Australian pay-television horse racing broadcasters TVN and Sky Racing have struck a temporary truce to their dispute over the sport’s rights in the states of New South Wales and Victoria, with commercial broadcaster Seven reportedly weighing up a lucrative bid for the contract.
Sky Racing, which is owned by gaming company Tabcorp, and TVN, which is owned by various entities in the Australian racing industry, severed ties last weekend leaving Sky without rights to broadcast all race meetings in Victoria and New South Wales.
However, the Fairfax Media agency said TVN board members met on Sunday and agreed an interim deal to have broadcasts restored in Tabcorp retail outlets and hundreds of pubs and clubs throughout the country. It is understood the agreement will last weeks into 2015 amid talks over a longer-term deal.
“We hope to see what we can do,” TVN chief executive Bruce Mann said. “Nobody wants to disenfranchise the public and we'll see what we can do. The first proposition made certainly wasn't where we need to be. At the end of the day everyone's interest is for the best outcome for the punter.”
Victoria and New South Wales represent Australia’s two most prolific and lucrative racing jurisdictions. Amid the TVN-Sky dispute, the Herald Sun newspaper said Seven is preparing a 10-year offer worth A$600m (€396.5m/$492.5m) for the broadcast rights to all races in the two states.
Seven already covers 25 days of premier race meetings in the two states on a free-to-air basis.