Foxtel have just cut their nose off to spite their face. They rave about shutting down piracy etc of shows (like that will ever happen!), then they (along with Warburton, Ten & Co) marginalise the bread & butter supporter by locking up full coverage in an ill-timed & ill-advised exclusivity arrangement.
With barely 24% viewing penetration in this country for PayTV (declining every year since a high of 29% in 2009, decreasing to 28% in 2012 and now to just over 24% in 2014), that leaves a huge majority swinging in the breeze and of that remaining percentage, you can certainly include the bread & butter families who view most rounds on FTA, then go to the track and support via merchandise sold, and to whom sponsors have wagered a lot of advertising budget on FTA during the typical 2+ hours of coverage.
Warburton is pulling far more than his negotiating pad out if he thinks that simply by adding V8Supercars to a full multi-season exclusivity deal with Foxtel, that those bread & butter families who make up by far the largest % of the other 76% who haven't got PayTV in this country, who couldn't afford the putrid, self absorbed, self promoting monolith that is Foxtel before, can all of a sudden find the dollars to cough up for a package?
It's not that they don't want to, it's that they cannot afford it - especially in this age of companies shutting down and people getting laid off everywhere!
Christ almighty, it's not rocket science we're talking about.
... and Warburton has the hide to say, "
There will be more eyeballs than ever (watching under the new deal)."
This so-called media superstar, who considers he is doing such great things for V8 Supertaxis in this country has walked away from the fan base that not only put the series on the map, but supported it through some damn lean times.
It will without any doubt signal a sharp decline in viewership (for obvious reasons), then cascade to less sponsor support, less merchandise sold and less interest in it overall. Tally that to the fact that there are major competing (and other newly emerging) View-On-Demand services available streaming from the 'Net - all totally legal and far, far cheaper than Foxtel, as well as the fact that PayTV in this country is one of, if not the lowest uptake of PayTV anywhere in the developed world - and declining each year!
Tell me how that's supposed to add up to the rosy picture that Warbs, Foxtel & Ten are serving up to us, Sponsors and anyone really attached to the series, to swallow?
Great "Thank you" to leave motorsport supporters in this country with, Warbsy boy. Well done.