The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and the European Broadcasting Union have finalised a production and distribution services agreement for the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship season.
Under the contract, the EBU’s production subsidiary EPC (Eurovision Production Coordination) will continue to film and produce the season’s programming in HD, while the EBU will provide distribution services to a global audience.
Since forming a relationship with the FIA in March this year, the EBU has successfully secured consistent and efficient worldwide distribution of the World Rally Championship, mainly through its members, but also by engaging with other broadcasters.
In addition to renewing agreements with previous broadcast partners, the EBU has added new networks, such as RAI in Italy, TVE in Spain and SVT in Sweden, giving coverage to viewers in 120 countries.
The EBU’s ‘BEST’ streaming solution is being used to provide online video services for WRC.com, the World Rally Championship website. With more than 50 million page views since the beginning of 2012, an increase of 15% compared to a similar period last year, WRC.com is one of the world’s leading motorsport websites.
By David Fox
www.ebu.ch
www.wrc.com
