ITV4 currently shows the cycling competition
Warner Bros. Discovery will become the exclusive UK broadcaster for the men’s and women’s Tour de France from 2026.
Currently, the pay-TV provider shares the cycling competition with ITV, which shows live races and highlights on ITV4. From 2026, cycling fans will have to subscribe to the then launched Max streaming service or Eurosport to watch the races live, and the agreement will last until at least 2030.
Warner Bros. Discovery has partnered with the EBU and the tour organisers ASO and Unipublic to see the competitions shown on its channels across Europe. There will also be free-to-air coverage through EBU members in Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland.
As well as the UK, the Tour de France Femmes will be exclusive in Norway and Ireland.
In addition to the tour, Warner Bros. Discovery channels will be the exclusive home of the Classics such as Paris-Roubaix, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and La Flèche Wallonne as well as stage races Paris-Nice, Critérium du Dauphiné and Volta a Catalunya, in the UK.
Trojan Paillot, SVP, sports rights acquisitions and syndication at WBD Sports Europe, said: “For many years, we have been trusted to act as the custodian for cycling and have worked tirelessly to maximise the opportunities fans have to engage with their favourite sport. Our commitment to cycling has seen us invest in the most comprehensive live rights portfolio, which includes every men’s and women’s Grand Tour race, and we’re delighted to now extend our relationship with our partners at ASO and EBU to take us into a fifth decade of covering the world’s greatest races including the Tour de France.”
Scott Young, Group SVP production, content and business operations at WBD Sports Europe, said: “Our role as the Home of Cycling has seen us harness the most passionate team of cycling experts to consistently elevate our coverage of the sport while telling its stories to the widest possible audience. From being the first broadcaster to offer every minute of the Grand Tours live across Europe in 2018, to developing unique innovations and studio analysis tools to better explain the action, our work in this sport continues to break new ground. Announcing our new rights agreements today means that we can continue to produce quality, immersive content that connects fans with their favourite races and riders for years to come.”
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