Sunshine Millions in TV talks

Magna Entertainment officials are currently negotiating with NBC-TV to televise a portion of Magna's new Sunshine Millions race card on Jan. 25, racing officials said.

Under the deal, Magna would purchase programming time on NBC in what is known as a time-buy deal. Typically, time-buy deals allow the buyer, in this case Magna, to sell advertising during the programming to recoup some of the costs.

An NBC official said that the network expects to announce details of the broadcast early in 2003. The broadcast will likely include three live races from the eight races on the Sunshine Millions card.

The Sunshine Millions will include four races each at Santa Anita Park and Gulfstream Park, both owned by Magna. All eight races, which will be worth a total of $3.6 million, are restricted to Florida-bred and California-bred horses.