Satellite Information Services, a provider of end-to-end products and services to the betting and broadcast industries, has agreed a new long-term deal with Racecourse Media Group, which manages the media rights for 34 UK racecourses.
Under the deal, which will run from 2018 to 2023, SIS will be responsible for the distribution of audiovisual images and data to bookmakers in the UK and Ireland.
RMG will remain responsible for collecting pictures and data from its fixtures, but SIS will make the pictures and data available to bookmakers for inclusion in their in-house channels, most of which are produced by SIS. In addition, the pictures and data will be included in a SIS-produced channel for bookmakers that currently rely on the SIS Facts channel.
SIS said in May that it was still hopeful of continuing to work with RMG after the latter agreed a joint venture production unit with UK racecourse owner and operator Arena Racing Company to start in 2016. The venture will provide television content and data for organisations that wish to broadcast coverage of British racing, with SIS’s current production contract with ARC set to expire at the end of 2016.
SIS said the new arrangement with RMG would reduce inefficiencies and herald “a far more efficient relationship between RMG and retail bookmakers, with a significant uplift in payments to racecourses and a saving for bookmakers over current arrangements.”
“This more efficient rights structure will deliver a significant uplift in payments to racecourses, while bookmakers will be paying reduced costs for guaranteed quality content for the long-term,” RMG chief executive Richard FitzGerald said. “We considered a wide range of options for our rights and this deal offers both the scale of increase and the security we were seeking.”