Having just read your OLN story, I thought I should set the record straight about how the "race of the day" in the Louis Vuitton Cup is selected. This is decided by the Challenger of Record Management (CORM) who are the organizers of the race. TVNZ has no control over the selection of the live race each day.

Prior to the commencement of the Challenger Series, it was agreed amongst the competing syndicates that certainly within the first Round Robin, each syndicate would have at least two of their races broadcast live. This also meets the obligations to the other international broadcasters that are covering the event.

TVNZ is only one of a number of broadcasters who have an interest in seeing the coverage, and without a New Zealand boat in this stage of the competition, our ability influence the choice of the race covered is minimal. The Challenger of Record Management has to be cognizant of the expectations of their international audiences (including you guys in North America!) who want to see their nation's boat(s) competing.

TVNZ, like the other international broadcasters, is beholden to the host broadcaster for its feed of the races.

In this respect it is similar to the Olympic Games and other major sporting events, where the broadcasters rely on the host broadcaster for its competition coverage.

Given the high cost of covering yachting, the only financially viable way is to cover one race on any given day until we reach the semi-finals when both races will be covered simultaneously. The decision to cover one race per day was made by the Challenger of Race Management who owns the competition and on-sell the television rights to international broadcasters including TVNZ and OLN.

TVNZ (and by association OLN) is supplementing its coverage from the host broadcaster with coverage of the other matches with Virtual Spectator coverage as much as possible.

I hope you guys are enjoying the coverage up there - it's awesome down here at the coal face in Auckland!

Regards

Glen Sowry
TVNZ commentator