ANALYSIS: What We Know About The TV Deal

PERHAPSthe best way to describe today’s TV deal announcement is that it really is‘business as usual’ - and while there are still a few gaps to be filled, thekey pieces of the TV puzzle are in place.

Hereis what we do know: The deal is for the next two years; 2013 and 2014.

Thatmeans all championship races will be broadcast live, on free to air, televisionin major metropolitan and regional markets.  

Thedeal includes an increased promotional presence on Australia’s leading TVnetwork so expect to continue to see mentions of V8 Supercars in Seven’s othersuite of programming, likely to include their extensive AFL coverage plusflagship breakfast program, Sunrise, throughout the year. 

Forall intents and purposes the sport will pick up where it left off at the end of2012.

And that’s great news for fans. The sport will remain, first andforemost, accessible to as many people as possible – and as many people asother ‘major’ sports featuring on the Australian FTA TV landscape.

V8Supercars Television (V8TV) – the TV production arm of V8 Supercars – willcontinue to produce the broadcasts for Seven and their national affiliates.This mean the ever-increasingly high standard of broadcast and all theinnovation is likely to continue from where they left off at the Sydney Telstra500 last December.

Theycount as the key details and it’s now that all of the other smaller bits andpieces that make up the award-winning coverage will fall into place.

Thisincludes the on-air talent, behind the scenes production staff and airtimescheduling.. amongst other even smaller details like whether Larko’s Whiteboardmakes a comeback or the final location of the very cool camera on the turneight wall at Clipsal.

Wesuspect that this year could include the first major overhaul of the ‘physical’broadcast since Seven first assumed the rights six years ago – to bring the V8Supercars product into line with other network properties that copped newnetwork graphics and production ideas last year.

Wealso expect there to be a presence on subscription TV this year – probably on24-7 motorsport channel SPEED TV - though details of that have not yet beenconfirmed.

There is still a lot to be done, but all of that info will fall into place inthe next few weeks. It will be exciting to tune in and find out how all thedetails come together at Clipsal 500 Adelaide in March.

Perhapsthe most important thing about today’s news, however, is that the deal finallysecures a package that teams can use to cement their 2013 plans.

Yes,it’s key that the fans now know where to watch their favourite sport, butwithout teams sourcing adequate funding via sponsorship there would be noracing – and it’s hard to do just that when there is no TV arrangement inplace.

Nolonger in limbo, teams without confirmed sponsorship deals can now go and sealdeals that they may have been working on for several months.

Itwill be a stabilising factor for many and will allow them to focus on makingfast racing cars, rather than worrying about closing commercial deals. 

Andthose partners will recognise the known product that Seven offers having seenthe last five years worth of ratings and demographics information to work with.In short, the teams will be relieved and see today as a big kick along towardssorting their plans.

Italso means that from now until February 28 V8 Supercar fans should expectannouncements, news, rumours and discussion about the makeup of the 2013season... or, at least, more than usual!  

Staytuned to V8Supercars.com.au for more about the new broadcast deal across theday.