‘Premier League treatment’ for racing
New TV channel vows to shake up coverage Sky boosts chances of landing Grand National
Sky Sports has significantly strengthened a likely bid to snatch the Grand National and other major races from ITV by announcing major billing for a new high-budget dedicated racing channel.
Alex Hammond, the Sky Sports News host, will be the main presenter as the channel attempts to give racing the “Premier League treatment”, with high definition, slow-motion footage and, eventually, drone cameras.
Satellite channel At The Races will relaunch next month as Sky Sports Racing, which the broad- caster hopes will significantly boost ratings and broaden the sport’s appeal. Having already added Ascot, Bangor and Chester to its portfolio of UK racecourses, Sky is now among the favourites to win the “terrestrial” events when they come up for renewal from 2020.
Matthew Imi, chief executive of At The Races, insisted the broadcaster was not “moving their tanks” on the lawn to battle with ITV, which has been showing terrestrial racing since 2012. He also promised their new broad-appeal coverage would not compromise the current betting audience.
“Terrestrial racing has always been an important part of the sport in terms of showcasing to tens of millions,” said Imi, at yesterday’s launch in west London. “So really whether it’s ITV, Channel 4, BBC, we believe that having terrestrial exposure is important. We are not moving our tanks on the lawn. We don’t want a relationship with ITV to be portrayed as adversarial because it certainly isn’t from our perspective. We both have the interests of racing at our heart and we both want to drive as broad an audience as we can.”
The new channel will have exclusivity over French racing, while there will be a presenter at every televised meeting. Former jockey Freddy Tylicki has been signed up as a pundit alongside Mick Fitzgerald, Kevin Blake, Josh Apiafi and Jamie Lynch.
When asked whether the channel is plotting a swoop for the “terrestrial” events, Imi added: “If the rights come up and the rights-holders are interested in talking to us, that’s a situation we’re in. We are not actively pursuing an agenda. We are very happy with the partners we have got. We’ve got a great business as it is.”
Hammond said: “It’s very exciting and horse racing is very much close to my heart. I have a great passion for the sport. I’ve been at Sky for 15 years and, while it’s emotional to leave Sky Sports News, I’m very much looking forward to the challenge ahead.”
Imi added: “We have the capability to elevate events across our full range of channels, products and digital platforms. We hope this will help to engage the casual racing fan and also attract a younger demographic of audience.”