At The Races to relaunch as Sky Sports Racing
Racing affiliate to align with Sky’s individual sports channel strategy after signing new racecourse deals with Chester and Bangor
Sky’s dedicated horseracing channel, At The Races, will be rebranded to Sky Sports Racing for the start of 2019 after welcoming two new tracks in Chester and Bangor.
The move means racing will be broadcast in HD for the first time to Sky customers in the UK and Ireland, while the addition of two new tracks will provide a timely boost following the loss of rights to cover Irish racing to its subscription-based rival, Racing UK.
Sky Sports Racing agreed a 10-year deal with Chester which is the oldest racecourse in the UK and was awarded the ROA Racecourse of the year in 2015 and 2016.
The rebrand has taken place in line with Sky’s broader strategy to launch individual sports channels, which has been well received by customers according to Sky Sports managing director Barney Francis.
He said: “We’ve seen a great reaction from our customers to launching dedicated sports channels and this takes us to another level.
“Horse racing is a massive sport that Sky has been involved in for two decades, now we will have a channel to give our customers more of what they love every day.
“Adding Chester and Bangor-on-Dee is fantastic news and we look forward to making Sky Sports Racing a new home for racing fans,” he added.
At The Races CEO Matthew Imi said: “We very much look forward to working with the excellent teams at Chester and Bangor-on-Dee.
“The Boodles May Festival at Chester is a true highlight of the UK racing calendar and both tracks are very well supported and respected within the industry as well as being truly progressive in their outlook.
“Also, there is no better home for our new channel production facility than Sky Sports’ studios which are the best in the business and we believe Sky Sports Racing is set to be a game changer for racing.”
Sky Sports Racing will become Sky’s eleventh dedicated sports channel alongside the likes of Sky Sports Premier League, Sky Sports Football, Sky Sports F1, Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports Cricket.
At The Races was ranked 15th in EGR’s 2018 Power Affiliates rankings.