Under the deal, IMG Sports Media will act as the exclusive global agents for the distribution and sale of broadcasting rights for the motorcycle series, in multiple territories around the world, for the next three years, starting with the 2009 season.
Up to this point, Dorna Sports has always handled the sale of broadcast rights itself, engaging third parties only occasionally and for selected territories.
Manel Arroyo, managing
director of Dorna Sports explained to SportBusiness why Dorna had taken such a big decision. “The motivation behind our deal with IMG is a desire to improve our relationship and contact with the broadcasters. Both IMG and Dorna have a very similar philosophy about providing quality programming and firstrate production, taking care of the broadcasters’ needs and ultimately the viewers themselves.
“By working with IMG we can expand our in-house team of 12 media sales staff to the 160-plus that IMG boasts across the globe.
This means that we can have improved relationships with our clients, as they will have people representing our sport in their own territories that can directly relate to and understand the product.
“In this way we can consider the network’s requirements more closely, and understand how the broadcasters use the programme that we deliver, and how the market responds to it and develops.”

Arroyo added that he was keen to maintain close links

with both the agency and the roadcasters throughout negotiations and as such, Dorna will remain proactively involved with broadcasters on completion of the deals. Arroyo also said “the finer points of which territories will be focused on still has to be finalised.”

Dorna’s decision to take its
media rights to the IMG agency follows the announcement earlier this year that it would be ending its long association with broadcaster, Eurosport, in favour of distributing rights on a sale-by-sale basis to
individual free-to-air broadcasters from 2009 onwards. Since that announcement Dorna has signed a number of
agreements for 2009 and beyond, including deals with: German sports broadcaster DSF; the UK public service broadcaster the BBC,
Austrian broadcaster ATV; the freeto- air and pay-television operator in Scandinavia, Viasat and with NT1 and Eurosport France in France.
Arroyo revealed that IMG Media had already facilitated the deals with NT1 and Eurosport France as a means of demonstrating their credentials to Dorna Sports. And he stressed Dorna had not merely appointed IMG for the purpose of securing deals in territories where none had been made as yet. He cited IMG’s experience in certain parts of the world, adding,“For us it is difficult to understand what happens in certain countries in Asia or parts of America or some other countries.”

IMG has demonstrable
experience within the motorsports world. It has previously distributed the worldwide broadcast rights for the AMA Superbike hampionship, the AMA Toyota Motocross Championship and the Le Mans 24 Hours motorcycle race. Michel Masquelier, IMG Media’s Executive Vice President and Head of Acquisitions and Sales worldwide, said of the deal: “Moto GP is a first class property, and IMG is delighted to partner Dorna. Together we will bring its media coverage to new heights.”

Ioris Francini, Senior Vice President of IMG Media, said“Moto GP is pure adrenaline from green light to chequered flag and a premium audio-visual product manufactured and delivered at the best standards available today. We are immensely proud to be working with Dorna and with a sport that is so attractive to key TV demographics.”
For IMG, this deal is the latest in a spate of recent announcements, including its handling of the global TV rights distribution and production of the FIVB, volleyball’s world governing body. This follows a joint-venture deal with CCTV and a deal with the IOC - IMG
was appointed as the strategic consultant for the sale of European broadcast rights for the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games.