Nine alone in Melbourne Cup rights race after Seven withdraws

afr.com:

Seven West Media has withdrawn from what was a two-horse race for the Melbourne Cup broadcast rights, leaving Nine Entertainment the likely winner.

Tabcorp is the preferred bidder for the race, which is ultimately owned by Victoria Racing Club. But the ASX-listed wagering giant must sublicence the rights to a domestic free-to-air network because it is on the government’s anti-siphoning list. The anti-siphoning list laws try to keep certain significant sports on free-to-air broadcast.

Tabcorp had asked the networks to express their interest in buying the domestic broadcast rights to the Melbourne Cup in June – a deal which it expected could generate more than $100 million over six years.

But Seven West boss James Warburton grew frustrated that the VRC preferred Nine’s bid, and emailed Tabcorp boss Adam Rytenskild and the racing club’s CEO, Steve Rosich, late on Thursday evening to pull out, sources told AFR Weekend. The VRC is the entity that decides which broadcaster to go with.

Gold Trip won last year’s Melbourne Cup. 

Nine’s bid is around $5 million a year. The deal would be for six years, until 2029.

The Melbourne Cup is the most watched race in the local thoroughbred calendar and a major source of revenue for Tabcorp. A deal is also crucial to the VRC, which is under immense financial strain and reliant on the revenues from the broadcast.

Acting as a broker for the domestic broadcast rights gives Tabcorp the opportunity to put its own talent – from the company’s Sky Racing channel – and branding in front of a larger number of free-to-air viewers.

Seven West Media chief executive James Warburton. 

Paramount-backed Network Ten has owned the broadcast rights to the race since 2019, but they expire after this year. It