Ten outlines $100 million deal for Melbourne Cup rights

Australian television service Network Ten has been named to take over Seven as the official broadcaster of the Melbourne Cup horse race at Flemington Racecourse.

After much speculation last week, Ten has confirmed a five-year deal with the Victoria Racing Club (VRC) worth $100 million over the course of its five-year tenure.

The agreement, which comes into effect in 2019, is the biggest in the VRC’s history, entitling Ten to provide live coverage of all four days of the Melbourne Cup Carnival – the AAMI Victoria Derby Day, Lexus Melbourne Cup Day, Kennedy Oaks Day and Seppelt Wines Stakes Day.

The contract includes media rights for free-to-air television, internet, social media, mobile devices, over-the-top (OTT) platforms and Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) throughout Australia.

Chairman of the VRC, Amanda Elliott said: “These are the broadest set of rights that the VRC has ever offered around the Melbourne Cup Carnival and is a significant expansion on previous agreements.

“The process highlighted that Network Ten’s energy and commitment to showcasing the Melbourne Cup Carnival throughout the year best aligned to our strategy.”

Australian free-to-air digital channel Racing.com will also provide live coverage of every race from the festival, both on its channels and on its digital app.

The live vision streaming rights for online gambling websites are not part of the agreement with Ten.