Ex-Channel 7 boss Tim Worner makes media comeback in racing broadcast rights pursuit

Tabcorp faces a battle with a consortium led by one-time Seven West Media boss Tim Worner, who is after the North American rights to broadcast NSW horse racing.

Tim Worner wants to broadcast NSW horse racing into North America. Picture: Getty Images

Former Seven West Media boss Tim Worner is leading a consortium trying to wrest overseas broadcast rights for NSW horse racing away from Tabcorp.

In what would mark Mr Worner’s return to the media since he stepped down as Seven boss in August 2019, a group of local and international executives have been planning a move on the North American rights for NSW thoroughbred racing for more than 12 months.

Mr Worner is a noted racing fan and horse owner, and also led Seven’s big push into horse racing in 2015 when it formed the racing.com free-to-air TV venture with Racing Victoria.

Seven still holds free-to-air rights to racing around Australia but international rights to NSW thoroughbreds have been distributed by Tabcorp subsidiary Sky Racing World.

Racing NSW administrators have been disappointed with the returns from Sky Racing for the North American market, where sports betting is booming, and have been considering stripping Tabcorp of the rights during negotiations over Tabcorp’s upcoming lottery division demerger – as revealed by The Australian on Wednesday.

Tabcorp chief executive David Attenborough played down the prospect on Thursday, when the wagering giant announced its interim results, saying: “We‘ve done an assessment and there are no specific racing industry approvals required to complete the demerger.”

Tabcorp is demerging its strongly performing lotteries division, which posted a record financial result for the six months to December 31 on Thursday, from its wagering arm in a $10bn transaction set for completion by June.

Mr Attenborough paid tribute to powerful Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys and described him as an “extraordinary person” but said that Tabcorp had a long-term commercial agreement for the rights.

Former Seven West CEO Tim Worner. Picture: James Croucher

He said Tabcorp had achieved a 40 per cent uplift in returns from North America over the past four years and had recently struck a deal with US giant BetMGM to bet on Australian racing product there and it would be difficult to unbundle the NSW rights.

Mr V’Landys said while he respected the Tabcorp boss, the uplift it had achieved for NSW racing in recent years was “coming off a very low base”.

“They also know I have certain rights in regards to the demerger,” Mr V’Landys said.

“I would have more confidence in them if David Attenborough and (chairman) Steven Gregg were going to be at the helm in the long-term. I am concerned about the future and will do be doing everything I can to protect NSW racing.”

Mr Attenborough will stand down as CEO in June when Tabcorp is split, with Sue van der Merwe becoming chief executive of the newly formed The Lotteries Corporation and Adam Rytenskild the boss of the wagering and media business. Mr Gregg will chair the lotteries business and Bruce Akhurst wagering.

Mr Worner is also a non-executive director of ASX-listed bookmaker BlueBet and has also has owned several horses, including 2019 Melbourne Cup favourite Constantinople that was bought for $3m but would ultimately disappoint its owners.

He would not comment on the broadcast rights pursuit.

Tabcorp shares rose to their highest levels for more than four years on Thursday after it revealed the strong lottery division results, even though they were offset in part by falling profits for its wagering arm.

The company’s revenue for the first six months of the 2022 financial year rose 2.2 per cent to $2.93bn, but net profit before significant items fell 9.7 per cent to $187m compared to the previous corresponding period.

The lotteries division had a 10.9 per cent uplift in revenue to $1.78bn for the half, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were up 15.1 per cent to $358m.

The wagering and media arm was hit by lockdowns and heavy competition from mainly digital-only corporate bookmakers, with Ebitda falling 34.8 per cent to $148m and revenue down 9.8 per cent to $1.07bn.

That side of the business was hit by Covid closures of pubs and clubs, a vital part of its business and where TAB outlets are based. There were 102 lost days of trading in venues in metropolitan NSW in the half, compared to 13 in the same time the year before. The closures also meant 74 fewer days of trading in regional NSW.

Mr Attenborough said the wagering arm was “much stronger when venues are open” and the trading conditions when that happened proved that.

He said there was still much work to be done by regulators to even the playing field in terms of the taxes and returns to racing Tabcorp pays, which are substantially higher than its corporate bookmaker competitors.

Mr Attenborough said he was unlikely to pursue a CEO role when he leaves Tabcorp after 12 years in charge but could take on more directorships after joining the Hostplus board last year.

Tabcorp will pay an interim 6.5c dividend, down from 7.5c.