Horse racing Ireland has entered into a period of exclusive negotiation with two preferred bidders for the media rights to Irish racing from 2024 to 2028.
This follows a tender process for the rights to distribute the racing coverage to betting offices, via streaming and digital channels, and to International betting companies in one package, and to Direct to consumers, free to air in the UK, and to international tote betting providers in another.
The preferred bidders are Satellite Information Services for the first and Racecourse Media Group for the second. Both of them are the incumbent providers. Racecourse Media Group controls Racing TV, the pay-per-view channel that broadcasts to an estimated 60,000 in Britain and another 15,000 subscribers in Ireland. It carries all Irish racing and from over half of tracks in Britain including Aintree, Cheltenham, and Newmarket.
The value of the current deal which has been in place since 2017 is believed to be around €40 million per annum to Irish racecourses and is a key part of their revenue stream. This was especially so through the pandemic.
The HRI Media Rights Committee is chaired by Punchestown Racecourse CEO Conor O’Neill.
