There will be no television coverage of Victorian racing from today, Tuesday 16 June because the Victoria Racing Club (VRC) is yet to agree to the terms of the proposed deal put to them by Racing Victoria and Channel 7.
The interim deal with the TAB-owned Sky Channel expired on Monday with the broadcaster determined to black out the Geelong meeting from its Foxtel channels and pubs and clubs.
Punters, owners and all interested parties wishing to watch Victorian racing still can do so via the Racing Victoria website.
"Tabcorp Holdings has advised that no Victorian thoroughbred meeting will be broadcast on its Sky Racing channels into homes, pubs and clubs after it refused to roll over an existing interim agreement regardless of whether Seven West Media is broadcasting the meeting,” a Racing Victoria statement said.
Last week, Racing Victoria recommended to the clubs - the VRC, Melbourne Racing Club, Moonee Valley Racing Club and Country Racing Victoria that its preferred broadcast option was Seven West Media over Sky.
However the VRC, which runs racing at Flemington and hosts the Melbourne Cup carnival, has not agreed to terms.
RV said it was disappointed with the decision by Tabcorp Holdings to go ahead with a black-out of all Victorian thoroughbred racing on its Sky Racing channels from Tuesday.
Without the VRC's signature, a proposal to show the racing.com digital service on Seven cannot happen.
Racing Victoria said "It was hoped Seven could offer its digital Channel 78 to broadcast as an interim measure, however, without agreements from all stakeholders, a deal could not be agreed”.
"Seven West Media offered to commence broadcasting the existing Racing.com coverage as a stop gap measure ahead of launching its premium channel in late August however, without the VRC signing the long-term Seven West Media deal, RV and Seven West Media are unable to proceed with the interim broadcast measure for punters, fans and participants.
"RV will continue to seek talks with Tabcorp Holdings on achieving its preferred media distribution model which involves both Seven West Media and Sky Racing with the goal of building a strong, sustainable future."