Network 10 loses broadcast rights to Melbourne Cup

Sources have told The Australian that 10 has been eliminated from the bidding for the Cup, which is now a straight race between Seven and Nine.

Wagering giant Tabcorp has moved to take control of all the broadcast rights for the Cup. Picture: Michael Klein

Network 10 has lost the broadcast rights to the Melbourne Cup, in a major change to the telecasting of the race that stops the nation.

Sources have told The Australian that 10 has been eliminated from the bidding for the Cup, which is now a straight race between Seven West Media and Nine Entertainment Co.

Wagering giant Tabcorp, which is running the rights process for race host Victoria Racing Club, is keen for the race to be on higher-rating Seven or Nine from 2024 onwards.

But Ten management hit out at Tabcorp, saying it had “declined” an invitation from Tabcorp and the VRC to “progress further in the process to secure the rights” and expressed concern that a betting company was involved in the broadcast talks.

“Throughout the course of the current negotiations, it became clear that the nature of the agreement between Tabcorp and the VRC would require a move towards a core racing and wagering-focused broadcast product,” Ten said in a statement.

“Given this likely change in focus combined with commercial constraints of the future agreement, Network 10 considered the preferences of its viewers and advertisers, and politely declined to move forward with the process.”

Ten is in the final year of its record-breaking $100m five-year cash and contra deal to broadcast the Cup on free-to-air television, but has been criticised for relatively low ratings for the Cup and its wider four-day carnival.

Racing sources told The Australian that Tabcorp and the VRC had a preference for the Cup to either return to Seven, which lost the rights to Ten in 2018, or to Nine.

Tabcorp is said to want the Melbourne Cup carnival promoted on Seven or Nine’s higher-rating breakfast and prime time shows.

As revealed by The Australian last month, Tabcorp has moved to take control of all the broadcast rights for the Cup from near onwards in a unique deal for which it is set to pay about $25m annually for – including free-to-air, pay-television, digital and international distribution rights.

Tabcorp will then sub-licence the free-to-air rights for the Cup, as per the requirements of the federal government’s anti-siphoning list.

In a statement, Ten management rejected criticism of its Cup ratings over the past four years, saying: “Throughout Network 10’s tenure, the Lexus Melbourne Cup has dominated its timeslot for people 16 to 39, with a commercial share ranging between 81.7 per cent and 91.4 per cent.”

Seven and Nine officials are expected to present to Tabcorp and the VRC, the host of the Melbourne Cup carnival at its Flemington racetrack, next week as part of the final stage of the process to win the rights for six years from 2024 to 2029.

While Seven shows horse racing on its channels most Saturdays, including rival races during Melbourne Cup week from Sydney, Nine is understood to have lodged a stronger than expected bid for the new rights package worth several million dollars annually.

Ten will broadcast the four-day Melbourne Cup carnival this coming spring, after which its current deal expires.

ENDS