Company type | Private (subsidiary of North One Television) |
---|---|
Industry | Media |
Founded | 1982 |
Founder | Bernie Ecclestone |
Headquarters | London, U.K. |
Key people | Simon Long, CEO Mark Hendy FD |
Products | Broadcasting |
North One Sports, formerly known as International Sportsworld Communicators (ISC), is a United Kingdom based company which owned the commercial rights to the World Rally Championship between 1996 and 2012.
Bernie Ecclestone founded ISC in July 1982. [1] In 1996 ISC signed a 14-year agreement with the FIA for the exclusive broadcasting rights for 18 FIA championships. In 1999, the European Commission investigated FIA, ISC and FOA for abusing dominant position and restricting competition. [2] As a result, in early 2000 the ISC and FIA made a new agreement to reduce the number of rights packages to two, the World Rally and Regional Rally Championships. [3] In April 2000 Ecclestone sold ISC to a group led by David Richards. [4] In October 2007, North One Television purchased ISC. In 2009, the FIA announced that ISC had been awarded the tender to act as promoter of the World Rally Championship, with the ten year deal set to run until 2020. [5]
In June 2001, Simon Long joined International Sportsworld Communicators as Sales Director before later being promoted to Media Director. In June 2003 Simon was appointed to the position of CEO of ISC replacing William Morrison.[ citation needed ]
In February 2010 ISC was renamed North One Sports. [6] North One Sports were acquired by the sports marketing group Convers Sports Initiatives (CSI) in March 2011. [7] CSI entered administration in November 2011, [8] resulting in the FIA terminating its contact with North One Sport ahead of the 2012 World Rally Championship season. [9]
The World Rally Championship is an international rallying series owned and governed by the FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the second oldest of the FIA's world championships after Formula One. Each season lasts one calendar year, and separate championship titles are awarded to drivers, co-drivers and manufacturers. There are also two support championships, WRC2 and WRC3, which are contested on the same events and stages as the WRC, but with progressively lower maximum performance and running costs of the cars permitted. Junior WRC is also contested on five events of the World Rally Championship calendar.
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile is an international organisation with two primary functions surrounding use of the automobile. Its mobility division advocates the interests of motoring organisations, the automotive industry and motor car users in the fields of road safety and traffic circulation. The sport division is a governing body for many international motorsport championships and disciplines, including Formula One.
Bernard Charles Ecclestone is a British former business magnate. He is the former chief executive of the Formula One Group, which manages Formula One motor racing and controls the commercial rights to the sport. As such, he was commonly described in journalism as the 'F1 Supremo'.
The Concorde Agreement is a contract between the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the Formula One teams and the Formula One Group which dictates the terms by which the teams compete in races, and how the television revenues and prize money is shared. There have been eight versions of the Concorde Agreement, all of which terms were kept strictly secret: the first one was signed in 1981, with newer agreements being signed in 1987, 1992, 1997, 1998, 2009, 2013; the current agreement was signed in 2021. The secrecy was broken by racing journalist Forrest Bond, when the 120-page 1997 Concorde Agreement was published at the end of 2005 by RaceFax.
The Formula One Group is a group of companies responsible for the promotion of the FIA Formula One World Championship, and the exercising of the sport's commercial rights.
Jean-Marie Balestre was a French auto racing administrator, who became President of the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA) from 1978 to 1991 and President of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) from 1985 to 1993.
Prodrive F1 Team was the name of a proposed Formula One team to be run by Prodrive. The team was selected by the FIA in 2006 to be the 12th entry into the 2008 Formula One world championship. In November 2007, a legal challenge to the team's proposed use of customer cars led to Prodrive pulling out of the 2008 season.
The 2010 World Rally Championship was the 38th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 13 rallies, beginning with Rally Sweden on 11 February and ended with Wales Rally GB on 14 November.
The 2011 World Rally Championship was the 39th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 13 rallies, beginning with Rally Sweden on 10 February and ended with Wales Rally GB on 13 November.
The Prodrive WRC Team, formerly known as the Mini WRC Team was the name given to the World Rally Championship (WRC) team run by Prodrive. Prodrive developed the car, the Mini John Cooper Works WRC, in cooperation with MINI.
Rally Estonia is a rallying event organised each year in Estonia. It is the largest and most high-profile motorsport event in the country and runs on smooth gravel roads in the south of the country, some of which are purpose-built for the rally. The city of Tartu hosts the ceremonial start and finish, with the rally headquarters and service park usually based in the Estonian National Museum in Tartu. From 2014 to 2016, Rally Estonia was a round of the FIA European Rally Championship. Rally Estonia was the official WRC Promotional Rally in 2019 and joined the World Rally Championship calendar in 2020.
The 2012 World Rally Championship was the 40th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of thirteen rallies, beginning with Monte Carlo Rally on 17 January, and ending on 11 November with Rally Catalunya.
The 2011 Wales Rally GB, formally the 67th Wales Rally of Great Britain, was the thirteenth and final round of the 2011 World Rally Championship season. The rally took place over 10–13 November, and was based in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The rally was also the seventh and final round of the Production World Rally Championship, and the sixth and final round of the WRC Academy. The route returned to the Great Orme stage for the first time in thirty years, as well as the Dyfnant and Dyfi East and West stages for the first time in fifteen years.
The 2020 FIA World Rally Championship was the forty-eighth season of the World Rally Championship, a rallying competition organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Teams and crews competed in seven rallies for the World Rally Championships for Drivers, Co-drivers and Manufacturers. Crews were free to compete in cars complying with various regulations, however, only manufacturers competing with World Rally Cars homologated under regulations introduced in 2017 were eligible to score points in the Manufacturers' championship. The championship began in January 2020 with the Rallye Monte-Carlo and concluded in December 2020 with Rally Monza. The series was supported by the WRC2, WRC3 and Junior WRC categories at selected events.
The 2020 FIA WRC2 Championship was the eighth season of WRC2, a rallying championship organised and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the second-highest tier of international rallying. The category was open to cars entered by manufacturers and complying with R5 regulations.
The 2020 FIA WRC3 Championship was the seventh season of WRC3, a rallying championship organised and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. It was open to privately-entered cars complying with Group Rally2 regulations.
The 2021 FIA World Rally Championship was the forty-ninth season of the World Rally Championship, a rallying competition organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Teams and crews competed in twelve rallies for the World Rally Championships for Drivers, Co-drivers and Manufacturers. Crews were free to compete in cars complying with World Rally Car, Rally Pyramid and Group R regulations; however, only manufacturers competing with World Rally Cars homologated under regulations introduced in 2017 were eligible to score points in the Manufacturers' championship. The championship began in January 2021 with the Rallye Monte-Carlo and concluded in November 2021 with Rally Monza. The series was supported by WRC2 and WRC3 categories at every round of the championship and by the Junior WRC at selected events.
The 2021 FIA WRC3 Championship was the eighth season of WRC3, a rallying championship organised and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the third-highest tier of international rallying. It was open to privately entered cars complying with Group Rally2 regulations. The championship began in January 2021 with the Rallye Monte-Carlo and concluded in November 2021 with Rally Monza, running in support of the 2021 World Rally Championship.
The 2021 FIA WRC2 Championship was the ninth season of WRC2, a rallying championship for organised and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the second-highest tier of international rallying. The category was open to cars entered by teams and complying with Rally2 regulations. The championship began in January 2021 with the Rallye Monte-Carlo and concluded in November 2021 with Rally Monza, and ran in support of the 2021 World Rally Championship.
The 2022 FIA WRC2 Championship was the tenth season of WRC2, a rallying championship for organised and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the second-highest tier of international rallying. The category was open to cars entered by teams and complying with Group Rally2. The championship began in January 2022 with the Rallye Monte-Carlo and concluded in November 2022 with Rally Japan, and ran in support of the 2022 World Rally Championship.