Horse racing media-rights agency HBA Media has agreed a short-term deal with FloSports to develop horse racing coverage on the US-based streaming service provider’s over-the-top platforms.
HBA Media is working alongside Racecourse Media Group, the holding company responsible for media and data rights distribution to various UK racecourses, to facilitate the distribution of four live horse racing events to the FloSports OTT subscribe platform.
The streaming coverage will begin with this weekend’s Saudi Cup, the new $20m (€18.1m) race to which HBA is distributing the worldwide media rights.
FloSports’ streaming output will then include the Dubai World Cup Carnival on March 7, the Cheltenham Gold Cup on March 13 and Australia’s Golden Slipper on March 21.
Mike Levy, FloSports vice-president of global rights acquisitions, said: “Horse racing has a massive global audience and has been largely overlooked in the live sports streaming industry. We look forward to bringing this sport and these races to a global audience of horse racing fans.”
Frank Sale, managing director of HBA Media, added: “This initiative sees the launch our first ever OTT content partnership in America, albeit only short-term, and reinforces our commitment to leveraging new media platforms to unlock the considerable value that we believe premium horse racing content carries.”
At the start of the year, HBA Media was appointed by Ascot Racecourse to market its global media rights in a five-year deal. HBA Media succeeds the Pitch International agency in distributing the international rights.
The contract win represented a high-profile piece of business with a domestic horse racing property for an agency best known for its distribution of rights to leading international events. HBA Media also sells the rights to the Melbourne Cup, Breeders’ Cup and Pegasus World Cup, and landed its multi-year Saudi Cup deal in October 2019.