The Seven Network lost the V8 Supercars television rights deal to a joint Fox Sports/Ten Network bid despite offering a ‘substantial increase’ on its current contract.
The new six-year media rights agreement announced this morning will kick-off in 2015, ending an eight-year run for Seven.
Seven first took the rights from Ten in a six-year, $28 million per annum spend at the end of the 2006 season.
The two parties then inked a two-year extension at the begining of 2013 on a reduced fee, understood to be worth just $18 million per year to the championship.
Seven had been confident of continuing beyond 2015 before being made aware of the new Fox-Ten deal just hours before it was made public.
“The Seven Network has been a strong and a positive partner for V8 Supercars over the past seven years,” said Seven CEO Tim Worner in a statement.
“We have dramatically increased the quality of the television broadcasts and expanded coverage of the sport across our media platforms.
“We put forward an offer for a new television rights agreement that represented a substantial increase on the current rights agreement and one which made financial sense for Seven and V8s and would have ensured its presence on Australia’s leading television network for years to come.
“V8 Supercars declined to build on this relationship beyond 2014. However, we look forward to broadcasting V8s next year, the final year of our agreement and leaving the sport in good shape.
“We wish the sport, the teams and the drivers the best. We will give the V8s in 2014 everything we’ve got in the way that only Seven can.”
Although Fox has confirmed that it will broadcast all V8 Supercars sessions live from 2015, the depth of Ten’s involvement is currently unclear.
