Sky Sports Racing

Last updated

Sky Sports Racing
Logo used since 2020
Broadcast area United Kingdom
Ireland
Programming
Picture format 1080i HDTV
Ownership
OwnerATTHERACES Limited ( Sky Group/Arena Racing Company )
History
Launched1 May 2002 (2002-05-01) (original)
11 June 2004 (2004-06-11) (relaunch)
Closed29 March 2004 (2004-03-29) (original)
Former namesAt The Races (2002–2019)
Links
Website www.skysports.com/racing
Availability
Streaming media
At The Races Player Watch live

Sky Sports Racing (formerly At The Races) is a British pay television channel devoted primarily to horse racing. The channel is operated by ATTHERACES Limited, a joint venture between Sky Group, Arena Racing Company and various racecourses. The channel broadcasts coverage of domestic, European and international horse racing events. The channel also broadcasts some greyhound racing.

Contents

In January 2019, after previously operating autonomously from its sisters, the channel was re-launched as part of the Sky Sports family of channels.

History

Current website logo At the races.png
Current website logo
Former channel & website logo At The Races logo.png
Former channel & website logo

It was originally launched on 1 May 2002 as Attheraces, [1] a partnership between the aforementioned entities plus Channel Four Television Corporation. It stopped broadcasting on 29 March 2004 [2] [3] due to financial problems but, after restructuring, was relaunched on 11 June 2004 [4] without Channel Four.[ citation needed ]

On 30 April 2018, it was announced that At The Races would be relaunched as part of the larger Sky Sports portfolio as Sky Sports Racing by the end of the year. With the relaunch, the channel will have wider distribution within Sky Sports' packages, and availability on mobiles through Sky Go. [5] Within the same month, it was announced Chester Race Company had signed a 10-year deal to bring Live Racing from Bangor-On-Dee and Chester to Sky Sports Racing from March 2019. In July 2018, it was also announced that beginning also in March 2019, it would also hold rights to Ascot. [6] The rebranding occurred 1 January 2019 [7] [8] although the "At the Races" brand remains as the channel's parent company, while the website and app became the channel's digital partners.

Programming

The channel starts broadcasting at 9 am every day. In the mornings on the hour, Racing News is shown, followed by reviews of previous days racing. This format is repeated several times and updated with interviews. Presenters change over in the early afternoon and the lead presenter is joined by a guest to discuss the afternoon's racing. Until 1 January 2019, it was produced at the SIS broadcast facility in Milton Keynes. It is now produced from the newly automated Studio G at Sky Campus in Isleworth. [9]

Presenters

Courses

The partner racecourses are:

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References

  1. Wood, Greg (13 February 2003). "Attheraces fights for future". TheGuardian.com . Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  2. Evans, Richard (21 September 2005). "Top 30 tracks launch £213m claim against ATR". The Telegraph. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  3. Wood, Greg (25 March 2004). "Atthereaces reaches end of the road". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  4. Shelley, Darren (21 May 2004). "Attheraces to relaunch in June". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  5. Wood, Greg (30 April 2018). "Sky Sports Racing has plenty going for it in two-horse race with Racing UK". the Guardian. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  6. "Ascot to be live on new Sky Sports Racing channel from 2019". Sky Sports. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  7. Mann, Colin (6 December 2018). "Sky Sports Racing: Jan 1st Starter's Orders". advanced-television.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  8. Imi, Matthew (6 December 2018). "Sky Sports Racing will deliver new prospects for horseracing". SBC News. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  9. Lambert, Laura (8 January 2019). "Laura Lambert on Twitter: "Interesting developments in racing broadcasting"". Archived from the original on 8 January 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2019.