Movistar back in MotoGP picture for 2021 in deal with DAZN

Motorcycling’s elite MotoGP World Championship will be on Movistar Plus for the first time since 2018 after the leading Spanish pay-television operator reached a deal with rights holder DAZN, the over-the-top streaming platform.

As a result of the agreement, which is set to be confirmed, every round of the 2021 MotoGP season will be available to Movistar Plus subscribers through the Motor package, which already features Formula 1.

The Telefónica-owned broadcaster retained rights to the top four-wheel series in a three-year deal finalised last October.

DAZN keeps control of the MotoGP rights and will continue to offer action to digital subscribers, with its coverage replicated on Movistar Plus.

There is also provision for free-to-air coverage of selected rounds, with RTVE, the Spanish public-service broadcaster, having shown two races in the 2020 season, in an agreement with DAZN.

The 2021 campaign is due to start with the Qatar Grand Prix in Lusail on 28 March, and four of the 20 rounds will be held in Spain.

The deal with DAZN ensures wider exposure for MotoGP in Spain, arguably the sport’s most important market and one which has provided the world champion in 10 of the last 11 years through Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Márquez and 2020 champion Joan Mir.

DAZN replaced Movistar Plus as the Spanish home of the motorcycling series after signing a four-year deal with promoter Dorna Sports, and also snapped up the Superbike World Championship.

Meanwhile, Ducati, the prominent Italian manufacturer, has extended its participation agreement for MotoGP for a further five years.

The new deal signed with Dorna runs from 2022 to 2026, with Ducati joining Austria’s KTM, which signed up last week, as the only factory so far committed beyond this year.

Ducati joined MotoGP in 2003, and won only its second constructors’ world championship last year, while the Ducati Team and Italian rider Andrea Dovizioso both finished fourth in their respective standings.