BT Sport keeps MotoGP until 2021, Michael Laverty joins the team

BT Sport have sealed the deal to broadcast the MotoGP championship until 2021, continuing with their current line up of presenters, with the addition of British Superbike rider, Michael Laverty, who will be part of the team for selected rounds.

James Toseland, Colin Edwards, Gavin Emmett, Suzi Perry and Craig Doyle will all be part of the presenting team from the paddock and pit-lane at selected rounds, whilst lead commentator Keith Huewen will be joined by a variety of them throughout the weekend in the commentary box.

The deal ends speculation that Sky Sports were to take over the broadcasting rights, as they had done with MotoGP’s four-wheeled counterpart, F1.

BT Sport will lose the services of Julian Ryder who stepped away from the paddock at the end of last season, with Suzi Perry saying during the Facebook Live announcement that “there is no direct replacement” for the departing Julian.

Andy Haworth, BT managing director of content and strategy, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to continue as the home of MotoGP in the UK and Ireland.  Over the past four seasons we have given MotoGP fans the very best race coverage ever seen on TV in the UK.  We have a fantastic team working on MotoGP, Suzi Perry, Craig Doyle, Colin Edwards, Neil Hodgson, James Toseland, Keith Huewen, Gavin Emmett and a big welcome to Michael Laverty who will be joining the BT Sport team. The team will bring every single minute of the action from this fantastic sport to our viewers for another four seasons.”

Lead commentator and ex-British champion, Keith Huewen, said, “The headline ‘team’ has the addition of Michael Laverty but the big changes are behind the scenes. The viewers will really notice them when we get going!

“The behind the scenes team has changed and therefore the style will too. Personally, I will miss ‘Jules’ but I reckon that with the close-knit way that BT work together that 2018 will be a great year!

BT Sport MotoGP are also trialling a new way of delivering their service, via the application Seenit Capture, which allows selected fans to join a project and become a part of the team, with views, opinions and predictions; the feature already exists in the channel’s football coverage.

The first round of the season will be covered exclusively live for British viewers on the 16th of March, with every practice session covered, with analysis and a catch up show at the end of the day.