2026+ Teev Deals

Originally Posted by The Article

Street Talk, afr.com

Supercars broadcast deal enters the final lap
Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
May 19, 2025 – 5.36pm

Article regarding the new TV rights deal - Supercars’ broadcast deal negotiations are in the final lap and heading for the finish line as several media interests vie for top spot on the podium.

Street Talk understands a deal will be signed between the championship’s owner Racing Australia Consolidated Enterprises and two parties by the end of this month, one for the free-to-air component and another for the paid broadcast.

Expectations are RACE will secure a significant uplift on the roughly $165 million Foxtel and Seven West Media deal signed five years ago. Now, the championship wants more than $200 million – or $40 million plus on an annualised basis – with one eye on the sport’s tailwinds globally since the success of the Formula 1: Drive to Survive Netflix series.

Supercars is also in a healthier financial position since coming out of private equity firm Archer Capital’s stable in 2021 and engaging a new audience on Foxtel’s paid Kayo Sports streaming platform – which also powers the official Supercars App.

Sources said Foxtel is in the driver’s seat to renew its existing arrangement with the motorsports championship, which owns the famed Bathurst 1000 touring race. It’s had a relationship with the Supercars since 1997 and is set to deepen this under new owner, global sports streaming company DAZN.

Paramount-owned Network Ten and ASX-listed Seven are battling it out for the free-to-air component of the deal, this column understands. Ten has been a long-time broadcaster of motorsports and owns the rights to the biggest racing event in the country, the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix. The network held the rights between 2015 and 2020.

Seven is the incumbent, signing a deal with the championship during the COVID-19 pandemic. Seven broadcasts six of the sport’s races including the Repco Bathurst 1000, and has a long history with the sport having broadcast from 1963 to 1993, and from 2007 to 2014.

Supercars is owned by Racing Australia Consolidated Enterprises (RACE), a consortium of private investors including motor racing great Mark Skaife. It is led by businessman Barclay Nettlefold.

On Monday, RACE put former Seven chief executive James Warburton back in charge, as reported by The Australian Financial Review. Warburton brokered the previous Supercars deal when he was head honcho at Seven and ran Supercars between 2013 and 2017.

Global sports management business IMG is running the broadcast process, first reported by this column in November, and has been tasked with securing a new contract that generates more than the existing arrangements. The 2020 deal was roughly $33 million annually, split $5 million for free-to-air and $28 million for paid. It included cash payments, contra (free advertising) and revenue sharing arrangements.

A critical part of the new deal is the finals series, launched by Supercars in October. The racing format will decide the Supercars Champion for 2025 across three rounds later this year.

There are also hopes the championship has scope for expansion beyond 13 rounds, noting the F1 calendar features 24 Grand Prix weekends, and that it will build in kickers for the broadcasters beyond traditional TV to social media, newspapers and affiliates. DAZN, which acquired Foxtel in a $3.4 billion deal in April, has been described as the “Netflix of sport”, amplifying local codes around the world, and has spent billions scooping up broadcast rights.