THE future of a multimillion-dollar deal for the TV racing rights in New South Wales is being stalled by infighting over who should sit on the board of broadcaster TVN, reports The Age.It says: The TVN board has been in caretaker mode for more than three months and remains at a stalemate as powerbrokers in NSW and Victoria attempt to gain control of the pay-TV racing broadcaster. The new board needs to be in place before a chief executive can be appointed to replace Peter Sweeney, who will leave
THE future of a multimillion-dollar deal for the TV racing rights in New South Wales is being stalled by infighting over who should sit on the board of broadcaster TVN, reports The Age.
It says: The TVN board has been in caretaker mode for more than three months and remains at a stalemate as powerbrokers in NSW and Victoria attempt to gain control of the pay-TV racing broadcaster. The new board needs to be in place before a chief executive can be appointed to replace Peter Sweeney, who will leave this month. More importantly, the deal that will secure the broadcaster's future, cannot be finalised until then.
TVN owns the rights to screen metropolitan racing in Sydney and all meetings in Victoria. It also has a heads of agreement with Racing NSW to broadcast NSW provincial and country racing from 2013, which is expected to add more than $100 million to the value of the company.
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Attempts to appoint a new board have hit several obstacles. It is believed Victoria Racing Club chairman Michael Burn and Melbourne Racing Club counterpart Michael Symons have both been put forward by their clubs. But The Age understands there is opposition to them in some quarters because they previously held consultancy contracts with the broadcaster.
It is understood Burn and Symons both charged TVN $15,000 a month for work on a failed attempt to take over Sky Channel and to secure the continuation of the television rights for Sydney metropolitan racing with the Australian Turf Club in 2011.