Channel 4 Racing
| Channel 4 Racing | |
|---|---|
| Presented by | Nick Luck |
| Voices of | Simon Holt |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Highflyer (1984 - 2012) IMG Sports Media (2013 - 2016) |
| Release | |
| Original network |
Channel 4 More4 |
| Picture format |
576i (SDTV 16:9, 4:3), 1080i (HDTV) |
| Original release | March 22, 1984 – December 27, 2016 |
Channel 4 Racing was the name given to the horse racing coverage on the British television stations Channel 4 and More4.
The first transmission of racing on the channel was on 22 March 1984 from Doncaster, as it took over midweek coverage which had previously been on ITV. On 5 October 1985, it took over ITV's Saturday afternoon coverage (previously The ITV Seven) when World of Sport finished. From the beginning of 1986, however, the amount of racing covered, especially on Saturday afternoons, was substantially reduced, and not until the late 1990s would it reach the scale it had enjoyed when it was on ITV.
On 1 January 2016 it was announced that Channel 4 had lost their horse racing rights after 32 years to ITV who would have exclusive free to air rights to British horse racing from 1 January 2017. The reason for the change was said to be that ratings had dipped for most of the big meetings that used to be broadcast on the BBC up to 2012 since the move to Channel 4. Under the new deal ITV will show a minimum of 40 days of horse racing live on ITV with a further 60 days a year live on ITV4 with ITV Sport also producing their own coverage rather than Independent Producers.
Initially, it was announced that Channel 4 would broadcast their final day of horse racing on 31 December 2016, with the rights moving to ITV on the following day. It was announced at the start of December 2016 however that the last day of racing would not be on 31 December. Owing to logistical problems, the last day of Channel 4 Racing was on 27 December 2016, when Channel 4 screened action from Kempton’s Christmas meeting as well as the Welsh Grand National from Chepstow. As New Year's Eve fell on a Saturday that year, this meant it was the first Saturday in recent memory that horse racing was not shown on terrestrial television. Instead, pay channel Racing UK made its coverage available free to air for the day.
Major UK events covered by Channel 4 included the 1,000 Guineas and 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket, the Derby and Oaks from Epsom and the St Leger at Doncaster, Royal Ascot and the Cheltenham Festival. These events have moved between the BBC and ITV over the years.
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