Jul 042017
Ongoing free-to-air UK TV coverage of the world’s most prestigious cycle race has been secured by ITV.
The Tour de France will be shown by ITV until 2023 in a new rights deal announced to coincide with coverage of this year’s event on ITV4. The new deal covers live coverage and highlights.
ITV took over highlights of Le Tour in 2002, moving them to digital channel ITV4 in 2006. Since 2010, ITV has had the rights to show live coverage on free-to-air television, although full coverage in HD requires a pay TV subscription covering ITV4 HD.
As well as live coverage and highlights programmes of the Tour, under the deal ITV also has rights to show highlights of the Criterium Dauphine and Paris Nice over the same term.
The previous rights deal expires in 2019, a deal that saw both ITV4 and Eurosport 1 show Le Tour on a non-exclusive live rights basis in the UK. Last month, Discovery’s Eurosport channel announced an upgraded coverage deal covering the 2017-19 events.