|
Foxtel paid around $200 million more for the current deal that what was on offer from fta.That was money they were in no position financially to say no to.That money has propped up the series since 2015.
That money will not be on offer again.Back in 2014 Foxtel was a hugely profitable company.In 2018 they lost $418 million and that is the new normal for them with no way out due to programming contracts.By September 2020 they have to finance $1.6 billion (that’s right billion) worth of debt.Last month they needed to do the same with $235 million of debt and couldn’t find anyone to loan it to them..Murdoch had to reach into his own pocket.At some time in the next 16 months he will get sick of doing this and Foxtel may well be declared bankrupt and shut down.This is a worldwide problem for pay tv.In the USA one of the main pay networks has lost 20 million subscribers in the last 2 years.
What this means for Supercars is either that after 2020 Foxtel won’t even bid for rights or if they do they will only offer about 10% of what they are paying now.FTA tv is in pretty terminal financial decline so there will be no big offer there either.Im guessing they will try a paid streaming model of the current Foxtel coverage supplemented by a slightly larger fta coverage.
As for Cochrane does anyone who ever knew him truly believe he would have said no to $200 mill ,a significant percentage of which he would have got personally?
|