TELEVISION coverage of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship will be revolutionised in 2005.

Britain's biggest commercial terrestrial channel, ITV1, has confirmed it will broadcast live race action from seven of the BTCC's ten race meetings, as well as showing mid-week repeats of all the action.

The seven live BTCC programmes will include highlights from the day's first race, race two in its entirety and race three as it happens.

Full-length repeats of the live programmes will be shown in late- night slots on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Action from the three non-live meetings will be shown in a specially packaged BTCC programme the following weekend. These programmes will also be repeated in late night, mid-week slots on ITV1.

ITV1's coverage of the BTCC will equate to some 25 hours.

That is more than double the contracted amount of 2004, when approximately 12 million viewers tuned in to watch the BTCC re-emerge as Britain's most exciting and most talked about motor racing championship.

Tuesday's and Wednesday's highlights will also mean that the BTCC reaches a new, late-night terrestrial TV audience and a sizeable increase in viewing figures. As a result, it is anticipated that the BTCC ITV audience figure for 2005 will approach some 20 million.

BTCC series director Alan Gow said: "This new arrangement for 2005 underlines ITV's enthusiasm for, and commitment to, the BTCC.

"It is by far the biggest broadcasting arrangement in the history of the championship, with 70 per cent of our rounds telecast live on ITV1, plus mid-week repeats.

"In fact, the only reason we could not get all ten rounds televised live was due to a clashing World Rally Championship event and late date changes in the Formula One calendar, which caused scheduling conflicts on those dates."

Handling coverage of the BTCC will be Independent Sports Network (ISN)/Granada Sport, the company responsible for production of major international sporting events on ITV - includingco-production of its Formula One World Championship broadcasts.

Gow added: "With such a comprehensive television schedule, and greatly improved programme production through the expertise of ISN/Granada Sport, nobody is going to miss the enthralling action or excitement. ITV should be applauded for getting right behind our great British championship."

Satellite television channel Motors TV will continue to show BTTC race meetings live and in their entirety to a pan-European audience in 2005.

Motors, available on Sky channel 413, will broadcast live from BTCC race days between 9am and 5pm.

In addition to the headline-billing BTCC action, the channel will also be screening the supporting Formula BMW, Formula Renault, Renault Clio Cup, Porsche Carrera and SEAT Cupra races.