Eurosport Events announced that the World Touring Car Championship will receive extended international TV coverage in 2011 thanks to new deals in two strategic markets: Germany and China.
The renewal of the broadcasting agreement with RTL means that the leading German commercial channel will air a 10-minute highlight programme of all the WTCC races immediately before the live broadcast of Formula One qualifying sessions.
A new agreement was signed with China’s national television CCTV for the broadcasting of dedicated highlight programmes of each WTCC event within "Auto Times" weekly programme on Wednesday at 7pm on the free-to-air channel CCTV5, that reaches a total of 399 million households. This will enable WTCC to reach not only the motorsport fan community but also a larger base through this leading TV car show in the biggest automotive market in the world.
Géraldine Filiol, Managing Director of Eurosport Events, said: "We are very satisfied with the signing of these new deals which are significant for the development of WTCC. They will ensure that our championship receives a strong visibility on terrestrial channels in Germany and China, two of the largest automotive markets in the world. The coverage of all 2011 races on these channels will definitely contribute to promote even further the WTCC and its partners, and attract larger and diversified audiences."
The WTCC will benefit from improved TV coverage in Germany and China
WTCC PROMOTER ATTENDS CTCC OPENING EVENT
The promoter of the World Touring Car Championship, Marcello Lotti is attending the opening event of the China Touring Car Championship this weekend at Shanghai’s Tianma Circuit.
The trip to China was mainly intended to fix the operative details for the joint event that WTCC and CTCC will run together at the Guangdong International Circuit on November 5, 2011.
Lotti and Chinese promoter Qing Xia had also the opportunity to discuss the future development of the CTCC in terms of technical regulations.
After the meetings Lotti took the the occasion for of having a closer look to the Chinese championship that is currently open to 2.0L and 1.6L cars split in two different categories.
"I knew already that the level of the championship was very good, with the involvement of a number of car manufacturer brands. And I was especially impressed by the excellent promotion around the event. This makes me confident that the WTCC Race of China in November will benefit from the experience and professionalism of the CTCC promoter," Marcello Lotti commented.
Marcello Lotti visits the FRD Motorsports garage at Shanghai Tianma Circuit