LIVE TV COVERAGE IS HERE!
A new chapter in the history of the Isle of Man TT Races will be written in 2022 as live TV coverage of the event is delivered to billions of internet users. With full and uninterrupted coverage of every race, fans the world over can look forward to two weeks of TT bliss, with all the action, stories and talking points – both on and off track – streamed directly to homes and devices.
Launching in the spring of 2022, the TT’s very own digital channel will be the exclusive home of live race coverage, but fans will be delighted to hear that the channel is not confined to two weeks of the year, as a full grid of brand-new free-to-access content is already revving up for delivery in 2022.
Featuring the very best of the action from around the course, the channel will also boast rider stories, in-depth interviews and newly-captured footage that is set to immerse fans in the TT like never before. Fans will also be able to access other live events such as the TT Preview Show and, in the near future, the event’s first Esports competition.
Two of the most exciting and fascinating pieces of content to feature on the online channel will be an annual feature-length documentary as well as a brand-new docuseries following a number of top teams, riders and personalities. Tapping into the global appetite for behind-the-scenes storytelling, they are two projects that are set to delve deep into the event’s rich seam of colourful characters in a high-stakes sport.
UNDER THE SKIN
Credited with ushering in a new generation of fans, the feature-length documentary film, Closer to the Edge, received critical acclaim from audiences and movie critics alike. Now, eleven years after Guy, Hutchy and Conor et al burst out of the big screen and into people’s lives, a new feature-length documentary is set to follow in its wheel-tracks. Mixing the raw authenticity and edge-of-the-seat storytelling of its predecessor with today’s production methods, the latest film promises a new level of immersive and visceral racing action as we take a closer look at the event’s biggest stories and personalities in 2022.
Those personalities also get the fly-on-the-wall treatment with the launch of an annual 8-part docuseries that promises intimate access to the people who take part in one of the world’s greatest racing competitions. Taking its cue from the trail-blazing Netflix show, Drive to Survive, the series will go beyond the fight for the podium, revealing the highs and lows of competition at the TT and what motivates this elite band of racers as they risk everything in the ultimate test of speed and endurance.
GOING LIVE
Winding through towns, villages and valleys, the 37 and ¾ miles of the public roads that make up the TT Course have challenged competitors like no other race track. What makes the TT such a challenge for competitors has posed a similar- sized challenge for broadcasters, who have pushed the capability of technology to the limit ever since motorcycles first lapped the TT Mountain Course in 1911.
It wasn’t until 1930 that the first radio broadcast of the racing was delivered by the BBC, with only partial coverage of that year’s Senior TT. The first television coverage of the racing hit screens in 1959, while three decades later, fans could get their TT fix at home thanks to the daily highlight shows, that appeared with increasing regularity. Live coverage, however, had long been felt to be too difficult or too expensive, thanks to the technological complexity in covering the whole of the TT Course in real time. But times change and technology advances; and that means TT fans in 188 countries can start counting down the days until they can purchase their TT Live Pass, gifting access to two full weeks of the world’s most thrilling high-stakes drama.
