News

Victorian racing returns to Sky Channel

9th Aug 2015

Racing.com - Shane Anderson - Monday, 10 August 2015

Victorian thoroughbred racing will make its much-anticipated return to Sky Racing on Saturday with Flemington’s feature Aurie’s Star Handicap meeting to be broadcast after a new partnership was signed between Racing Victoria (RV) and Tabcorp, the owner of Sky Racing.

A five-year commercial deal was agreed between RV and Tabcorp that incorporates domestic and international broadcast rights, further increasing the distribution rights of Victorian thoroughbred racing.

Victorian thoroughbred racing has been blacked out by Tabcorp and Sky Racing since June 15 after talks broke down between the parties when RV announced Seven West Media (SWM) as its preferred media rights partner.

Racing Live on Racing.com has been the principal provider of Victorian thoroughbred racing since that time.

Corporate bookmakers Sportsbet and Crownbet also struck deals with RV for digital coverage of Victorian thoroughbred racing since the blackout.

Victorian thoroughbred racing will once again be broadcast daily into homes, pubs and clubs around Australia on Sky Racing 1 Channel 519 and Sky Racing 2 Channel 520 on the Foxtel network, as well as being broadcast on tab.com.au and the TAB’s apps for the first time.

The international deal means that Victorian thoroughbred racing will be broadcast into more than 50 countries, with a commitment to expand that reach over the next five years.

Victorian thoroughbred racing will continue to be broadcast through the deal with SWM via channel 78 in metropolitan areas and channel 68 in regional areas, along with digital coverage on Racing.com, sportsbet.com.au and crownbet.com.au, a significant reach compared to other states.

RV CEO Bernard Saundry said that the deal with both SWM and now Sky Racing provides the industry with the best chance to grow immediately and into the future.

“We are very pleased to reach agreement with Tabcorp on a bundled five-year broadcast deal. To have Seven West Media and now Sky Racing join us in promoting Victorian racing across Australia and to a wider audience internationally is great for the future of the sport,” said Saundry.

“Well over 90 per cent of the Australian population can now watch Victorian racing across a variety of platforms and the collective viewing audience for tomorrow’s Flemington meeting will be the biggest for a non-carnival raceday in our history.

“Our key goal throughout this year has been to develop a broadcast model that takes our vision to more people, in more places and on more platforms than ever before and we have achieved that. This is a great result for punters, fans and participants.”

Saundry is pleased that vision would return to Sky Racing’s coverage on Saturday and thanked Tabcorp for its support of Victorian thoroughbred racing.

“I want to thank David Attenborough and his team for their commitment to reaching an agreement. We now look forward to working with Sky Racing to expand the profile of Australia’s premier racing product both here and abroad,” said Saundry.

“As long-term partners with Tabcorp in our wagering joint venture, we are both equally committed to promoting racing and building a strong, sustainable and vibrant Victorian racing industry.”

The Tabcorp agreement builds on the daily free-to-air coverage of Victorian racing which is broadcast by Seven West Media’s Channel 78 into the metropolitan markets of Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, as well as through much of regional Queensland.

Regional TV viewers in Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia, along with the ACT and much of Queensland, are also able to watch Victorian racing through the PRIME7 and GWN7 regional networks on Channel 68.