SIS and ATR granted exclusive media rights deal with Ascot

Racing content and data provider SIS (Sports Information Services) and At the Races (ATR) have both signed an exclusive media rights deal with Ascot Racecourse, which will allow racing coverage from Ascot to be broadcast internationally.

Both SIS and ATR have been granted exclusive media rights for sports betting purposes, as well as for display across licensed betting premises within their respective territories.

The two will work alongside one another as part of the split contract to broadcast race meetings from the East Berkshire course. The agreed upon deal is a similar arrangement to that in place at Chelmsford Racecourse, which left ATR to join Racing TV, unlike Ascot which conversely moved from RTV to ATR.

Paul Witten, Commercial Director at SIS, praised the collaboration: “Extending our partnership with Ascot Racecourse is an important step, as we look to continually enhance our racing betting offer for our operator partners across the globe.

“Ascot is world renowned for its thoroughbred horse racing, and is very popular with bettors internationally, so we are thrilled to be able to supply this to our customers via our 24/7 Live Betting Channels.”

As part of the agreement, SIS have been awarded international fixed odds betting rights across the world, however this does exclude the UK, Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore.

The data services supplier will have the ability to sell coverage to its customers, in addition to the exclusive right to represent Ascot rights in connection with pari-mutuel betting in Australia.

Meanwhile, ATR has been granted international pari-mutuel betting rights across the world, also excluding the UK, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Australia.

The broadcaster will be permitted to grant sub-licensees the ability to broadcast the coverage for use in licensed betting offices and the right to make the coverage available online for registered users.

Matthew Imi, Chief Executive Officer of At The Races, added: “We are delighted to be working so closely again with Ascot in distributing their racing to the many important Tote wagering operators around the world.

“It is a responsibility we take very seriously as Ascot is a premium brand which resonates globally. We are also pleased to have been awarded the streaming contract to deliver racing from Ascot to our UK and Ireland bookmaker partners via our Sport Mediastream platform.”

Chief Commercial Officer at Ascot Racecourse Juliet Slot stated: “We have placed these two specialised international betting picture rights contracts with proven experts in their respective fields as part of our strategy to partner with entities that best suit each contract’s individual need.

“It is fantastic to extend our relationship for delivery to international fixed odds markets with SIS, who we are already working with in the UK market as part of the retail betting distribution, in partnership with RMG and, for Tote markets, to start working again with ATR’s international team.

“Separately, we also look forward to working with ATR, using their Sport Mediastream platform, for the streaming of our racing content to UK and Ireland bookmakers from March.”

Slot’s optimism for the new deal was reaffirmed by Ascot Racecourse Chief Executive Guy Henderson who concluded: “Collaboration is key to the UK and International development of Ascot’s business. I would like to thank our two new partners for their support in working together to create a package which best serves our needs.”

The new three-year deals will run from the 1 March 2019, lasting until 31 December 2021. They will cover the all major race meetings from the course, including Royal Ascot, with exception to British Champions Day.