Rally is one of our favorite motorsports for going deep into nature—beyond the limits of civilization, cell service and sanity—and blasting through it with a car. This is also what’s makes it extremely difficult to broadcast, but somehow, the World Rally Championship figured out how for every stage in 2018—not for free, but the cost is pretty reasonable.
Those of you who follow the WRC live know that there’s usually only a handful of designated “live stages.” Often, they’re the super special stages that are set up for a larger crowd of spectators, or close to civilization somehow. The other stages have been recorded to go into a highlight reel, with live coverage limited to GPS maps and WRC Radio.
But next year, subscribers to the new “WRC All Live” package on the series’ service will be able to stream every stage as it happens, in addition to opening and podium ceremonies, interviews, autograph sessions and press conferences. Over 25 hours of live video coverage per rally will be included, per the WRC’s today.
WRC All Live will kick off with Rallye Monte Carlo on January 25. The All Live package, which will include the usual WRC+ onboard videos, live maps and highlight reels, is $10.83 per month, or $108.40 for the whole year. (That’s about as much as a Spotify subscription, so not bad.)
To say it’s all a bit of a technological marvel is an understatement. They compete in the kinds of places that I intentionally seek out so I don’t have to hear my phone go off. A production team of over 100 people will use stage-side cameras, drones and helicopters to capture all the important moments live.