- published: 23 Jun 2016
- views: 249
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 30 (out of the 60) UK racecourses.
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.
The channel was partly revamped in June 2006.
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.
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 - the remaining 10 courses were contracted to The Racing Channel, which subsequently folded as a result of lost revenue in 2003.