Advanced Television

New Irish horse-racing distribution deal

March 4, 2016

Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), the Association of Irish Racecourses (AIR) and Satellite Information Services (SIS) have reached agreement on a five year extension (up to the end of 2023) to their current contract for the distribution of live pictures and data of Irish horse racing to Licensed Betting Offices (LBO) across the UK, Ireland and internationally.

Additionally, SIS has secured the sole and exclusive rights from 2017 to stream Irish horseracing to online operators worldwide and to distribute DTH pictures.

The agreement, which is subject to certain conditions, including ratification by the Board of HRI and the membership of the AIR, means that Irish horseracing will remain part of SIS’s core content package for bookmakers, with 355 fixtures available to major bookmakers for inclusion in their in-house channels, most of which are produced by SIS. The pictures and data will also be included in an SIS-produced channel for bookmakers who currently rely on the SIS FACTS channel.

The new deal provides for the introduction of SIS’s innovative new in-running data capture across all Irish racecourses, significantly enhancing the betting experience. Using proprietary algorithms, SIS will deliver real-time betting updates throughout races, providing instant analysis of this data and graphic visualisation outputs.

Gary Smith, Chief Executive of SIS added: “This agreement not only provides continuity but also enhances SIS’s offering to its customers. It ensures that retail bookmakers across the UK and Ireland, and now internationally, will have access to Irish horseracing as part of a comprehensive package of content to support their over-the-counter sports betting businesses for many years to come. We are delighted to now also be able to stream Irish horseracing internationally, which demonstrates our innovative approach to moving racing forward to the benefit of all of its stakeholders.”

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