First of all, congratulations to Channel 7 on getting the deal done to return another decent product that they’ve treated so well since 1963-1996, 2007-2014.
This comes after a 2-3 months ago that Network 10 chose not to renew the contract following a six-year stint in their 2nd term having previously aired in 1997-2006 that will expire after this year’s Bathurst 1000 in three weeks.
I hoped that Seven would get a better deal than Ten to show just beyond the six marquee events with every other Sunday round LIVE in this new free to air portion.
Having seen Seven pay just $4 million a year, it seems that the limited free access to watch Supercars will go on for another five seasons.
And unfortunately, the return of Seven will follow what Network 10 exactly did in 2015-2020.
The only upside about this announcement today is that Seven will have streaming access via 7Plus for the big event live races plus the other rounds shove to encore/highlight within the same race day.
It’s something Ten didn’t have that advantage as they instead throw in marathon re-runs of some random show on 10 Play while the big event went on air.
So if you’re a traditionalist wanting to watch every race live on Free TV as it used to be, then I’m sorry to say it upset you once again.
But it’s how sports tv coverage is like these days in the modern 21st century, and the only way to do that is subscribed to Kayo Sports steaming product for $25 per month/$300 a year.
Overall, it’s another low-cost deal for Seven to return its national motorsport series on their turf.
I’d say it’s great to have the Free TV product improve its steaming viewing for those sports fanatics wanting to watch on the go.
But we’ll just have to wait & see what the next TV deal would look like in 2026-2030 as the limited-access package is not going anywhere, anytime soon.
With Ten losing Supercars, they only have the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix LIVE plus highlights overseas, and every LIVE MotoGP race, which is something Seven or Nine Network would want their hands-on when it expires in 2021-2022.
Regarding the makeup of the on-aid team, we know Mark Beretta is excited, so he will definitely in there as the anchor.
So would the likes of some other analysts that also appear on Seven’s additional Motorsport coverage.
Who will be commentating on the races on Seven?
I’m hoping it will be Richard Craill alongside Jack Perkins calling upstairs with Mark Beretta in pit lane during the big races.
That way, like cricket, Seven can have their commentary that is different from Fox Sports.
Otherwise, since Supercars Media is still producing the races and Seven paying a cheaper deal, it’ll just be a straight grab from Neil Crompton & Mark Skaife.
