US network Fox will begin talks over a new domestic rights deal for the Nascar motor-racing series before the end of this season in November.
Fox’s current eight-year deal for the rights ends in 2014.
“You never stop negotiating,” David Hill, chairman of the US network’s sports media group, told the Associated Press news agency. “But, it will start to get hot in the next three or four months.”
Fox has rights for the season-opening Daytona 500, Nascar’s most prestigious race, as well as 12 other races on the 36-event calendar.
Fox’s coverage of the 2011 season attracted an average audience of 8.6 million viewers – a nine-per-cent rise on 2010, the largest audience increase in the 11-year history of Fox’s Nascar broadcasts.
Fox shares its coverage of the series with cable-television broadcasters ESPN, TNT and Speed Channel, as well as the ABC network, who also have eight-year deals for the rights, from 2007 to 2014.