Sky to air drone racing in the UK after $1 million investment in The Drone Racing League

British broadcaster Sky has invested $1 million ($700,000) in The Drone Racing League (DRL) and will show the competition on its new free channel Sky Mix, it has announced.

Sources have told Business Insider that New York-based DRL has been trying to secure support from a British broadcaster since last year.

Sky swooped and will support the growing competition, which features pilots flying custom designed, hand built drones through complex, thematic, three-dimensional racecourses.

As part of the deal, Sky will bring DRL to the UK for a race and will show the entire 2016 season live on Sky Mix over the course of 10 episodes.

Emma Lloyd, group business development director at Sky, said: "We're really looking forward to working with the team at DRL to grow the sport and to bring something completely different to audiences across both TV and digital."

DRL founder and CEO Nicholas Horbaczewski added: "Having a distribution deal and strategic partnerships with Sky will bring DRL to tens of millions of viewers. With their expertise and our industry leading technology, media production and development of the best competitive racing, we believe we can truly grow a global franchise."