World Rally Championship Commission president Jarmo Mahonen has told individual event organizers they will have to finalize their own television deals, following a collapse of talks between the Eurosport TV network and the FIA.
The letter states that after being unable to conclude the agreement with Eurosport, there is no alternative to locally sourced footage.
"Despite very lengthy negotiations with Eurosport," the letter states, "we sincerely regret to have to inform you that, unfortunately, it has not been possible to conclude an agreement even when trying to give them the possibility to act as a provider of services, providing television coverage of the WRC.
"Therefore, the FIA will not be able to put in place a global promoter, or even global television coverage at this time. As a result, each WRC organizer will unfortunately have to negotiate the television broadcasting of his event."
While the television will be arranged on a local level, the letter confirms the commitment to sourcing a new global promoter: "The FIA will also maintain the link between the organizers and the partners of the WRC, while setting place a plan of action to determine the best way of ensuring the promotion of the championship as soon as this can be secured."
However, Ford's director of motorsport Gerard Quinn said that the FIA's suggested solution is not practical.
"[Events sourcing their own television agreements] would be totally impractical," he told AUTOSPORT. As a long-term solution that would not give the manufacturers, the participants, the organizers or the fans or anybody in the sport what we want."
Another team insider added: "This sends us back to the dark ages. How can the FIA ever think this is going to work?"
The letter follows a breakdown in negotiations between the FIA and Eurosport for the promotion of the World Rally Championship, which included a new contract for international television coverage. In the United States, sources at Velocity HD (the former Discovery HD Theater cable network) indicated that while the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally will be aired on the network this spring, no plans are in place for airing the remaining 12 events, which start with next week's Rally Sweden.