Good news for Motors TV fans here in the UK, from today, the channel will be expanding its free-to-air reach! The channel joined Freeview earlier this year, however that was via connected TV.
From 11:00 today, Motors TV will be available via Freeview HD and YouView channel 71, beginning with coverage of the FIA World Endurance Championship and the Bathurst 1000 this weekend. It should be noted that whilst the channel will remain on air 24/7 during the weekends, hours will be restricted during the week, the press release notes that this change will happen “at a later date”.
Frederic Viger, Motors TV’s Head of Programming and Acquisitions, said: “The Arqiva Connect TV trial proved there are far more motorsport viewers out there than were originally watching on our other platforms. From the start we saw it as a stepping stone and the fantastic response has given us the confidence to continue expanding. Plus, many more potential viewers have also been very vocal on social media about wanting to receive the channel via Freeview HD and YouView. Well, this is the result!
“For the first time ever terrestrial TV viewers can watch the widest range of live motorsport coverage in the UK, as well as world championships, international and national series, and the sort of grassroots categories that are already enjoyed by thousands of fans across the country. I should also add that we couldn’t have picked a better weekend to expand our potential audience as we’ll be showing V8 Supercars’ showpiece event – the Bathurst 1000 – live in its entirety. I know that will go down very well indeed!”, Viger added.
Motorsport Broadcasting 
just out of interest. how is going to be broadcast. Currently I have to watch it though my smart tv and the tv does not ability to record an internet tv channel.
If it received through the aerial I should be able to record it which will be great for watching Bathurst and the alm’s series.
I do hope this is success. F1 needs some free to air competition to convince it that sky f1 is not the answer but hindrance.
Thanks for posting this news David, I might not have noticed it otherwise.
Paul, from the description it is a normal broadcast much like BBC1, ITV2, E4, etc. etc. The mention of Freeview HD suggests an encoding format (h.264) that non-HD boxes won’t understand.
I was happy to see Motors TV appear on Freeview earlier this year but sadly my STB would not play the channel. The hardware is capable but the software has not been (and won’t be) updated to work with that type of service.
This change is great.
Thank you for posting this news.
I’d heard of MotorsTV previously but am very curious about it. Given how expensive the rights are to motorsport, I can’t understand how they are able to support a free channel?
Yeah but it isn’t on normal freeview… My dvd recorder cant receive it
It’s on Freeview channel 71, just need a rescan for most people