SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The Bookmakers Technology Consortium (BTC) has confirmed that its audio channel, which will incorporate content from both the SIS FACTS and TRP channels, is scheduled to go live by January 1.
The audio channel, which has signed up over 450 shops in less than a week, will be managed from the BTC studio in Ashington, Northumberland and delivered by SIS via the FACTS satellite decoder.
The service is available to any bookmaker who subscribes to both these channels. The new BTC Audio channel will provide independent betting shops with a centrally managed switching service for commentaries on both the FACTS and TRP channels.
Initially this will be a simple switching service to enable the commentaries from TRP to be inserted into the SIS FACTS audio. However, it is intended that over a period of six months the service will develop to provide additional content such as promotional offers, prices and tips.
As a not for profit co-operative, BTC are pricing this service on a cost recovery basis to ensure it is affordable for all shops.
Howard Chisholm, BTC Director, commented: “We think that £20 per month for this service represents very good value for money. We aim to provide a service that will add value to the separate TV channels that independents now require to provide full coverage of UK horseracing.”
BTC will be working with Manny Bernstein to ensure that there are no content clashes in the audio channel. Richard Peett, a subscriber to the Manny Bernstein EP service, has confirmed that Joe Jennings has signed up to the service for their shops in the UK, Isle of Man and Channel Islands.
He said: “This is a service which I have thought to be long overdue for the independent bookmaker. We are confident that BTC will produce a service that works well with our Openbet systems and Manny Bernstein prices.”
Euan McCormick (Managing Director) made the following comments about why the recently re-branded Megabet UK (previously Stan James) has signed up to the service: “We have been looking for a centrally managed audio service and this fits the bill perfectly. It will add significantly to the proposition when we roll out our re-branding nationally in the new year.”
