Racing UK to go big on first Royal Ascot

Broadcaster Racing UK is to dedicate a record 50 hours of coverage to Royal Ascot next week – the first time the world-famous fixture will be broadcast on the leading horseracing channel.

Ascot’s media rights have transferred from At The Races to Racecourse Media Group (RMG, the parent company of Racing UK) in a near-five-year deal. RMG will be responsible for the distribution of all of the racecourse’s media rights in the UK and overseas, while Racing UK will show every race live from Ascot.

Racing UK will be on-air from 10am for each of the five days of the Royal Meeting, which runs from June 17 to 21, with the first hour free-to-view to all Sky customers.

Charles Barnett, CEO of Ascot, said: “Racing UK’s dedicated presentation and production teams set extremely high standards and we look forward to working closely with the channel and RMG this year and going forward. We are particularly excited that our first meeting on Racing UK will immediately become their most extensive broadcast of any meeting in their 10-year history and we are certain they will do the unique occasion justice.

“RMG’s business model of 100% racecourse ownership enables us to increase revenues and reinvest in important areas such as prize money and facilities. The new contract with Racing UK also brings all our rights into line, given our existing TV distribution and betting shop contracts with RMG.”

Richard FitzGerald, CEO of Racing UK and RMG, said: “It’s a privilege and honour to welcome Ascot to the RMG family. The racecourse’s tremendous racing and international reputation is a natural fit alongside the quality output from our other 33 racecourses.

“Racing UK will be pulling out all the stops to ensure it enriches the viewers’ experience of the Royal meeting, broadcasting all the excitement, news, features, interviews and top-class action from the course. We look forward to telling the story of the meeting in full with no intrusive advertising.”