Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race start to be broadcast throughout Asia

by Jennifer Crooks on 1 Dec 2010 The Australia Network has been granted rights by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, to broadcast the entire ninety minute start program of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2010 to 31 million homes across 45 countries in Asia, the Pacific and the Indian sub-continent, including Australian troops serving in Afghanistan and other parts of the region.

The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race joins a list of other top sporting events such as the Melbourne Cup, Tri Nations Rugby and State of Origin that are shown on the Australia Network.

The Australia Network is a 24/7 mixed genre channel that showcases the best Australian and International drama, documentaries, entertainment, lifestyle, sporting and children's programming licensed from all the Australian television networks and beyond.

Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Commodore Garry Linacre said 'We are extremely pleased that we have the opportunity to bring this iconic yacht race and the sport of sailing to an even larger regional audience through this agreement.'

Rod Webb, Head of Programming of the Australia Network said 'Our main interest is to continually provide our expatriate audience with content, and we hope that we can begin a tradition this year by including the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race start program into our offering and that it will become a regular must-view program in the years to come.'

Last year the start program, broadcasted by the Seven Network attracted over 1.2 million Australian viewers, with additional viewers watching the broadcast online through Yahoo!7 globally.

Ninety-seven yachts will start the 66th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race at 1pm AEST on Boxing Day, 26 December, in spectacular fashion on Sydney Harbour.

To view the list of yachts applied to enter click here