<I>Motors TV</I> extends European deal.

European fans of the V8 Supercar Championship will continue to get extensive coverage of the series after Motors TV confirmed a three-year extension to its deal to broadcast coverage of the championship.

The deal, which will run until 2010, will make V8 Supercars the longest serving client of a channel that also broadcasts coverage of a number of series including the Le Mans Series, ALMS, Champ Car World Series and the DTM.

The new deal will include more coverage of qualifying sessions and will feature more live feeds for the European market. This season saw the Desert 400 in Bahrain get live coverage on Motors with further live action due in the season finale at Phillip Island. The annual blue riband event at Bathurst was also played out in full on a short delay.

"It's the longest Series we have broadcast and one that we are very proud of," head of programming and acquisitions Frederic Viger said. "There is a lot to love about V8 Supercars. First of all they are very exotic and are extremely high profile with a mix of technology and raw energy.

"But most importantly it is really, really good racing - the best we have seen on Motors TV. It is very exciting, close finishing and ultimately the championship almost always comes down to the final round."

V8 Supercars Australia chairman Tony Cochrane was ecstatic with the deal, which will ultimately extend the partnership between broadcaster and series to ten years.

"We are very proud of our international television audience and Motors TV is an integral part of it within the European market," he said. "This helps maintain our international television footprint of some 850 million homes around the world that broadcast our sport live, as live or on close delay depending on the country concerned."

The three-year extension ensures V8 Supercars continues to be broadcast to 36 countries including France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Holland. The broadcast takes in 15 million homes and is translated in five different languages.