The successful subscription TV channel, which covers all the live racing at 31 British racecourses, signed an agreement with Churchill Downs and Magna Entertainment to launch a new international TV channel to broadcast races from North American and international tracks to British and Irish viewers.
CDI, MEC and Racing UK are set to take equal ownership positions in the subscription channel, which will be available on satellite and cable and will launch initially with an evening broadcast before building into a full international channel sometime in 2006. An exact launch date and details of subscription costs have yet to be finalized.
Racing World will cover the 18 tracks operated by CDI and MEC which include Arlington, Hollywood Park, Santa Anita and Gulfstream Park, while also managing the webcasting and betting rights for the UK and Ireland on behalf of other American courses.
“Having already successfully launched the Racing UK subscription channel and a new broadband venture in partnership with the Racing Post, this new opportunity further demonstrates the commercial advantages that Britain’s leading racecourses benefit from by maintaining control of their own media rights,” said Simon Bazalgette, Racing UK Chief Executive.
In separate news reported by the Racing Post, BHB Chief Executive Greg Nichols said that the governing body’s income from pre-race data acquired by the betting industry has all but disappeared, following the successful launch last month of a service to Irish bookmakers by SIS, which is also being made available to UK customers.
The cost to British racing is estimated to be a minimum of £12 million a year,but likely to further grow if the BHB decides not to appeal against its defeat last month in the High Court case against At The Races.
A number of major UK bookmakers are believed to have taken up the option offered by SIS and to have given the six months notice to quit the BHB data contract.
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