Extreme E confirms broadcast partnership with Sky Germany

Extreme E, the all-electric off-road racing series, has confirmed Sky Germany will broadcast the championship’s X Prixs, highlights and magazine shows in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in both German and English.

Sky is one of the biggest providers of top live sports action in Germany, famous for broadcasting Bundesliga matches live for the last 30 years and in 2020, signing an exclusive deal to air all Formula One races.

Ali Russell, Chief Marketing Officer at Extreme E, said: “Germany is a key market for us and I’m delighted Sky Germany has joined our 40-strong list of broadcasters.

“Not only is Sky Germany home to top quality sports, just like Extreme E, it has a strong environmental focus with Sky’s international sustainability programmes Sky Zero and Sky Ocean Rescue highlighting its carbon neutral and plastic reduction ambitions. We are delighted the channel will air our exciting racing concept, but also our wider storytelling around electrification and the environment.”

Extreme E will visit five remote locations that each highlight a different environmental issue including - desertification, rising sea levels, glacier retreat, deforestation and ice melt - and the series hopes to raise awareness of the climate emergency by mixing sport with purpose. The power of sport to share important messages is huge, with 24 of the 25 most watched TV broadcasts ever being about sport.  

Charly Classen, Executive Vice President Sport at Sky Deutschland, said: “Extreme E is a spectacular new racing series and a great addition to our motorsports lineup on Sky Sport F1. Extreme E also strengthens our already rich on-demand motorsport offering. Not least because of our sustainability initiatives Sky Zero and Sky Ocean Rescue, the race series fits very well into our programme."  

Extreme E’s first X Prix will take place in just 38 days in the deserts of Saudi Arabia. Ten teams are signed up to compete in Season 1, and the championship stipulates that each team must field both a male and female driver – a world-first in motorsport – in a bid for gender equality and a level playing field. The 20 drivers, which include the likes of Jenson Button, Carlos Sainz, Sébastien Loeb and Jamie Chadwick, will race an all-electric SUV – the ODYSSEY 21 – which is capable of firing the 1650-kilogram, 2.3-metre wide e-SUV from 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds, at gradients of up to 130 per cent.

These cars, and the rest of the championship’s freight will sail to each location on the St. Helena as sea travel is less carbon intensive than air freight. Not only will the ship act as a logistics hub, it also has a science laboratory on-board, which will be home to scientists conducting research into various areas of the marine environment during the global voyage.