SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
This year’s Royal Ascot will feature the biggest international media exposure for the prestigious UK racing festival, hosted from Tuesday 15th to Saturday 19th June.
Preparing the festival for its public return, welcoming +12,000 spectators to its racecourse each day, Ascot Racecourse has selected HBA Media to serve as its lead international media rights distributor.
Expanding Royal Ascot’s global coverage, HBA has secured a number of new broadcasters that will showcase the festival’s fixtures for the first time across Turkey (beIN Sports), Cyprus (CYTA), Portugal (SportTV) alongside the regional media groups of Nordic Entertainment and Setanta Baltics.
HBA will distribute the international media rights of Royal Ascot through its World Feed platform, ensuring that the Festival’s 2021 fixtures maintain coverage across all continents for racing fans.
“The eyes of the horse racing world are upon Royal Ascot and we are delighted to have secured strong global distribution, continuing on from last year, with an impressive number of new broadcasters and platforms taking the World Feed,” said Frank Sale, Managing Director of HBA Media.
Across Europe, Royal Ascot’s coverage will be carried by Virgin Media for Ireland, Movistar Spain, RAI Italia, Polsat Poland, MatchTV Russia and Sport Klub for Balkan nations.
Further afield for Asian and Oceania markets, coverage will be maintained by Astro Malaysia and SparkTV New Zealand, offering a live and on-demand service of the Festival.
Australia’s Racing.com has renewed its day-to-day coverage of Royal Ascot, joined by ESPN a lead broadcaster for Latin America and Caribbean markets.
Meanwhile, Royal Ascot’s African coverage will be led by pan-national sports broadcaster Super Sports across 50 nations.
Supporting HBA’s media distribution, Felicity Barnard, Commercial Director of Ascot Racecourse, said: “As the global interest in Royal Ascot continues to grow, we are delighted to agree this level of exposure around the world for those wanting to watch and engage with the meeting.
“The new broadcasters and platforms joining the HBA Media roster this year will also give valuable exposure into new territories for our partners and suppliers.”
