ITV4 to show highlights of Tour of Britain and Tour Series

The Tour of Britain and the Tour series will be televised on ITV this summer with nightly broadcasts of the day's highlights from the Tour of Britain in September and highlights of each round of the crit series being shown in May and June.

ITV will broadcast highlights of the Tour Series, starting from 21 May to 25 June, the day after each event from 7pm – 8pm on ITV4. The Tour of Britain, taking place from 12 – 19 September, will benefit from hourly highlights every evening on ITV4 between 7pm – 8pm, plus repeats the following day.
 
Dave Fewings, ITV4 controller, said "The Tour of Britain is a great fit for ITV4, complementing our portfolio of sport including Tour de France. The Tour of Britain was very well received by viewers last year, and I'm delighted that we are broadcasting highlights of the 2009 event."
 
“It is great to continue this partnership with ITV this year, building upon the success and momentum achieved in 2008. The appreciation from viewers has been extremely encouraging,” said Hugh Roberts, Chief Executive of The Tour of Britain. “This is also a great opportunity for us, together with ITV, to help promote the interests of our regional partners especially now that we have a daily, hour long platform on which to do this.”
 
SweetSpot, the Tour of Britain and Tour Series organisers have retained the broadcast sponsorship rights to all the programming of both events and are actively seeking brands and companies looking to be associated with these unique road cycling events, which epitomise the surge of interest in cycling.
 
In 2008, an average of 310,000 viewers tuned in for The Tour of Britain highlights each evening on ITV4. The programme compared strongly with the Tour de France highlights on the same channel, with a peak reach of 376,000 for the highlights of Stage Five in Yorkshire.

The Tour of Britain 2009 – www.tourofbritain.com

The Tour Series – location and dates

21 May Milton Keynes
28 May Exeter
2 June Woking
4 June Peterborough
9 June Blackpool
11 June Southport
16 June Stoke on Trent
18 June Colchester
23 June Chester
25 June Southend on Sea

Find out more at www.tourseries.co.uk