Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

British horseracing announces exclusive domestic TV rights deal with ITV

02/01/2016

British horseracing has today announced the sport will be broadcast on free-to-air television exclusively by ITV starting 1 January 2017 after the broadcaster won the tender process for a new four-year term.

ITV has secured the rights to show nearly 100 days of racing each year, including all the marquee events on ITV main channel, such as the Cheltenham Festival, the Crabbie's Grand National Meeting from Aintree, the Investec Derby Festival from Epsom Downs, Royal Ascot and QIPCO British Champions Day from Ascot, Qatar Goodwood Festival, Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival from York and the Ladbrokes St Leger from Doncaster.

No other sport in the UK will enjoy that level of live free-to-air coverage and the contract, which runs through to December 31, 2020, will provide an increase in revenues to British racing.

ITV will show a minimum of 34 fixtures on ITV main channel and 60 on ITV4, in addition to a magazine preview programme broadcast each Saturday morning on ITV4.

The deal further enhances ITV's portfolio of world-class sports rights, which includes the Tour de France, the French Open and exclusive live coverage of the England football team. Following the success of ITV's exclusive Rugby World Cup coverage in 2015, this new announcement kicks off another huge year of sport on the channel, as 2016 sees ITV broadcast 6 Nations Rugby for the first time starting next month, followed by Euro 2016 in the summer.

ITV's commitment to sport and use of cross-programming promotion will help further position racing as a leading sport and appeal to ITV's wide and diverse audience, as well as the established racing audience.

Richard FitzGerald, Chief Executive of Racecourse Media Group (RMG), who headed racing's negotiating team, which included UK racecourses and British Champions Series, said:

ITV has made a strong and compelling four-year commitment to British horseracing. ITV places itself at the heart of popular culture and we look forward to working closely with the broadcaster in ensuring racing remains in this fantastic shop window.

This is a great opportunity for everyone in the industry to support ITV in jointly promoting the sport and telling the stories throughout the year to as wide an audience as possible. The unprecedented level of interest in the tender shows what an attractive proposition the sport is. This is reflected in the new deal, which will generate increased revenues for racing.

We would like to thank Channel 4 for the huge support they have given horse racing over the years, and particularly their investment in coverage over the last three years. Channel 4 has been a fantastic partner for British racing and we look forward to continuing to work together in delivering a captivating and enthralling year ahead.

Niall Sloane, ITV Director of Sport, said:

ITV is delighted to be the home of British horseracing from 2017 and we are thrilled that the sport has chosen us to be their partners. ITV and ITV4 will showcase more than 90 days of races, which include some of the best days in the British sporting calendar and we want our coverage to reach not only its loyal, core audience, but beyond, by capturing the full enjoyment of this most wonderful of sports."
LINK: http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/british-horseracing-anno...
See more stories from itv

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

05/06/2026

Fahad Haider Joins NESN as VP, Operations and Engineering

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/06/2026

GatesAir Opens New Brazil Office to Back DTV+ Rollout

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/06/2026

Supreme Court Upholds FCC's Authority to Levy Fines

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/06/2026

Montclair State University Will Run NJ PBS

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/06/2026

Merkhet's Sam Matheny Urges Congress to Expedite BPS Deployment

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/06/2026

Sinclair Launches NextGen TV Campaign in Columbus, Ohio

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/06/2026

NAB Releases New Keep the Game On' Spot

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/06/2026

NCTC, ACAC Going to Disney World for Independent Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/06/2026

Nielsen Announces New Integrations for Improved Measurement

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/06/2026

Frequency Launches In-Scene Advertising to Accelerate Str...

Frequency, the engine powering many of the world's leading streaming television channels, today announced the launch of In-Scene Advertising, a new monetiza...

05/06/2026

Berklee Study Reveals Video Has Become Essential to Music Careers

Berklee Study Reveals Video Has Become Essential to Music Careers Survey findings show social platforms have become the primary source of music for video cont...

04/06/2026

Sony's New PTZ Cameras Deliver 4K 60p; New STARVIS Sensor Meets Low-Light Demands

Sony Electronics is introducing the SRG-AS10, a 4K 60p-compatible PTZ auto-frami...

04/06/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Alex Albert, Texas A&M University

This recent grad from Spring, TX, led creative-video output for the Aggies' men's basketball team last season and has been producing video and creating ...

04/06/2026

USGA Brings AI Recaps, 3D Range Tracking, and Predictive Shot Tracing to U.S. Womens Open

For the first time at a women's golf major, every player in the field will r...

04/06/2026

Panasonic PT-RQ45 Projectors Power Lille Video Mapping Festival Opera House Installation

Three Panasonic PT-RQ45 40,000-lumen 3-Chip DLP projectors made their first live...

04/06/2026

Bitmovin and Akamai Support NRJ Groups Deployment of Akamai Adaptive Media Player 2

Bitmovin and Akamai have announced a collaboration with NRJ Group, a French mult...

04/06/2026

Telestream to Exhibit at InfoComm 2026 with Live Production and Media Workflow Demonstrations

Telestream will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N7952), demonstrating media work...

04/06/2026

Sony Announces RIALTO 65 Image Sensor Block for VENICE 2, Targeting 2027 Release

Sony has announced the development of RIALTO 65, a 65mm format image sensor block for the VENICE 2 digital cinema camera, targeting release in the first half of...

04/06/2026

KOKUSAI DENKI Electric America to Exhibit 4K and Remote Production Solutions at InfoComm 2026

KOKUSAI DENKI Electric America will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N8025, June ...

04/06/2026

Bell Media to Carry All 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 Matches Across TSN, RDS, and Streaming Platforms

Bell Media's TSN and RDS are the exclusive Canadian broadcasters of FIFA Wor...

04/06/2026

MASV Case Study: How MASV Reduced Miami HEAT's Road Game Video Transfer Times by 85%

The Challenge: Receiving Heavy Media Files From Road Games Quickly and ReliablyT...

04/06/2026

MASV Outlines Seven-Step Sports Analytics Workflow, Highlights File Transfer as Key Bottleneck

MASV, a managed file transfer platform used in broadcast and live sports product...

04/06/2026

NESN Appoints Fahad Haider as Vice President of Operations and Engineering

NESN has announced the appointment of Fahad Haider as Vice President of Operations and Engineering. Haider returns to NESN, where he previously served as Vice P...

04/06/2026

Sports Broadcaster, Executive, and Author David J. Halberstam Dies

David J. Halberstam, who spent almost 50 years in sports as a broadcaster and an executive, died June 2 after a years-long battle with brain cancer. Over his l...

04/06/2026

Grass Valleys Ben Dolinky on Offering Teachable Technology to College Students Across the Country

Although collegiate production programs are tasked with delivering high-quality ...

04/06/2026

Prime Video Caps First NBA Season With Sports Emmy Win, Carries In-House Production Into WNBA Campaign

California studio, two production trucks, global distribution system are combine...

04/06/2026

TikTok and Sundance Collab Launch Micro-Series Storytelling Program

New global program empowers and supports storytellers through scriptwriting course and access to industry experts TikTok and Sundance Institute today announce...

04/06/2026

Celemony announce Tonalic ARA support for Cubase & Nuendo

Steinberg DAWs now boast in-depth Tonalic integration Celemony's innovative virtual session musician plug-in has just received an update that brings ARA...

04/06/2026

GearExpo UK: Microphone Update

Get Hands-On With Over 20 Mic Brands GearExpo UK is fast approaching, and if you've been looking for a chance to check out some new mics, then you'r...

04/06/2026

Positive Grid launch Reactor amp range

Combos feature new Amplifier Intelligence engine Positive Grid's latest release sees the company introduce two new combo amplifiers that promise to offe...

04/06/2026

Is Your Job Making You Work this June?

Is Your Job Making You Work this June? 4 June, 2026 Media releases SBS Launches the World Cup Watchers' Rights Association to Stand Up For Australians&...

04/06/2026

Statement regarding unauthorised use of SBS logos on third party social content

Statement regarding unauthorised use of SBS logos on third party social content 4 June, 2026 Media releases SBS has become aware of social media posts in c...

04/06/2026

TiVo: TV Viewing Hits Post-Pandemic Peak

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

Bitmovin and Akamai Support NRJ Group to Deploy Next Gene...

Bitmovin, a leading provider of video streaming infrastructure, and Akamai, the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business onli...

04/06/2026

American Underground Opens at American Tobacco Campus, Completing a 16-Year Full-Circle Story

American Underground (AU), the Startup Hub of the South and a community of mor...

04/06/2026

Nielsen: Thunder Rolls as NBA's Most-Watched Team

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

AI Drives Lenovo's 2026 FIFA World Cup Broadcast Plans

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

ATSC Conference Looks Beyond Traditional TV for 3.0 Success

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

ATSC Awards Highest Technical Honor to Julia Kenyon

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

Lumine Group to Acquire Synamedias Video Network Business

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

BFOA Launches 5th Annual Giving Day

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

Hemisphere Media Group Brings WAPA+ Fast Channel to Prime Video

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

APTS to Hold June 4 'Protect My Public Media Day'

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

NVIDIA and Microsoft Reinvent Windows PCs for the Age of Personal AI

NVIDIA and Microsoft Reinvent Windows PCs for the Age of Personal AI Brie Clayton June 3, 2026 0 Comments RTX Spark - a 1-Petaflop Superchip, the Full...

04/06/2026

Inside the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man Grade

Inside the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man Grade Brie Clayton June 3, 2026 0 Comments Simone Grattarola discusses shaping the look in DaVinci Resolve...

04/06/2026

Cine Gear Expo Announces 2026 Awards of Excellence Recipients

Cine Gear Expo Announces 2026 Awards of Excellence Recipients Brie Clayton June 3, 2026 0 Comments Ed Lachman ASC, Caleb Deschanel ASC, and M. David M...