At the Races
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| At The Races | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Launched | 2002 |
| Owned by | BSkyB, Arena Leisure PLC et al. |
| Audience share | 0.1% (April 2008, [1]) |
| Website | www.attheraces.com |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| Sky Digital | Channel 415 |
| Cable | |
| Virgin Media | Channel 534 |
| UPC Ireland | Channel 418 |
At The Races is a British television channel, originally co-founded with Channel 4, but now owned by a partnership between British Sky Broadcasting, Arena Leisure PLC and 29 (out of the 59) UK racecourses. Racing from the new Great Leighs Racecourse will also be shown on the channel when it opens.
The station is focused on horse racing from the UK, Ireland, North America, France and (overnight) Australia, showing many live races and related shows. The station is a commercial station, running advert breaks, and is "affiliated" with various betting companies, since the channel's live picture feed is used by betting shops and gamblers are generally its main audience. Some evenings (around 11pm), At The Races will broadcast a simulcast of the Sky Poker channel.
The channel was partly revamped, as of June 2006, and now has a weekday lineup of:
- 11:00am - Racing News
- 11:30am - Get On!
- 12:15pm - Racing Today
- 1:00 till late - Racing Live
Aside from having reporters on course, the channel runs from a main studio, and a production area called 'The Booth'. Different presenters are often frequently found in one area only. Before live racing starts, guests are often interviewed, viewer e-mails read, and banter exchanged from the studios.
Contents |
[edit] Channel launch
At the Races was originally a venture between BSkyB, Channel 4 and Arena Leisure who owned six racecourses at the time. In 2001, they agreed to pay £307 million for a 10 year deal to broadcast coverage from 49 of the 59 UK courses [1]- the remaining 10 courses were contracted to The Racing Channel, which subsequently folded as a result of lost revenue in 2003.
By 2004, the deal was looking severely overpriced and At The Races served a 60-day termination notice on the Racecourse Association (RCA). Channel 4 exited the joint-venture and the courses were left to re-negotiate television deals. This led to a joint-venture from the courses themselves, 31 of which subsequently contract their coverage to Racing UK (which in turn sub-contracts terrestrial rights to Channel 4 and the BBC), which launched later in 2004.
At the Races virtually vanished from screens on March 29, 2004[2][3], but continued to broadcast a few meetings from the United States in the evenings and following the re-negotiation of contracts, the existing At the Races channel re-launched on June 11, 2004. [4]
[edit] Presenters
- Robert 'Bob' Cooper - Studio presenter
- Sean 'Boycie' Boyce - Studio/Booth presenter
- Matt Chapman - Studio/Booth presenter
- Darrell Williams - Studio/Booth presenter
- Tony 'Enzo' Ennis - Studio/Booth presenter
- Luke Harvey - Jump racing reporter
- Richard Pitman - Jump racing reporter (and former BBC pundit)
- Simon Mapletoft - Flat racing reporter
- Mike Cattermole - Flat racing reporter (also a presenter/commentator for Channel 4 Racing)
- Matt 'The Pharaoh' Doyle - Flat racing reporter
- Zoey Bird - Flat racing reporter
- Alex Quinn - Jump/Flat racing reporter
- David 'Compo' Compton - Jump/Flat racing reporter
- Derek 'Tommo' Thompson - Jump/Flat racing reporter (also a presenter/commentator for Channel 4 Racing)
- Gordon Brown - Scotland & Northern racing correspondent
- Gareth O'Brien - Ireland correspondent
- David Duggan - Irish racing reporter
- John McCririck - Betting pundit (usually appears alongside reporter at the racecourse; also pundit for Channel 4 Racing)
- Jim McGrath - Reporter (also a BBC commentator)
[edit] Courses
The partner racecourses are:
[edit] Get Minted Poker Live
Get Minted Poker Live is a television programme presented by Greg Winters on the At The Races channel from 11:30 pm to 2:30 am every night.
Winters provides acerbic commentary on the play, in which all hole cards are visible to the viewers. He also discusses viewers' emails and text messages on poker issues.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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