Why the Supercars opener is not on free to air
By Thomas Miles
Date posted: 18 February 2025
Despite being a free-to-air round, the first race of the 2025 Supercars season will not be broadcast on Channel Seven.
For the first time on Australian soil and first time since Abu Dhabi 2011, the opening race of a Supercars season will start on a Friday at the upcoming Sydney 500 at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Following a change in formats that sees more racing in the first year of Finals, the first day of the season will be packed with practice, qualifying and a 100km sprint race all on show.
But when the lights go out at 19.50 AEDT, fans who watch racing on free to air won’t be able to witness it as they are forced to wait until Saturday to see some racing.
As usual all Supercars sessions will be broadcast live and ad break free on Fox Sports/Kayo, which will be the only place to watch the opening race with Friday’s coverage kicking off at 13.30 AEDT before returning at midday on Saturday.
That is when Channel Seven will bring Supercars to the masses.
The free to air coverage on 7 Mate will not begin until 16.30 AEDT on Saturday before the second 200km race is shown on the main Channel 7 from 19.00 AEDT and provides some special prime time viewing on Saturday night.
Sunday’s final afternoon 200km race will also be shown on 7 from 13.00-18.00 AEDT, whilst the Fox/Kayo coverage begins at 9.00 AEDT.
Channel Seven has provided Auto Action with a statement, confirming the only time Supercars is contractually able to be screened on free-to-air on a Friday is qualifying day at the Bathurst 1000.
“Seven’s broadcast agreement with Supercars does not extend to Fridays, with the exception of the Bathurst 1000,” a Seven spokesperson said.
“If it did, we’d be proud to bring the Sydney 500 to all Australians, live and free.”
Whilst all 13 rounds are live on Fox/kayo, the remaining free-to-air rounds on the Seven Network are Darwin, Townsville, Bathurst, Gold Coast and Adelaide, while the other races will be late night highlights packages.
The current five-year $200 million TV deal will expire at the end of the 2025 season.
Sydney 500 TV guide (Melbourne)
Friday: Fox Sports 506/Kayo 13.30-21.29
Saturday: Fox Sports 506/Kayo 12.00-22.10
Saturday: 7 Mate 16.30-19.00 Channel 7 19.00-21.15
Sunday: Fox Sports 506/Kayo 9.00-18.50
Sunday: Channel 7 13.00-18.00
Image: Peter Norton
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