Ascot announces new media rights deals with ATR and SIS

Ascot has announced new international media rights deals with both At The Races and SIS.

The agreement will lead to rivals ATR and SIS in effect working alongside each other on a split contract, a not dissimilar situation to that which exists for Chelmsford, which has joined Racing TV from ATR, unlike Ascot, which moved from the RTV stable to Sky Sports Racing – the new ATR.

The Ascot deal enables ATR and SIS the rights to show live racing coverage for betting purposes and in licensed betting offices within their territories worldwide.

ATR has been awarded international pari-mutuel betting rights across the world, excluding Britain, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Australia. ATR also has exclusive rights to license certain pari-mutuel betting operations which also sell fixed-odds betting rights.

SIS has been awarded international fixed odds betting rights across the world, excluding Britain, Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore. SIS has also been granted the exclusive right to represent Ascot rights in connection with pari-mutuel betting in Australia.

Both deals run from March 1 to December 31, 2021 and cover Royal Ascot and all other fixtures at the course except British Champions Day.

The deal includes the Royal Ascot meetingCredit: Edward Whitaker

Ascot chief commercial officer Juliet Slot said: "We have placed these two specialised international betting picture rights contracts with proven experts in their respective fields as part of our strategy to partner with entities that best suit each contract's individual need.

"It is fantastic to extend our relationship for delivery to international fixed odds markets with SIS, who we are already working with in the UK market as part of the retail betting distribution, in partnership with RMG and, for Tote markets, to start working again with ATR's international team.

"Separately, we also look forward to working with ATR, using their Sport Mediastream platform, for the streaming of our racing content to UK and Ireland bookmakers from March."

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