Formula E heads into new territory in more ways than one for round five of the 2015-16 season. Next weekend is the first race for the series in Mexico, but also is the first race not to be shown live on ITV in the UK. Due to a snooker event, ITV4 will be airing delayed coverage later in the evening.
ITV’s delayed coverage will have the usual studio build-up and race reaction with Jennie Gow presenting alongside Jaime Alguersuari and Marc Priestley. On the Formula E World Feed, Scott Speed is deputising for Dario Franchitti, the latter is in St. Petersburg for IndyCar next weekend. It means that Jack Nicholls and Franchitti will now not be together until the Paris ePrix on April 23rd, as Nicholls will be missing the Long Beach round due to his Formula 1 commitments with BBC Radio 5 Live.
> FREE Full Race Replay – 2015 Beijing ePrix
> FREE Full Race Replay – 2015 Putrajaya ePrix
> FREE Full Race Replay – 2015 Punta del Este ePrix
> FREE Full Race Replay – 2015 Buenos Aires ePrix
As a result of ITV4 not showing the race live, it means that the race will be available for UK viewers to watch online as well as BT Sport Europe. It is the first time that BT have shown a Formula E race live. Obviously the viewing figures for both that and the YouTube stream will be interesting to monitor as a comparison to ITV4’s usual numbers.
Next weekend marks the beginning of the aforementioned IndyCar Series from St. Petersburg. The series will again be broadcast on BT Sport in 2016 as part of a deal that runs through to the end of 2022.
The schedule as usual can be found below:
Formula E – Mexico City (online via FIAFormulaE.com and YouTube)
12/03 – 14:10 to 15:10 – Practice 1
12/03 – 16:25 to 17:10 – Practice 2
12/03 – 17:45 to 19:10 – Qualifying
12/03 – 21:30 to 23:30 – Race
Formula E – Mexico City
12/03 – 21:30 to 23:30 – Race Live (Virgin Media – channel 997)
12/03 – 21:45 to 23:30 – Race Live (BT Sport Europe)
12/03 – 23:15 to 01:15 – Race (ITV4)
13/03 – 09:30 to 10:25 – Highlights (ITV)
IndyCar Series – St. Petersburg (BT Sport//ESPN)
13/03 – 16:30 to 19:30 – Race
As always I will update the schedule if anything changes.
Update on March 11th at 19:40 – Virgin Media will be showing the race live in the channel slot 997 tomorrow evening. The reason for the strange channel number is for Virgin Media customers that do not have access to BT Sport Europe. It will be interesting to see if the programme has the BT Sport Europe DOG. If it does not have BT Sport graphics, then this is a clean feed straight from Formula E, which will be the first time we’ve had that happen for Formula E in the UK. There’s clearly some flexibility in the contract that allows this to happen.
Motorsport Broadcasting 
did not know bt sports is showing the e prix live so that offically on record. thank you for that f1 broadcasting blog
It’s a shame FE ranks lower than snooker. Any idea if the live stream online has the the same commentary team as ITV4?… I’ve been enjoying Jakes and Dario
Yeah it will do, good point though actually as in Mexico it will be Nicholls and Scott Speed. I’ll update this post.
The youtube stream of practice and quali has been available all season so far… Glad to see the actual race is now.. Yes same commentary team as they are contracted to formula e themselves rather than itv… I think lol
So BT Sport Europe is broadcasting Mexico live. Lets hope it gets at least 10k.
Good info on BT Sport Europe, I’ll probably watch on there.
But your IndyCar listing is wrong, it shows 14/03 when it should be 13/03 (Sunday).
Thanks Pat, I’ve fixed that
I think BT may show it on BT Sport Showcase to gain more viewers but more importantly because Agag wants it to be free-to-air.