Keeneland, Sky Sports Racing reach agreement

Keeneland has reached a deal with Sky Sports Racing in Britain that will give the company exclusive rights to the track’s racing signal and its sales broadcasts in the U.K. for the next three years, Keeneland officials said on Wednesday.

The rights deal includes a broad range of content from Keeneland that includes its live simulcast show for its two race meets each year, the rights to broadcast coverage of the association’s four market-making auctions, and access to broadcasting staff at Keeneland for U.K.-focused pieces for its races and sales, according to Bob Elliston, Keeneland’s vice president of racing and sales.

Sky Sports Racing and its website, attheraces.com, is the leading broadcaster of racing content in the U.K. The company has similar arrangements with U.S. tracks for access to their simulcasts signals, though not as far-reaching as the Keeneland deal. Most U.S. tracks run during prime-time hours or later in the U.K. due to the time differences between the two countries.

Elliston said the agreement did not include a rights fee, but that Keeneland viewed the deal as providing “value-added” benefits due to Sky Sports’s commitment to focus on the track and its sales. Keeneland’s four auctions annually attract a large contingent of buyers from the U.K.

The deal will guarantee that Keeneland is given prominent coverage by Sky Sports through both its television channel and its website, according to Elliston.

“All of those things are valuable to us to promote our racing and our sales,” Elliston said.

Betting in the U.K. is dominated by bookmakers, although wagering is also available through several tote operators and betting exchanges. Keeneland currently has an agreement with Betfair, a leading betting exchange company in U.K., that awards the association with a small cut of handle on its signal, but the agreement with Sky Sports does not include a betting component, Elliston said.