Australia’s Supercars motor-racing series is in discussions over new domestic rights deals with its current agreements with commercial broadcaster Ten and pay-television operator Foxtel due to expire at the end of the year.
In 2013, the series struck six-year rights deals with Ten, Foxtel and Fox Sports covering the 2015 to 2020 seasons. The contracts were worth a total of A$241m (€148m/$163m) and represented a record for the series.
The Brisbane Times newspaper, citing sources close to the negotiations, reported that Supercars is in talks with Ten and Foxtel over a new deal, with free-to-air commercial broadcaster Seven also interested.
Seven last year bolstered its motorsports rights portfolio through a multi-year deal with the Australian Racing Group. The deal grants Seven rights to the TCR Australia Series touring car championship and open-wheel series S5000, as well as other feature categories from the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships racing programme.
Seven previously broadcast the Supercars from 1963 to 1993 and from 2007 to 2014.