The MotoGP global motorcycle racing series is set to start its regular season with the Qatar Grand Prix this coming weekend, March 8-10. But it may have a new U.S. broadcast partner for that. Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal reported Monday that the circuit’s deal with NBCUniversal (which had aired it exclusively in the U.S. for the past four seasons) has expired, and that they’re close to a deal with TNT Sports parent Warner Bros. Discovery:
https://twitter.com/a_s12/status/1764650701169254828
Here’s more from Stern’s piece:
MotoGP is in advanced talks with Warner Bros. Discovery to move its U.S. media rights to the network’s channels, according to people familiar with the matter, as the global motorcycle racing series looks for growth in America. The Madrid-based property starts its 2024 season this weekend with the Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Qatar at the Lusail International Circuit, and it’s been with NBC in the U.S. since 2020. Before that, it aired on beIN Sports. Now, sources say that the series’ media rights with NBC expired and it’s closing in on a deal with N.Y.-based WBD for 2024, with an announcement expected in the coming days.
All Saturday Sprint races and Sunday main races would be live on linear cable TV under the deal, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. It wasn’t clear what channels that would be, but WBD owns TNT, TBS and TruTV. WBD and NBC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. MotoGP also held talks in recent weeks with Fox, SBJ understands, at a time when Fox is in talks to possibly pick up IndyCar’s media rights starting in 2025. NBC controls IndyCar’s rights through 2024.
Perhaps the key component there is “live on linear cable TV.” Last season, under their deal with NBCUniversal all races aired on either broadcast NBC (five races) or linear cable CNBC (16 races), which has exposure to more households thanks to the broadcast component. However, only one race, the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas, was shown live (on CNBC), and live coverage was otherwise primarily available through MotoGP’s own subscription service.
So, yes, there are less households that receive the WBD cable networks than broadcast NBC. Nielsen estimates the U.S. TV universe as 125 million households for 2023-24, with most of those homes able to receive broadcast signals, estimated at 96.2 percent for 2020-21. Per Sports TV Ratings’ Robert Seidman, TBS and TNT had an estimated 71 million homes in December 2023, while truTV had 68 million. (CNBC was not included in Seidman’s December post, but it was at 86 million to TBS’ 90 million in September 2018, so it’s probably still a bit below where TBS currently is.)
But going from having just one race live on TV to all races being live on TV feels like a notable exposure jump for fans actively interested in the sport (as opposed to those just catching it by turning on the channel). And even truTV has decent penetration by the standards of cable these days (it must be all those truTV Awareness Months). So it makes some sense for MotoGP to be looking at this.
There’s also some previous connections between the sides, just not stateside. The 2021 Warner Bros. – Discovery merger brought Discovery’s notable European sports assets into the same corporate family as TNT, TBS, and truTV (which then had their sports side known as Turner Sports, then WBD Sports, and now is known as TNT Sports), including the-then BT Sport (which is the main U.K. broadcaster of MotoGP, and had its own rebrand to TNT Sports last July). And they have rights to MotoGP in some other territories as well. So it makes a lot of sense for the series to want to work with them in the U.S. as well.
That also fits with TNT Sports’ growing involvement in U.S. racing. They just got back into NASCAR for the first time since 2014 with a midseason package split with Amazon, and even hired Dale Earnhardt Jr. for that coverage. And they’ve been a rumored player on some other fronts.
Meanwhile, on the NBCUniversal side, this continues a story we’ve seen with them since the closure of NBCSN at the end of 2021. That came with their NHL deal already set to end after the 2021-22 season (after WBD and ESPN won those rights), with their Premier League deal set to end in the summer of 2022, and with their NASCAR deal set to end in 2023.
NBCU would later renew the latter two deals (through 2028 and 2031 respectively). And they’ve certainly stayed in sports with those properties, the Olympics, the Big Ten, Notre Dame, golf, and more. And they’re rumored to be contending for numerous future rights, including the NBA. And they have platforms to put plenty of sports, including their broadcast network, basic cable channels like CNBC and USA, and their streaming service Peacock (which has even carried exclusive NFL games). So they’re definitely not moving out of sports entirely.
But back when they had a 24-hour linear sports network with NBCSN, NBCU had a lot of smaller properties, including cycling, lacrosse, and more. And they’d often mix some linear coverage there with full coverage on subscription offerings.
The linear side of that equation is getting more difficult for the smaller leagues with no NBCSN. And that’s led to more limited linear offerings, and to more coverage being Peacock-only. That’s often annoyed many, including track athletes and fans around last year’s USATF Outdoor Championships.
That’s also been a factor in the exits of a number of properties that were at NBCU, including a lot of cycling. And there may be more ahead. There have been reports that Fox might get IndyCar rights from NBCU (although NBCU has been doing well with them lately), and there have been rumblings that the SuperMotocross World Championship might also leave (note that their 2024 schedule has all races live on Peacock, but 17 of them exclusively broadcast live there, with only linear replays). And now it seems like MotoGP may leave NBCU as well.
Of course, it’s notable that WBD certainly doesn’t have a 24-hour sports channel either, and that significant portions of their content are also streaming-exclusive on Max (with much of that on a sports tier that’s still free for now, but will eventually cost more). And they also have some things that are streaming-exclusive through Bleacher Report and not Max. And some of their streaming moves, including with cycling, are not all positive for fans.
But with TNT, TBS, and truTV all being decently-distributed entertainment channels with solid sports histories, it does seem they have more linear tonnage that can regularly be used for sports (whereas CNBC only sometimes counts there with its news and business focus, with NBCU even sometimes opting to leave that programming there and dump hockey playoffs to less-distributed The Golf Channel back in the day). And it’s interesting to see them in talks to acquire more rights, such as MotoGP, that used to be NBCU staples.