Ascot Racecourse has announced two new media right deals with SIS and At the Races (ATR) respectively, which will allow its racing coverage to be broadcast internationally.
The deals, set to run until 31 December 2021, grants exclusive media rights to the two parties for betting purposes as well as for display across licensed betting premises within their respective territories.
Both SIS and ATR will work alongside one another as part of the split contract to broadcast the coverage from the East Berkshire course. The agreed upon deal is a similar arrangement to that in place at Chelmsford Racecourse, which left ATR to join Racing TV (RTV), unlike Ascot which went the other way from RTV to ATR.
Matthew Imi, Chief Executive Officer of At The Races, praised the new partnership: “We are delighted to be working so closely again with Ascot in distributing their racing to the
many important Tote wagering operators around the world.
“It is a responsibility we take very seriously as Ascot is a premium brand which resonates globally. We are also pleased to have been awarded the streaming contract to deliver racing from Ascot to our UK and Ireland bookmaker partners via our Sport Mediastream platform.”
ATR has been granted international parimutuel betting rights across the world, however this excludes the UK, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Australia.
The broadcaster will be permitted to grant sub-licensees the ability to broadcast the coverage for use in licensed betting offices and the right to make the coverage available online for registered users.
Chief Commercial Officer at Ascot Racecourse, Juliet Slot, added: “We have placed these two specialised international betting picture rights contracts with proven experts in their respective fields as part of our strategy to partner with entities that best suit each contract’s individual need.
“It is fantastic to extend our relationship for delivery to international fixed odds markets with SIS, who we are already working with in the UK market as part of the retail betting distribution, in partnership with RMG and, for Tote markets, to start working again with ATR’s international team.”
“Separately, we also look forward to working with ATR, using their Sport Mediastream platform, for the streaming of our racing content to UK and Ireland bookmakers from March.”
Slot’s optimism for the new deal was strongly supported by Ascot Racecourse Chief Executive, Guy Henderson: “Collaboration is key to the UK and International development of Ascot’s business. I would like to thank our two new partners for their support in working together to create a package which best serves our needs.”
SIS have been awarded international fixed odds betting rights across the world, which will also exclude the UK, Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore.
It will give the data services supplier the chance to sell coverage, in addition to the exclusive right to represent Ascot rights in connection with parimutuel betting in Australia.
Paul Witten, Commercial Director at SIS, concluded: “Extending our partnership with Ascot Racecourse is an important step, as we look to continually enhance our racing betting offer for our operator partners across the globe.
“Ascot is world renowned for its thoroughbred horse racing, and is very popular with bettors internationally, so we are thrilled to be able to supply this to our customers via our 24/7 Live Betting Channels.”
The new deals will run from the 1 March 2019 and will cover major race meetings including Royal Ascot and all other meetings, with exception to British Champions Day.
