TVG flagship to broadcast Churchill Downs races through September

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Races from Churchill Downs in Louisville will be shown live on the flagship network of TVG throughout the remainder of the track’s September meet, the two parties confirmed Thursday.

The agreement between the two competitors is an indication that their sometimes acrimonious relationship may be mellowing.

However, officials for the two companies declined to comment on the agreement, aside from noting that Churchill’s races will be shown live on TVG1 for the remaining 11 days of live racing at the iconic track.

“We want to bring the best racing to TVG viewers, and we have a longstanding and valued partnership with Churchill Downs that we hope to enhance moving forward,” said Kip Levin, the chief executive officer of TVG.

Churchill Downs spokesman Darren Rogers said the company has “been in discussions with TVG,” but limited his comments to an acknowledgment that the races would be broadcast through Sept. 30, the last day of the meet.

Following the end of the Churchill meet, racing in Kentucky shifts to Keeneland Racecourse, which typically enjoys a prominent role on TVG’s daily programming. After the three-week Keeneland meet racing will return to Churchill Downs, which will host the Breeders’ Cup this year on Nov. 2-3, the first time Churchill has hosted the event since 2011.

Churchill Downs Inc., the parent company for Churchill and three other tracks, owns and operates Twinspires.com, an account-wagering company that competes with TVG’s own account-wagering company. The two companies also began competing in the broadcast sphere when Churchill acquired a half-interest in TVG’s television competitor, HRTV, in 2007. HRTV was owned by a publicly traded company founded by Frank Stronach that also operated an account-wagering company competing with TVG and twinspires.com.

However, Churchill sold its half-interest in HRTV back to its partner in 2014. One year later, TVG purchased HRTV outright and folded the operation into its own, an acquisition that included HRTV’s contracts for Churchill’s broadcast rights. Those contracts are not believed to expire until at least 2020.

Since the HRTV acquisition, TVG has broadcast some of Churchill’s races on TVG2, a network that has limited availability when compared to the company’s flagship channel. TVG and Churchill have held discussions on moving Churchill’s races to TVG1, according to an official with knowledge of the talks, but those discussions have bogged down over whether Churchill would be allowed to advertise its account-wagering service, twinspires.com, during the broadcasts.

Recently, TVG2 was removed from the premium cable channel lineup for Louisville customers of the city's dominant cable provider, Spectrum. TVG1 remains in the lineup.

--additional reporting by Marty McGee