As a media specialized in the MotoGP championship, we make it our duty to inform you as best we can on this subject and you have at your disposal on our site a very wide range of articles covering all areas linked to our common passion: news , interviews, live session coverage, technique, photos, people, etc., etc., etc.
Regarding the broadcast of MotoGP by Canal +, you have been the first (and the only ones, in fact) informed of the new system and the composition of the new team ahead of time. We were also at the press conference organized by the French group, and, exclusively, you were able to learn about video presentation of the team. In short, we did our job, in the most neutral way possible.
But, obviously, an essential piece of data was missing from our coverage: the price of the subscription! And this, for good reason, since we questioned those interested on the sidelines of the press conference, without obtaining a really precise answer...
Nevertheless, like Gilbert M. de Senlis who finds that “It’s not good, it’s too expensive!” », many of you have expressed your opinions on the subject, and we have sometimes even had to delete a number of filthy comments (as we do and will do every time we become aware of them, whatever the subject), and in the end , it seems that many of you have considered subscribing to the encrypted channel before being put off by the cost.
Unless we are mistaken, this seems to be around forty euros (€39,90) to obtain Canal+ and Canal+ Sports, since, according to the first information provided, the different sessions will be distributed on these two channels (Some talk about €19,90 + €5 by My Canal, Black Friday or Private Sales, but the candids that we are have not found this offer in the labyrinth of commercial offers, and that hardly changes the root of the problem).
So obviously, the increase is rather brutal compared to the former broadcaster Eurosport which offered its Player at €5,99 per month for an annual subscription, especially since the system put in place does not really appear fundamentally different what you were used to...
We therefore perfectly understand the discontent of enthusiasts, many of whom are likely to refer to the offer of MotoGP.com which broadcasts the Grands Prix, certainly in English, but remains in our eyes an essential tool to see and rewatch any session of the modern era of MotoGP, or one of the 45 videos available. This subscription is billed at €000 per year, to which €139.99 should be added for Live Timing, for a total of €17.99 per month. Almost ideal for the enthusiast…
You are great and you will therefore make your choice according to your own criteria... and probably within two weeks, since the first Grand Prix is on March 10 in Qatar!
However, if the move to Canal + is obviously not a good financial deal for the enthusiast who has already followed the Grands Prix for years, it is perhaps paradoxically a good thing for the visibility of MotoGP in France: in relying on the qualitative aura that the French channel benefits from, MotoGP will be able to try to attract the millions of Canal + subscribers, and, in particular, those who already watch Formula 1 (but not only!).
With the move to Canal+, we can therefore begin to dream of a sport becoming popular again in France, with all the benefits resulting in the medium term...
Maxime Saada, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Canal+: “We have wanted motorbikes on Canal for a very, very long time. We are really very, very proud to have the bike on Canal. We consider that it is an exceptional sport, an exceptional competition, and that it had not yet found the place it deserves in France.
On Canal+, we aim to reveal and give more dimensions to competitions and sports which, from our point of view, are not sufficiently well known. We really intend to make motorcycling a pillar of Canal sports, alongside football, rugby, boxing and golf.
Why are we going to make it a pillar? Because for me, all the elements come together.
The first is that there is an extremely large audience for motorcycles. First of all, there are a lot of two-wheelers in France, given that we are the second largest market in Europe, with around 3 million two-wheelers and 2 million motorcycles. Very dynamic, with 250 new registrations in 000. There is therefore a very wide audience, and from our point of view, as I have just told you, I think we can do much wider than that. We are obviously not only going to be of interest to people who ride motorcycles.
The 2nd condition, what you will see in a few seconds in images, is that we have a competition which is absolutely magnificent. We do television, we do shows, and it's very, very spectacular. I think it's truly one of the most spectacular sports on television. That's wonderful ! Firstly because there are machines that do incredible things, and you have examples of them on the Vivendi terrace. We see the beauty of these machines and at the same time it’s a little scary. And for that, we need champions. We are lucky to have two champions here, French. We are very, very proud of what they have done and we are sure that they will obviously still bring a lot to this sport. This is the essential component for a sport to (succeed?), is that there must be French champions. We have French champions, we have been following them for a very long time. And then there is Dorna's work and Manel Arroyo whom I greet here, the general director of Dorna. These things do not happen by chance, there is exceptional work.
And the third element which is essential, obviously, is the Canal team, the know-how of Canal+. Formula 1 is an incredible success on Canal. You know that we re-signed the rights and you know that we were named the best broadcaster in the world a few years ago. Our subscribers are absolutely fans and it shows in the figures since last year, when, as you know, we now share 4 Grands Prix with TF1, the audience for Formula 1 on Canal increased by 20%. On average, around 700 subscribers, 000% of our subscribers, watch Formula 30. And we have completed this motor sports pillar with rallies, Formula E, and today motorcycles. If we didn't have this editorial know-how, if we didn't have the team we have with Thomas (Sénécal) and the remarkable work they did, we wouldn't be as confident, but there, we told Thomas “you will have the means to do exactly what you did in Formula 1”. Differently, but we gave him the means.”
