-style sports car racing series founded in 2006 by the Spanish GT Sport Organización. It was a spin-off of the now-defunct Spanish GT Championship, but is now a distinct series featuring FIA GT3-spec ca ...

, GT Cup,

ADAC GT Masters The ADAC GT Masters is a grand tourer-based auto racing series founded by the international Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) and supported by the German ADAC automotive club. Similar to an earlier ADAC GT Cup series in the 1990s, the new GT ...

FIA GT3 Group GT3, known technically as Cup Grand Touring Cars and commonly referred to as simply GT3, is a set of regulations maintained by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for grand tourer racing cars designed for use in various au ...

Blancpain Endurance Series The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, formerly for sponsorship reasons the Blancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015 and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup from 2016 to 2019, is a sports car racing series developed by SRO Motorsports Gr ...

Britcar Britcar is an endurance sports car racing and touring car racing series in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1997, as a result of a discussion in a Nürburgring bar between Willie Moore and James Tucker. Folklore has it that James Tucker and ...

British GT The British GT Championship is a sports car racing series based predominantly in the United Kingdom. The series was originally created by the British Racing Drivers' Club in 1993 and, for its first two seasons, was known as the National Sports GT ...

, Dutch Supercar Challenge, Ferrari Challenge Europe,

Porsche Supercup The Porsche Supercup (officially known as Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, known as Porsche Michelin Supercup prior to 2007) is an international one-make sports car racing series supporting the FIA Formula One World Championship organized by Porsche ...

, Superstars GT Sprint,

Bathurst 12 Hour The Bathurst 12 Hour, currently known as the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour for sponsorship reasons, is an annual endurance race for GT and production cars held at the Mount Panorama Circuit, in Bathurst, Australia. The race was first held in 1 ...

Dubai 24 Hour The Dubai 24 Hour Race is both a Sports car racing, sports car and Touring car racing, touring car automobile endurance race held annually at the Dubai Autodrome. It was inaugurated in 2006. Entrants and participants As with all races in the 24 ...

s, Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race,

Le Mans Classic The Le Mans Classic is a biennial vintage sports car event held on the grounds of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, created by Peter Auto and Richard Mille, and associated with Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). It began in 2002 and runs every two years ...

Spa 24 Hours The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies. History The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their ...

Belcar The Belgian Racing Car Championship (formerly Belcar Endurance Championship or Belgian GT Championship) is a national sports car racing championship primarily in Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom ...

GT4 European Cup The GT4 European Series is a sports car championship created and organised by SRO Motorsports Group. It is a pro/am championship which followed a formula similar to the FIA GT3 European Championship, which was itself derived from the FIA GT Champ ...

, SPEED Euro Series

Rally and rallycross

European Rally Championship The European Rally Championship (officially FIA European Rally Championship) is an automobile rally competition held annually on the European continent and organized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship has b ...

, Red Bull Global Rallycross, Rallycross Challenge Europe,

Rallye International du Valais The Rallye International du Valais is a yearly rally in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It was founded by Philippe Simonetta, a local wine dealer in 1960. Since 1980 it has been part of the European Rally Championship and in 2007 and 2008 it ...

, British Historic Rally Championship, British Rallycross Championship, French Rallycross Championship,

Irish Tarmac Rally Championship The Irish Tarmac Rally Championship (ITRC) is the premier rallying series in Ireland. It is held annually and is promoted by the Tarmac Rally Organisers’ Association (TROA). The Championship takes place over seven events, based in the Republic o ...

, Irish National Rally Championship, Irish Forest Rally Championship, MSA Asphalt Rally Championship, Finnish F-Cup Rally, Belgian Rally,

Asia-Pacific Rally Championship The Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) is an international rally championship organized by the FIA encompassing rounds in Asia and Oceania. Group N cars dominated the championship for many years but in recent years cars built to R5 and S ...

Canadian Rally Championship The Canadian Rally Championship is an automobile rallying championship sanctioned by the Canadian Association of RallySport (CARS) held since 1957 in Canada. Canadian rallying history The Canadian Rally Championship (CRC) is Canada's only nation ...

Motorcycle, motocross and supercross

Italian Superbike Championship, Spanish Motorcycle Championship,

FIM Motocross World Championship FIM Motocross World Championship is the premier championship of motocross racing, organized by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), divided into two distinct classes: MXGP and MX2. Race duration is 30 minutes plus two laps per ...

, Supercross de Bercy, AMA Motocross,

AMA Supercross The AMA Supercross Championship (commercially known as Monster Energy AMA Supercross) is an American motorcycle racing series. Founded by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in 1974, the AMA Supercross Championship races are held from J ...

, FIM X-Trial World Championship, Night of the Jumps,

Endurance FIM World Championship The Endurance World Championship ( FIM EWC) is the premier worldwide endurance championship in motorcycle road racing. The championship season consists of a series of endurance races (with a duration of six, eight, twelve or twenty-four hours) h ...

Touring cars

, International Superstars Series,

Eurocup Mégane Trophy The Renault Eurocup Mégane Trophy was a one-make racing series created and managed by Renault Sport. The series has raced with the Renault Mégane Renault Sport since 2005 as part of the World Series by Renault. The Renault Eurocup has run w ...

Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup was a one-make racing series by Volkswagen based in Germany, which used the Volkswagen Scirocco model. The first season was in 2010, having replaced the previous ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup which had run since 2004. It was a ...

V8 Utes The V8 Ute Racing Series, known originally as the V8 BRute Utes was an Australian motor racing series for utilities, derived from the Australian Production Car Championship. It was conceived in 2000 by PROCAR chief and owner Ross Palmer, V8 Ute Pa ...

, Belgian Touring Car Series

Caterham

The

Caterham Academy The Caterham Academy is a motor-racing championship exclusively open to novices, as their first foray into motorsport. Scholarship years - 1995-1999 In 1995 the Caterham Scholarship, a novices-only speed events and racing series, was establi ...

that include the Academ / Roadsport / 270s / 310s / 420s (More details at http://uk.caterhamcars.com/caterham-motorsport)

The Super 1 British Karting Championships

The series where Formula 1 drivers in the UK and beyond start their racing careers from 8 years of age. The production team filming each round of the series were the first in the world in 2014 to start using a 4K radio-controlled drone camera to film each televised round on a regular basis, flown by a licensed CAA pilot, capturing spectacular aerial views of the racing. Coulthard, McNish, Franchitti, Button, Hamilton, Di Resta and Stevens (amongst others) have come through this championship.

Other

VAGTrophy

NASCAR Xfinity Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

Race of Champions The Race of Champions (ROC) is an international motorsport event held at the end/start of each year, featuring some of the world's best racing and rally drivers. It is the only competition in the world where stars from Formula One, World Ral ...

, BRSCC Porsche Championship, Lotus Cup Europe,

FIA European Truck Racing Championship The FIA European Truck Racing Championship is a motorsport Truck racing, truck road racing series for tractor unit, semi-tractors which is sanctioned to the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile and is organised by ETRA Promotion GmbH. C ...

D1 Grand Prix The , abbreviated as D1GP and subtitled ''Professional Drift'', is a production car drifting series from Japan. After several years of hosting amateur drifting contests, Daijiro Inada, founder of '' Option'' magazine and Tokyo Auto Salon, and d ...

Formula D Formula Drift (also known as Formula D) is a United States-based motorsport drifting series. Formula Drift, Inc. was co-founded by Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage in 2003 as a sister company to Slipstream Global Marketing, the same partnership that int ...

, JDM Allstars, King of Europe Drift Series, EFRA European Championships, FIA/UEM European Dragster Championship, UK Karting, Fun Cup (UK), Mitjet Series, Santa Pod Extravaganza, LOORRS, Andros Trophy, Asian Festival of Speed, Full Throttle Middle East, UAE National Race Days, Malaysian Super Series, Autograss

References

External links

* {{Television in the Netherlands Auto racing mass media Television channels and stations established in 2000 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2018 French-language television stations English-language television stations German-language television stations Defunct television channels in Hungary Foreign television channels broadcasting in the United Kingdom Television stations in France Defunct television channels in the Netherlands Television channels in Flanders Defunct television channels in Belgium Sports television networks in France Sports television channels in the United Kingdom