RMG member racecourses gain uplift in media rights payments

Racecourse Media Group, the holding company responsible for a range of media and data rights involving 34 of the UK’s premier racecourses, has said it distributed media rights payments totalling £80.2m (€102.8m/$116.9m) to its members in 2015.

RMG paid £29.2m to the racecourses, with Turf TV, the brand name of Amalgamated Racing (AMRAC) and provider of television pictures and data to betting shops in the UK and Ireland, paying £51m. The total figure is an eight per cent increase on the amount generated during 2014. The payments are made via licence fees.

The racecourses also generated income from multi-platform subscription channel Racing UK, digital streams, international television betting and pictures service GBI Racing, non-betting sales to overseas television companies, UK commercial broadcaster Channel 4 and the Racecourse Data Company.

The total number of video streams of races during 2015 also reached 66.3m, up from 51.8m in 2014.

Simon Ellen, RMG chairman, said: “Streaming has again played a significant role in this performance, as has the addition of long-term broadcast contracts into overseas geographies.”

Richard FitzGerald, RMG chief executive, added: “The combined 2016 budgets for RMG and AMRAC will improve on the £80m in total licence fees delivered in 2015 and we can realistically project more than £100m in licence fees for 2019 and beyond.”