Dorna Sports and Nelonen Media sign three year agreement for MotoGP broadcast in Finland

2009-11-17 18:58
Dorna Sports have confirmed a new contract with Nelonen Media, part of the Finnish Media Group, Sanoma Entertainment, for the TV broadcasting rights of MotoGP in Finland for the 2010-2012 seasons.

Dorna Sports CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta and Nelonen Media Head of Sports Jorma Paakkari signed the new agreement at the final round of the 2009 MotoGP World Championship, the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana.

Nelonen Media have been broadcasting MotoGP over the past seven years on their Nelonen channel and the extension of this agreement with Dorna expands their broadcast commitments, including a combination of pay-TV and free-to-air exposure for the World Championship across Nelonen Media's sports channels.

Nelonen Media's pay sport channel will show 125cc, Moto2 and MotoGP practice sessions and races live, whilst MotoGP races will also be aired later the same day on Nelonen Media's free to air sport network. This network will also broadcast a brand new magazine programme devoted to the series and runs the weekly.

MotoGP will be a key property for Nelonen Media Sports and an integral part of their ongoing strategy for future years. This will see extensive promotion of the MotoGP World Championship across all their networks.

Dorna Sports' Managing Director Manel Arroyo commented, "We are very satisfied to have signed this agreement with Sanoma Entertainment and Nelonen Media which will guarantee even greater coverage of the Championship for MotoGP fans in Finland, for the next three years. There has been a great passion for the sport in the country for many years and with Mika Kallio, who originates from Finland, showing great potential and being crowned the 2009 MotoGP Rookie of the Year, viewers in his home nation have plenty to look forward to in the coming seasons."

Jorma Paakkari, Head of Sports divison in Nelonen Media: "Three year extension to MotoGP gives us a solid foundation to build our sports channels in the future. Even after seven years of showing MotoGP we are still very enthused with the prospect of growing with one of the world's most exciting sports".

Nelonen Media is part of Sanoma Entertainment, which represents six television channels, two radio stations and Welho, Finland's largest cable TV company. Furthermore, the associated Sanoma News group is the leading newspaper publisher in Finland.

Source: Dorna

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