Sky Sports Mix picks up the rights to Drone Racing League with $1m investment
Sky is looking to bring the high-paced sport of drone racing to the masses by investing $1m in The Drone Racing League (DRL).
Drones
It will feature on the newly launched Sky Sports Mix channel, providing views with a First Person View (FPV) of the aerial races.
The league sees remote control drones, all adhering to a set specification, piloted through a 3D racecourse guided by colourful way points.
In addition to sealing a broadcast partnership the company is looking to get in on the live events with a distribution partnership which will see it bring live events and broadcast content to the UK and Ireland.
Emma Lloyd, group business development director at Sky, said: “We’re thrilled to be partnering with DRL to help develop this exciting new sport. The investments we make are all about driving innovation, and ultimately improving the Sky experience for customers.
“We’re really looking forward to working with the team at DRL to grow the sport and to bring something completely different to audiences across both TV and digital.”
DRL chief and founder Nicholas Horbaczewski said: “Having a distribution deal and strategic partnerships with Sky will bring DRL to tens of millions of viewers. With their expertise and our industry leading technology, media production and development of the best competitive racing, we believe we can truly grow a global franchise around this futuristic, high-speed racing sport.”
From October, five events will be aired as the broadcaster looks to find an audience for the new sport. Sky Sports and DRL will also team up with London & Partners to bring an official DRL race, the first professional drone race to London.