Broadcast area | United Kingdom Ireland |
---|---|
Programming | |
Picture format | 1080i HDTV |
Ownership | |
Owner | Sky Group/Arena Racing Company |
History | |
Launched | 1 May 2002 11 June 2004 (relaunch) | (original)
Closed | 29 March 2004 | (original)
Former names | At The Races (2002–2019) |
Links | |
Website | www.skysports.com/racing |
Availability | |
Streaming media | |
At The Races Player | Watch live |
Sky Sports Racing (formerly At The Races) is a British pay television channel devoted primarily to horse racing. A joint venture between Sky Group and Arena Racing Company, it broadcasts coverage of domestic, European and international horse racing events. The channel also broadcasts some greyhound racing.
In January 2019, after previously operating autonomously from its sisters, the channel was re-launched as part of the Sky Sports family of channels.
It was originally launched on 1 May 2002 as Attheraces,[1] a partnership between the aforementioned entities plus Channel Four Television Corporation. It stopped broadcasting on 29 March 2004[2][3] due to financial problems but, after restructuring, was relaunched on 11 June 2004[4] without Channel Four.[citation needed]
On 30 April 2018, it was announced that At The Races would be relaunched as part of the larger Sky Sports portfolio as Sky Sports Racing by the end of the year. With the relaunch, the channel will have wider distribution within Sky Sports' packages, and availability on mobiles through Sky Go.[5] The rebranding occurred 1 January 2019.[6][7] In April 2018 it was announced Chester Race Company had signed a 10-year deal to bring Live Racing from Bangor-On-Dee and Chester to Sky Sports Racing from March 2019 In July 2018, it was also announced that beginning also in March 2019, it would also hold rights to Ascot.[8] The "At The Races" brand name however, remains in use as a website and on the channel's Twitter page, complete with a new logo.
The channel starts broadcasting at 9 am every day. In the mornings on the hour, Racing News is shown, followed by reviews of previous days racing. This format is repeated several times and updated with interviews. Presenters change over in the early afternoon and the lead presenter is joined by a guest to discuss the afternoon's racing. Until 1 January 2019, it was produced at the SIS broadcast facility in Milton Keynes. It is now produced from the newly automated Studio G at Sky Campus in Isleworth.[9]
The partner racecourses are: