FEBRUARY 1, 2003

Channel 10 deal gives Australia GP TV coverage

For several months it has not been clear who would be the host broadcaster for the Australian Grand Prix. Channel Nine had given up on the rights to Formula 1 and Channel 10 was the only serious bidder but no deal was done and with Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One TV crew not going to Australia there were fears that the event might end up without coverage of any kind. Now it seems a deal has been done to avoid this problem with Channel 10 getting the deal. Despite the delays there is not likely to be a problem as Channel 10 already has a sub-contract deal with Active Television, one of Australia's leading sports production companies, which has run the Grand Prix's own TV service, which is known as GPTV for some years and so has considerable experience in covering the event.