By media release

 

Racing Victoria (RV) Chairman, Rob Roulston, has issued the following statement regarding the dispute between TVN and the Tabcorp-owned Sky Racing regarding the right to broadcast Victorian Thoroughbred Racing from Thursday 18 December onwards:

 

“The Racing Victoria (RV) Board met on Thursday and is fully supportive of TVN’s efforts to secure a fair deal for Victorian Thoroughbred Racing for the distribution of racing media.

 

Victorian Thoroughbred Racing is regarded as one of the world’s leading racing jurisdictions, and a world leader in the quality and competitiveness of our racing, our integrity systems and the appeal and audience of our racing carnivals.

 

RV is not satisfied that Tabcorp’s (Sky Racing) latest offer is in the best interests of growing engagement and wagering for Victorian Thoroughbred Racing, and does not represent a fair commercial offer for the valuable media rights of our Clubs.

 

RV supports the TVN decision to not accept Tabcorp’s (Sky Racing) latest offer for the following reasons:

 

1. Tabcorp (Sky Racing) is seeking to pay TVN less money for more rights. The expanded rights being offered by TVN to Tabcorp cover all Victorian and NSW Thoroughbred Racing and include (i) commercial and pay TV; and (ii) non-exclusive digital live and replay rights. The previous agreement did not include NSW country and provincial racing or any digital rights.

 

2. Tabcorp (Sky Racing) is seeking to penalise Victorian Thoroughbred Racing for any future increases in race fields’ fees. RV must have the capacity to establish a fair commercial price for wagering operators to take bets on our product, without any one wagering operator gaining a financial advantage over others.

 

3. Tabcorp (Sky Racing) is seeking to restrict the ability for Victorian Thoroughbred Racing to export our racing to overseas markets, by applying further financial penalties to the already reduced domestic offer if Tabcorp (Sky Racing) no longer had the exclusive international rights to our product. Tabcorp is not offering Victorian Thoroughbred Racing a fair share of existing and potential revenue from the international exposure of our world class product.

 

4. Tabcorp (Sky Racing) is seeking to penalise Victorian Thoroughbred Racing for any future expansion of free-to-air coverage of our racedays, beyond the 25 premium racedays already shown on the Seven Network. Increased coverage of Victorian Thoroughbred Racing on free-to-air television has helped grow engagement and wagering on our product, from which Tabcorp has also been a beneficiary.

 

5. Tabcorp continues to oversee a complex series of charges between the Victorian TAB Joint Venture and SKY Racing channels that sees Tabcorp essentially pass on much of the cost of TVN rights back to the Victorian Racing Industry. Victorian Thoroughbred Racing does not support the continued subsidisation of its own rights fees.

RV also supports TVN’s negotiations with wagering service providers to see the broader distribution of live racing vision for Victorian Thoroughbred Racing on digital devices.

 

In summary, it should also be reinforced that it is Tabcorp’s decision to not accept TVN vision for SKY Racing channels as of Thursday 18 December.

 

RV is working hard with TVN to ensure that, unlike previous blackouts, punters and participants still have multiple options to watch Victorian and NSW racing live at home, on the move and in pubs and clubs.

 

RV would like to acknowledge the support of FOXTEL and FOX SPORTS in helping to deliver the broadcast of TVN into the high percentage of TAB pubs and clubs that also have FOX SPORTS.

 

RV would also like to acknowledge Telstra for supporting the provision of live free-of-charge racing vision to desktop via racing.com and racingnetwork.com.au; and to the Racing Network App.

 

The team at racing.com yesterday made live vision available on desktop and is now set on making it mobile-ready in the near future. This vision will be supported by racing.com’s world class field and form, along with its free replay service for all Victorian races.

 

Given the complexity of these discussions, and the wide gap in positions between Tabcorp (Sky Racing) and TVN and Victorian Thoroughbred Racing, our expectation is that this issue may not be resolved until the New Year.”