Free-to-air TV events locked in for 2023 Supercars

Network 7 has confirmed it will broadcast six Supercars events live on free-to-air television in 2023. The broadcaster was able to lock in the arrangement following official confirmation of the 2023 Repco Supecars Championship calendar.

Next season will be the third of the current five-year deal that sees all events shown live on Fox Sports and around half simulcast on free-to-air.

As is/was the case this year, Seven’s live events include the season-opener, two of the marquee events in the middle of the season, and the final three on the calendar.

This means the Thrifty Newcastle 500 in March, the Darwin Triple Crown in June, NTI Townsville 500 in July, the Repco Bathurst 1000 in early-October, the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 in late-October, and the Valo Adelaide 500 in November.

The only change relative to this year’s television schedule is the replacement of Sydney with Newcastle, given the former stood in as Event 1 of the 2022 campaign when the latter was postponed due to COVID restrictions and ultimately cancelled.

A notable omission, therefore, is the Penrite Oil Sandown 500, despite the return of an enduro at the heritage Melbourne circuit next year.

That will thus be one of the events which will be shown in highlights form on the screens of Seven (including the 7plus streaming service).

“With six marquee events scheduled across the screens of Seven in 2023 – including the jewel in the crown of the Australian motorsport calendar, the Bathurst 1000 – we are proud to be Your Home of Supercars,” said Lewis Martin, Managing Director of Seven Melbourne and Head of Network Sport.

“In a year like no other, starting with the Newcastle 500, next year will mark the beginning of a new era of motorsport on Seven, and we cannot wait to deliver all the high-octane action with the introduction of Supercars Gen3, to motorsport fans all over Australia.”

Steve Crawley, the Executive Director of Fox Sports, said, “It’s an exciting time in the sport with a new era of drivers behind the wheel and the Gen3 cars hitting the track officially for the first time in 2023.

“We can’t wait to get stuck in and cover all the action on Fox Sports.”

It is expected that free-to-air coverage of the Beaurepaires Melbourne 400, which takes place at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, will be on Network 10.

As is the case for Supercars, Fox Sports/Foxtel is the primary television rights holder in Australia (including Kayo Sports streaming) but Formula 1 on free-to-air has remained a Network 10 property and the Pyrmont-based business reportedly renewed that arrangement with Foxtel for 2023 and beyond.

The only AGP to have taken place so far when the Supercars races were for championship points and there was a conflict in free-to-air networks was this year’s, when the Australian touring car championship was seen on 10 as well as Fox Sports.

For the final event of the 2022 season, next month’s Adelaide 500, Fox Sports’ telecasts start on Thursday, December 1 while Seven will show a total of 10 hours of coverage, split equally across the Saturday and Sunday of the event.

2023 Supercars television broadcasts

* Network 10 expected