With the start of the new season, the 56th in the history of the sport, MotoGP’s increasing popularity is being recognised in 2005 with a huge TV following in every corner of the globe. Thanks to extensive coverage through no less than 46 TV networks, the live broadcasts of the MotoGP races (or same day delayed on the different time zones) are reaching more than 200 countries in all five continents. Amongst these broadcasters, prestigious networks such as BBC (United Kingdom), TVE (Spain) or Mediaset (Italy) are increasing the quantity and quality of their shows. Other territories to watch MotoGP throughout main terrestrial free-to-air networks are: Japan (NTV), Australia (Ten), Brazil (Globo), Belgium (RTL Club), Finland (Nelonen), Switzerland (TSI, TSR and DRS), Austria (ATV+), and Russia (Center TV). Several pan-continental channels are also amongst the MotoGP broadcasters, meaning the races can actually be seen in every country in the world. A significant element in 2005 is the increase in the general coverage of MotoGP’s only qualifying practice. Interesting additions to the distribution list for 2005 are Greece (ET3), Colombia (Canal 1) and Morocco (2M). Other countries, such as the Netherlands (NOS), Malaysia (RTM), Ireland (RTE) and New Zealand (Prime TV and TVNZ) will have a huge increase in the TV coverage of MotoGP. In the case of China, the first visit to the new racetrack in Shanghai has led to the broadcast of the full championship through Shanghai TV and Dragon TV. For the 2004 season, the average global coverage for each round of the MotoGP World Championship was 327 million TV viewers, with a total of 5,226 million viewers for the year.