The FIM World Supercross Championship has announced broadcast agreements with BT Sport, DAZN, and Viaplay, to broadcast the championship in the UK, Ireland, and throughout Europe, beginning with the upcoming opening round of the year at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium this weekend.
In the UK and Ireland, BT Sport will broadcast three hours of the WSX Championship live, while many European fans can catch all action on DAZN, which will be the home of the World Supercross Championship throughout most European nations. Viaplay will carry live WSX coverage across its Nordic and various other European territories. In all, over 50 networks globally, pushing through 150 nations will air WSX content.
40 of the world’s best supercross riders will line-up in WSX’s unique format across two divisions – WSX (450cc) and SX2 (250cc) – including four world champions: Australia’s Chad Reed, Germany’s Ken Roczen, America’s Eli Tomac, and former France’s Jordi Tixier. They’ll be joined by two wildcards per category trying to show what they’re made of against the world’s best.
The first round will be the British Grand Prix at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales on Saturday 8 October. The 2022 pilot season then moves to Australia for the Australian Grand Prix, where the world champions will be crowned. Both nights will be shown live in the UK and Ireland on BT Sport. In 2023, the WSX Championship will expand across the globe to be held in the second half of the year.
For the first time, behind-the-scenes teams’ radio communications will be broadcast; there will be multiple live on-board cameras across multiple teams in both categories; extreme super slow-motion cameras along with detailed personality, lifestyle, and behind-the-scenes technical feature stories.
Ryan Sanderson, managing director commercial, SX Global – the commercial and organizational rights holder for WSX – said the broadcast platform will elevate the sport to levels not seen previously, commenting, “This is a great day for supercross fans around the world. Through our broadcast innovations, fans will be riding with the superstars of the sport like never before. Our team will be bringing fans a whole new way to watch supercross.
“The FIM World Supercross Championship provides more opportunities for brands to engage with fans through both our international broadcast platform – and in-stadium – as a result of the innovations that we will be bringing to the live stadium show and television screens around the world.”
Leading the broadcast team will be legendary American commentator, Ralph Sheheen who will be joined by 1997 world champion, Jeff Emig and with Emmy Award-nominated broadcaster, Kristen Beat as the trackside reporter.
SX Global, the exclusive promoter of the FIM World Supercross Championship, launches live-streaming channel providing consumers streaming options in regions where linear TV coverage is unavailable.
In addition to announcing European and UK broadcast partners, SX Global, the Australian sports and entertainment company spearheading the FIM World Supercross Championship, has also announced WSX.TV, the official streaming channel of the WSX. WSX.TV will provide supercross fans and consumers the opportunity and ability to sign up and subscribe for unrivalled access to the live race broadcast, on-demand streaming, and exclusive content.
The WSX Championship broadcast will feature several revolutionary innovations never seen in supercross. The streaming service promises to offer fans an elevated viewing experience, such as live on-board cameras with multiple angles on multiple motorcycles, an enhanced graphics package, extreme super slow-motion cameras, rider statistics, spider-cam technology and more. Fans can experience world-class, championship-level supercross racing in all its glory.
“We are incredibly excited to launch WSX.TV which offers fans an all-access pass to the FIM World Supercross Championship,” said Nathan Prendergast, head of television, SX Global. “We have been working feverishly to deliver an incredible viewing experience that allows fans to be fully immersed in an elevated supercross experience that will keep them on the edge of their seats and couches for three plus hours. This year’s pilot season is just the beginning – we can’t wait to show fans what we have planned in the future.”
Complementing WSX.TV and providing another value add and an elevated experience for fans around the world, WSX recently announced linear partnership deals to broadcast the FIM World Supercross Championship live in the USA (FOX Sports 1), Australia (The Seven Network), in the UK and Ireland (BT Sport), and Europe (DAZN, Viaplay). WSX is working diligently with broadcast partners in other major supercross markets, including Japan with more information to come.
In all other regions where linear options are unavailable, fans will have the opportunity to purchase a “Pay-Per-View pass” for $6.99 USD per championship round, which will allow them to enjoy three hours of live, edge-of-your-seat supercross action.
WSX.TV will provide a free subscription option to all countries, called Freemium, which offers access to exclusive WSX content, including live access to press conferences, rider and team profiles, interviews, unseen track action and more. In Australia, UK, and Europe, where a live television broadcast partner exists, only Freemium will be available. In the United States, viewers can watch on demand 24 hours after the live broadcast airs on FOX Sports 1.
For $49.99 USD, fans can subscribe to the WSX.TV Championship Pass’ which includes the 2022 pilot season and 2023 full season access live and on-demand – plus all benefits of the Freemium subscription.
For more information and details on the WSX or to purchase WSX.TV, visit WSXchampionship.com.