V8 Supercars chairman Tony Cochrane says that NRL’s billion dollar TV deal will not change the timing of V8 Supercars’ television negotiations.
The NRL, the Nine Network and Fox Sports yesterday announced a landmark contract, locking Rugby League on Nine for a further five years. The deal is worth $1.025 billion, improving on its previous deal of $749 million.
With the AFL (Seven/Fox), NRL (Nine/Fox) and cricket (Nine) now secured, V8 Supercars are next in line to lock away a deal.
V8 chairman Tony Cochrane says that NRL’s announcement will not alter the timing of V8’s deal, stating he is working just as hard on the sport’s digital rights, as Bigpond’s deal also expires this year.
“We’ve been working independent of the NRL. That was a tremendous win for them yesterday,” Cochrane told Speedcafe.com.
“We have been working hard on the last four months on our rights. Everyone wants to focus on free-to-air, but there’s huge digital rights this time around, and also global rights involved in everything we do. We’re not just focused on purely Australia.
“When we are happy that we’ve got everything in order and satisfied of the final outcomes, we’ll publicly announce something.
“What their deal did underpin was that prime-time, free-to-air sport in Australia is a prerequisite for any network in the country.”
Cochrane remains adamant that V8 Supercars races will continue to retain prime-time TV slots.
“I think you’ll find that we’ll be occupying similar space to other sports,” he said.
CLICK HERE for more with Tony Cochrane in this week’s edition of Cafe Chat.
