Sportblog | The Guardian — ITV Racing RSS

Jan 09, 2017

Racing blackout on betting shop TV screens adds to gloom for sport of kings

Media rights dispute between bookmakers and racecourses not resolved while TV viewing figures are down on last year despite new ITV dealLive racing coverage was blanked out in the majority of Britain’s betting shops on Monday as the result of an ongoing dispute over media rights payments between bookmakers and racecourses. The situation is unlikely to be resolved in time to prevent another blank day in the shops on Tuesday , while the Racing Post on Monday led its front page on the (not entirely unexpected) news that ITV Racing’s audience figures on ITV4 on Saturday had fallen “well short” of its debut numbers on the main channel.Add in an ongoing controversy over Rule 4 deductions which kicked off at Cheltenham...

Dec 23, 2016

ITV makes last throw of dice in racing’s Get-out-of-Trouble Stakes | Matthew Engel

The broadcaster takes over the television coverage in 2017 – but mostly on ITV4, no one’s first port of call unless they are really obsessed with Ironside and MinderI expect to spend both Monday and Tuesday afternoon with a group of old sporting friends. Most of them I will never see again. The following week another crowd will be there instead – and they will not be spending time paying tribute to their predecessors. Related: Disqualified jockey James McDonald released from Godolphin contract Continue reading...

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