JULY 13, 2005

A1 announces TV deals

The new A1 Grand Prix series has announced its major international TV deals which mean that the races will be broadcast live into 290m households in 50 countries. The deals include the Al Jazeera network, which covers the Middle East, Epoch Sports, which covers eastern Europe, ESPN Star, which covers Asia, SABC, which covers South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. In addition there deals with Sky in the UK and in Italy, a contract with TAF Sports in the Balkans and a deal with Televisa in Mexico. For the moment, there is no coverage of the sport in the other western European countries and in the United States.

"With close exciting races in some of the world's most glamorous locations, I'm confident we'll keep viewers around the world glued to their screens over the A1 racing season," says series founder Sheikh Maktoum. "We anticipate another raft of broadcast signings within the month."