BeIN Sports, the major international broadcaster, has snapped up rights to motor racing's FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), in a multi-year tie-up.
The agreement, unveiled today, covers 35 territories across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Asia-Pacific (APAC) regions. The MENA element of the deal represents an extension, as BeIN also covered WEC action in that region last season.
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The tie-up has been struck in time for the start of the 2026 WEC season, with the first race taking place later this week in Italy (April 19).
In total, eight races are scheduled for 2026, with this year's edition of the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans set for the weekend of June 13 and 14. A Qatar stop originally planned for late March has now been pushed back to October due to the escalation of the Middle East conflict last month.
The BeIN Sports linear network will cover all races live, while the TOD over-the-top platform run by the network will have streaming rights across MENA.
In terms of BeIN's other motorsport rights, it also airs properties such as Formula 1 (with an APAC deal recently extended through 2030), MotoGP, the European Rally Championship, the World Rally Championship, and the Superbike World Championship.
In total, this WEC-BeIN agreement covers the following markets: Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, Yemen, Brunei, Cambodia, East-Timor, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand.
Richard Verow, BeIN Media Group's chief sports officer, has commented: "The addition of the FIA World Endurance Championship is another key moment in the evolution of our premium motorsport offering."
Late last month, BeIN agreed an exclusive distribution partnership in Australia with Foxtel, the Australian pay-TV operator owned by DAZN.
Through the agreement, the media giant’s Foxtel Business arm becomes the exclusive distributor of BeIN’s three linear channels in licensed venues across the country.
Frédéric Lequien, chief executive at the FIA World Endurance Championship, added: "We are very pleased to have struck such a comprehensive and long-term broadcast agreement with BeIN to bring the excitement and energy of FIA WEC to fans throughout two key regions. These are exciting times indeed for our sport, and we look forward to introducing more people than ever before to the pinnacle of international endurance racing."
For the WEC, meanwhile, early February saw Warner Bros. Discovery renew its rights to that property across Europe and India until at least 2030.
Eurosport has aired the 24 Hours of Le Mans since 2008, while HBO Max currently shows live sport in 40 European markets.
HBO Max will also soon launch in Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Ireland, and the UK in early 2026 – the latter of which will become the streaming home of TNT Sports, replacing discovery+.
Elsewhere in the world of the WEC, the Toyota Racing team has brought in automotive components firm Marelli as a new commercial partner, in a deal initially set to last two seasons.
Through this tie-up, Marelli's branding will appear on the team's vehicles, garage walls at each race, and also on the Toyota Racing website.
There will be a particular focus on "advancements in powertrain technologies and efficient energy management," Marelli has said.
Toyota Racing finished second in the WEC's 2025 manufacturers' standings.
