Go Racing is a no go

Lydia Hislop13 April 2012

The British Horseracing Board today rejected Go Racing's last-gasp presentation of its revised £307 million media rights deal.

After a meeting that lasted almost five hours last night and then further negotiation with the consortium of Channel 4, BSkyB and Arena until 6am this morning, the issue of licensing data for future technologies proved the sticking point in the proposed contract covering 49 of Britain's 59 racecourses.

The BHB chairman Peter Savill said: "We were able to get to a position to offer licences on terms agreeable to Go Racing for all existing platforms - terrestrial, interactive TV, internet, website and digital channel - upon which the consortium's business plan was entirely based. But we were unable to have a meeting of minds on the whole area of future technology and plat-forms," said Savill.

Christopher Stoddart, the chief executive officer of Go Racing, stated: "Our offer to the industry last November was for all rights, present and future. We cannot take the significant business risk of having important rights excluded."

Savill expressed his hope that the entire industry would unite behind his proposal of forming a strategy group to pool and package its product. He said he would be "disappointed" if any more tracks joined the breakaway ten who have already signed their rights to GG-Media.

Savill prioritised agreement on the Future Funding Plan - in which the pooling, structure, division and money distribution are to be arranged - as the next step for racing. He said that a levy-replacement mechanism must be decided before any media rights should be sold.

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