MARCH 7, 2002

CART has to buy TV coverage

CART has issued its financial forecasts for the forthcoming year and has revealed that it will be spending $9.9m in 2002 in "production cost and time-buy expenses" as part of its agreement with Fox/Speed Channel and CBS.

CART has issued its financial forecasts for the forthcoming year and has revealed that it will be spending $9.9m in 2002 in "production cost and time-buy expenses" as part of its agreement with Fox/Speed Channel and CBS as well as the costs incurred in producing an international feed. The company is forecasting TV revenues of $8-9m from the sale of international rights and videos.

The figures reflect the difference in scale between CART and F1, which is expecting TV revenues of around $400m in 2002 and the difficulty for any racing series to get on to TV in the United States if there is not a big audience for the sport.