Network 10 to broadcast Supercars from Albert Park

Coverage of the Repco Supercars Championship from next year’s Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix will be broadcast on Network 10 in April.

Supercars and Formula 1 are broadcast on competing free-to-air networks, which raised questions as to how the event would be managed with regards to television rights.

The Australian Grand Prix, like the Bathurst 1000 and Melbourne Cup, is covered under anti-siphoning laws which mandate it is broadcast on a FTA network.

Both categories are primarily broadcast on Fox Sports, with F1 events typically being shown via a 60-minute highlights package on the Monday night following the event on 10 Bold.

Supercars meanwhile this year began a new five-year deal with Fox Sports worth in the region of $200 million, which has seen FTA coverage carried by Seven Network.

“The prime contract is between Formula 1 and Fox Sports, and then they have obligations because of the anti-siphoning legislation to broadcast our event on free-to-air,” Australian Grand Prix Corporation CEO Andrew Westacott explained to Speedcafe.com.

“Now I leave the interactions between those networks and everything up to the networks and Fox Sports.

“What I can guarantee is that Supercars will be a championship round and be broadcast as part of the Channel 10 coverage for the fans on free-to-air, and they’re an unbelievably important part of the event.”

As a championship event, it’s expected coverage will be produced by Supercars Media, meaning the typical on-air talent of Neil Crompton and Mark Skaife will provide commentary.

Albert Park only became a points-paying part of the Supercars season from 2018, making next year’s event the first time a championship round will be broadcast on a network other than its usual FTA home.

Next year’s Australian GP will boast a revised layout, with works seeing it officially reduced from 16 to 14 corners after the chicane on Lakeside Drive was effectively bypassed.

Sections of the track have also been widened in an effort to encourage alternate lines through a corner, along with reprofiling of a number of corners – most notably Turns 6 and 13.

Speedcafe.com revealed in October that Supercars is set to headline the undercard at the Albert Park event, which is in the final stages of finalising its support programme.

It looks set to be the third round of the championship, which will open in Newcastle on March 4-6 ahead of an expected jaunt to Symmons Plains over the last weekend of the month prior to landing in Melbourne.

Formula 1’s 2022 campaign meanwhile will kick off with two events in the Middle East; first with the Bahrain Grand Prix and then the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.