NBC Sports Group has continued its round of horse racing rights renewals, this time agreeing a six-year deal to show the Royal Ascot meeting in the US.
The deal will run from 2019 to 2025 and expands on NBC’s original two-year deal which covered 2017 and 2018.
NBC will show most of the annual meeting on pay-television broadcaster NBC Sports Network, but will also show four hours of live coverage on commercial broadcaster NBC each Saturday, including the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes.
The deal is understood to have been completed in early October, around the same time as NBC’s deal for rights to the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series. It also holds rights to the Breeders’ Cup itself, as well as the three Triple Crown races – the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont Stakes and the Preakness Stakes.