Racecourse operator Arena Leisure and broadcaster BSkyB have agreed a new deal to resurrect media rights business Attheraces and bring live British horse racing back to television.
Daily racing coverage in Britain was halted in April with the demise of the Attheraces TV channel after the consortium terminated a media rights deal with 49 British racecourse operators.
Arena said today it was now a joint partner with BSkyB in Attheraces after jointly buying out Channel 4's 33 per cent stake in the previous consortium. Provision had been made for racecourses to become equity holders in the new business in due course.
Commercial terms for media rights had been agreed with Arena's six race tracks, as well as a further 19 racecourses owned by Ascot, Chepstow Racecourse and GG Media.
Interactive betting firm attheraces terminated a media rights deal with The Racecourse Association in January following their failure to renegotiate terms when a contractual clause was triggered by a 47 per cent drop in margins on bets made through the Tote pools system.
The new channel, to be launched next month, will broadcast at least two live meetings a day plus live racing from South Africa and the United States to nine million British homes.