Should we have to pay to watch MotoGP?

Apparently, a well-known telecommunications concern is due to launch a subscription sports television channel. I should know, because during the French Open tennis coverage this year there was no other product advertised quite so repetitively. That in itself was a turn-off. But it seems this new channel will have sole rights to broadcast MotoGP live, withdrawing access to the series for UK terrestrial viewers for the first time in fifteen years. Maybe it seems a bit behind the times to say so, but this is not going to be a universally popular move.

I have been a follower of motor racing for many years, and I discovered its bike racing cousin for the first time back in 1996. I was hooked straight away, and so when Channel 5 introduced full coverage of MotoGP in 2000 - the 500cc Grands Prix - it was easy enough to graduate from being solely a British Superbike fan. This meant learning a bit about the difference between four-stroke production-based racers and two-stroke full prototype machinery. It also happened to be the start of the Valentino Rossi era in Grand Prix racing’s premier class, with the Italian going on to do so much to popularise bike racing globally.

A lot has happened since 2000. The BBC took over the rights to show MotoGP in 2003, and initially this meant an end to coverage of the 250cc and 125cc support classes. And the technology itself has also changed, with the days of the 500 being numbered even during the first year of the 990cc four-stroke era (which ran through the 2002 to 2006 seasons). Then there was an 800cc capacity limit for five years, going up to 1000cc in 2012; and finally with an end to the two-stroke format in the support classes.

Rossi, of course, was the dominant force in the 990 era, winning the first four world titles even after switching from Honda to the hitherto underwhelming Yamaha halfway through. The Italian won two more titles for them on the 800 machines, which period may yet be remembered as the Casey Stoner era. The Ducati-mounted Australian was usually the man to beat from 2007 onwards, even though the bike was apparently tough to master and he only won the title for them once, before doing the same thing for Honda.

So if this type of racing is your thing, why shouldn’t you pay to watch it? Although it doesn’t get much national media coverage in the UK, there is still a very healthy fan base for motorcycle racing’s pinnacle category. To attend the races in person you have to pay, of course; but the same is true of many other televised sporting contests that are available to the wider public for the price of a TV licence. I am a partially self-educated fan of the sport, gathering information from published material, but also absorbing knowledge from the TV coverage of the races. It is probably the best way to understand what’s going on; whilst the spectacle itself, the entertainment factor, is the main draw for both the ‘scholar’ and the casual viewer.

I’d also like to make reference to Cal Crutchlow, the English rider with a Supersport World Championship title to his name, plus three World Superbike race wins. In his third season as a MotoGP rider, and without full factory spec machinery, Cal is looking like Britain’s best prospect, with the potential to be a race winner, since Niall Mackenzie. Although the Scotsman didn’t deliver a victory during his 1986-94 500cc career, he led races, scored a pole position, was on the podium seven times, and was fourth in the 1990 championship - behind three of the best in the business. With Crutchlow now set to try and improve on that record - and add the current Moto2 champion-elect, Scott Redding, into the 2014 mix - isn’t it pretty bad timing to drastically reduce/alienate the (more casual) British TV audience member?

Perhaps it won’t come to that; hopefully it won’t. For those of us who have no appetite to change ‘supplier’, there must be options - one can only hope that a terrestrial broadcaster, such as the BBC, is working to put some sort of deal in place. Would it perhaps be possible to sub-contract the actual broadcasting duties? Might our telecommunications giant consider setting up a freeview/terrestrial channel of their own with selected offerings from their overall output? How about a deal for same-day highlights on one of the terrestrial stations? Or what about a deal for full coverage on another channel, with a delay of two or three days or a week (and preferably not at a very silly early hour of the morning)? Maybe you have another solution, but one does hope that there is something to be done to rescue MotoGP from being exclusively held in the jealous clutches of pay-TV for the foreseeable future. I suppose time will tell.

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