South African racing part of new UK betting shop

Deal.....


Arc and independents to launch new TV channel
BY KEITH MELROSE 11:00AM 1 JUL 2016
A NEW partnership between Arena Racing and seven independent racecourse is set to launch a new television channel later this year to provide pictures to high street betting shops.

As well as covering around 650 fixtures from UK racecourses each year, The Racing Partnership (TRP), as the joint-venture will be known, will cover all South African racing, bringing the total of meetings covered up to approximately 1,100.

The channel will launch on September 1 this year with racing from South Africa, while six Arc courses - including Doncaster, Southwell, Lingfield and Wolverhampton - will be added to the roster on January 1, 2017.

The remaining Arc courses along with the independent venues will be added to the schedule over the remainder of next year. All racing from Arc tracks will continue to be aired on At The Races.

'Exciting development'

Arc chief executive Martin Cruddace said: "We have worked incredibly hard to produce a compelling and valuable product for the retail betting sector. This is an exciting development and offers the LBO market a new and much more efficient way to purchase racing pictures for their customers.

"Under the new structure all betting operators will be able to work directly with TRP which will help create a more effective market structure which will benefit all parties. We look forward to working with the retail sector to maximise the value of the product for their businesses."

The seven independent tracks included in the project are Fakenham, Ffos Las, Hexham, Newton Abbot, Plumpton, Ripon and Towcester.

Pat Masterson, managing director at Newton Abbot, said: "We are delighted to be working with Arc to form The Racing Partnership.

"This provides the independent racecourses with new opportunities to collaborate and support each other in order to ensure we can safeguard and develop our racecourses."

The launch of TRP will be overseen by Arc's director of media technology and production, Mark Kingston, with support from Jason Barker as head of production.