Racing Victoria has announced that Tabcorp’s cut-off date has come into effect, and Victorian thoroughbred racing will not be shown on Sky Racing from Tuesday, June 16.
Should no emergency measures be agreed between Racing Victoria and Sky Racing, punters across Australia will need to go online to watch the Geelong race meeting.
Racing Victoria was attempting to reach agreement with the Melbourne Racing Club (MRC), the Moonee Valley Racing Club (MVRC) and Country Racing Victoria (CRV) to support the Seven West Media free-to-air rights proposal.
However, it is understood the Victoria Racing Club (VRC) is yet to commit, with the heart of discussion not related to media rights but other areas.
The VRC – host of the Melbourne Cup and one of Australia’s most significant race clubs – are asking for a bigger slice of Racing Victoria’s revenue, among other conditions.
The Roar understands Tabcorp has refused to back down from their threat to blackout racing, and will not show racing on Sky via an interim arrangement, as previously announced.
Fairfax is reporting not all is lost, suggesting that discussions are still taking place with Racing Victoria officials to prevent a blackout.
Unlike Racing NSW, Racing Victoria don’t hold the media rights in Victoria, only leading negotiations on behalf of the Victorian clubs. This means without the VRC on board – and with the MRC making an announcement that they have signed with Seven West Media – there’s no room to move with Tabcorp.
The new free-to-air channel expected to host the Seven Network broadcast with Racing Victoria’s Racing.com brand, Channel 78, popped up in some Victorian locations during the day.
A hurried interim solution was found, but there will likely be some delays getting Channel 78 to some regional areas across Australia. Channel 78 will be an Australia-wide broadcast, should content be available for it.
Punters looking to view Geelong’s meeting tomorrow only will be able via Racing.com and associated apps, as well as Sportsbet and Crownbet websites for account holders. The 92 Victorian retail TAB locations will carry a broadcast, however NSW TABs will not.
The situation is fluid and may change quickly with either the VRC and subsequently Seven West Media’s channel 78, or with Tabcorp and Sky Racing.
The full press release from Racing Victoria is below.
Racing Victoria (RV) advises that the broadcasting of tomorrow’s Geelong Synthetic meeting will be live and free on all digital devices through Racing.com and via the Sportsbet and Crownbet websites for their account holders. It is also expected to be broadcast into the state’s 92 TAB agencies.
Tabcorp Holdings has advised that no Victorian thoroughbred meeting will be broadcast on its Sky Racing channels into homes, pubs and clubs after it refused to roll over an existing interim agreement regardless of whether Seven West Media is broadcasting the meeting.
RV said it was disappointed with the decision by Tabcorp Holdings to go ahead with a blackout of all Victorian thoroughbred racing on its Sky Racing channels from tomorrow.
RV has offered to continue to supply Victorian thoroughbred racing to Sky Racing for a fair and reasonable commercial fee to ensure that punters, fans and participants are not disadvantaged.
Tabcorp Holdings’ decision to institute the blackout follows the RV Board’s resolution that its preferred outcome for the broadcasting of Victorian thoroughbred racing is the combined free-to-air and digital broadcast deal tabled by Seven West Media, whilst maintaining the broadcast on Sky Racing 1 (Channel 519) and Sky Racing 2 (520).
The Melbourne Racing Club (MRC), the Moonee Valley Racing Club (MVRC) and Country Racing Victoria (CRV) have separately and independently considered their position on their media rights and today committed to the resolution of the RV Board and formalised their support of the Seven West Media proposal. The Victoria Racing Club (VRC) is yet to commit.
Seven West Media has offered to commence broadcasting the existing Racing.com coverage as an interim measure from tomorrow ahead of launching its premium channel in late August. However, without the VRC signing the long-term Seven West Media deal, RV and Seven West Media are unable to proceed with the interim broadcast measure for punters, fans and participants.
RV will continue to seek talks with Tabcorp Holdings on achieving its preferred media distribution model which involves both Seven West Media and Sky Racing with the goal of building a strong, sustainable future where current and future generations of fans and punters can access vision of Victorian thoroughbred racing whenever, wherever and however they choose.
The streaming of Victorian thoroughbred racing is available across computers, tablets (iPads) and mobile phones (iPhones and Androids) via Racing.com, sportsbet.com.au and crownbet.com.au. The service is also available through the latest version of the free Racing.com IOS App.
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