In-flight and in-ship channel Sport 24 has acquired rights to six leading horse-racing events through an agreement with Racecourse Media Group and media consultancy Henry Birtles Associates.
Sport 24 and Sport 24 Extra, which are owned and operated by the IMG agency, will broadcast live action and highlights from the Dubai World Cup, Grand National, Epsom Derby and British Champions Day, the rights to which are distributed by RMG, the holding company responsible for a range of media properties involving a host of leading racecourses.
The two channels will also show coverage of the HBA-managed Breeders Cup and Melbourne Cup events.
Saturday’s Dubai World Cup is the first of the six races to be shown on Sport 24 this year. The $10m (€9.4m) contest is run at the Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, UAE, and features the world’s best racehorse Arrogate.
In other news, Andy Anson has been appointed as an independent non-executive director of RMG. Anson was recently appointed global president for Teneo Sports, a consulting business based out of New York, where he is leading the development of an international sports advisory and marketing business.
For the past five and a half years he has been president of sports e-commerce and retail business Fanatics International and is also a non-executive director of the British Olympic Association.
He has previously held the roles of commercial director for English Premier League football club Manchester United, where he was on the main board, chief executive of the ATP World Tour men’s tennis organisation in Europe, and chairman of the ATP World Tour Finals.
RMG chairman Simon Ellen said: “I am delighted that Andy Anson has agreed to join the RMG Board as the third independent non-executive director, an appointment which allows us to further improve the governance of RMG.
“Andy has enjoyed a distinguished executive career as well as being an experienced NED on the boards of PLCs and sporting bodies. He brings a deep knowledge of the management of media and data rights to the RMG board and I am delighted that we have been able to make this important appointment.”