NYRA-New York City television contract expires

Racing fans in the five boroughs of New York could be left in the dark when live racing resumes Wednesday at Belmont Park because a contract that allows the New York Racing Association to broadcast its races on a city-owned cable channel expired on Monday.

NYRA officials said they are involved in negotiations to extend the contract, which permits NYRA to show its races as well as races from out-of-state tracks on the New York City government access channel (1994 and 71 on Time Warner Cable, 27 on FIOS, and 74 on Cablevision in Brooklyn and the Bronx).

NYRA took over the channel in 2011 shortly after New York City OTB declared bankruptcy. Though the contract between NYRA and the city expired midnight Monday, racing from Finger Lakes, Suffolk Downs, Parx, Delaware Park and other tracks were still being broadcast as of mid-afternoon Monday.

Fans on Long Island who get the NYRA Network via Cablevision will continue to get the racing channel. Also, races will continue to be available on NYRARewards.com, NYRA’s Roku channel, HRTV and TVG.

NYRARewards will offer live streaming and wagering on the races from Royal Ascot Tuesday through Saturday.