About Racing.com

Racing.com

Racing.com (stylised RACING.COM) is Australia's free-to-air horse racing channel: the Seven Network and Racing Victoria-owned service broadcasting live thoroughbred racing, news, statistics and replays. Launched on 29 August 2015, it was born of a blackout — when Sky Racing pulled Victorian racing from its screens in June 2015, Seven and Racing Victoria built their own channel. Broadcasting free-to-air in standard definition (Channel 78 in metropolitan areas, 68 in regional areas) and on Foxtel channel 522, it carries live Victorian, South Australian, Western Australian and Hong Kong racing, with the slogan "Where Racing Lives". The first broadcast — Group 1 Memsie Stakes Day from Caulfield — was hosted by Bruce McAvaney. It is the only free-to-air channel on Australian television dedicated to a single sport — and the channel that proved a blackout could be a beginning. From dispute to destination in ten weeks — and a decade on air since. Where racing lives, indeed.

Overview

Racing.com is an Australian free-to-air standard-definition digital television channel, owned and operated by the Seven Network and Racing Victoria. The channel broadcasts live Victorian, South Australian, Western Australian and Hong Kong horse racing, news, racing statistics and information, race replays, event calendars and other related media. The service officially launched on 29 August 2015, after a blackout of Victorian horse races by Sky Racing, and is available to viewers in metropolitan areas, as well as regional areas via Southern Cross Television, and nationally via Foxtel. It replaced TVN on Foxtel, and Fresh Ideas TV and Aspire TV on Seven's owned and affiliated stations. The channel's free-to-air coverage reaches 96% of the Australian population — the widest distribution racing has ever had on Australian television, and the reason the blackout backfired. Sky Racing's loss was free-to-air's gain — and the punters' gain most of all. The dispute that made racing free.

History

The channel was born of a dispute. On 16 June 2015, Sky Racing — the Tabcorp-owned pay television racing service — blacked out Victorian horse racing, in a rights stoush with Racing Victoria. Victorian racing, one of the jewels of Australian thoroughbred racing, suddenly had no television home. Seven West Media and Racing Victoria entered talks — and moved fast. An interim feed, sourced from the Racing.com website's live stream, began on 26 June 2015 — ten days after the blackout; Seven affiliate Prime7 began an interim broadcast on channel 68 on 28 July 2015. From blackout to broadcast in six weeks: the speed of the response was the story — and the blackout's legacy was a channel with wider reach than the service it replaced. Sometimes the best thing that can happen to a sport is losing its television deal.

The full channel launched on 29 August 2015. The announcement came on 25 August 2015 from Seven West Media CEO Tim Worner, Channel Seven Melbourne managing director Lewis Martin and Racing Victoria chairman David Moodie: a new free-to-air television channel devoted daily to Victorian thoroughbred racing — the only free-to-air channel on Australian television dedicated to a single sport, extending beyond broadcast across all platforms to deliver racing to all Australians on any connected device. The first day's coverage was the Group 1 Memsie Stakes Day from Caulfield, hosted by Bruce McAvaney — the voice of Australian sport launching the voice of Victorian racing. CrownBet was confirmed as premium wagering partner for 2015 and 2016, with Ladbrokes as associate partner. Southern Cross Television commenced broadcasting on launch day; Foxtel began carrying the channel on 12 September 2015 — free-to-air and pay, from day one. The launch was, in Worner's words, an important new partnership — Seven committing the company to building an increasing presence for horse racing in Victoria, and Racing Victoria gaining the platform it had always wanted.

The channel grew quickly. It announced coverage of the final three meetings of the 2016 Dubai World Cup Carnival — Victorian racing's channel going global. In June 2016 came Hong Kong: Racing.com would broadcast the final eleven race meetings of the 2015/16 Hong Kong season, then all 83 meetings of the 2016/17 season — including the world-famous Longines Hong Kong International Races in December — under a multi-year agreement, with a preview program an hour before night meetings (featuring Shane Anderson, Clint Hutchison, Brent Zerafa and Matthew Campbell) and the HKJC-produced Racing To Win on the digital platform. Racing Victoria chairman David Moodie called the free-to-air channel a significant success story: Victorian racing accessible to more people in more places than ever before — the blackout's unintended consequence, a bigger audience than the channel it replaced. What began as an emergency response became an institution — and the model for how a sport can take control of its own television destiny.

Programming and Content

Racing.com broadcasts live horse racing: Victorian thoroughbred racing daily, plus South Australian, Western Australian and Hong Kong meetings. Around the live racing sits the full apparatus of racing coverage: news, racing statistics and information, race replays, event calendars and related media. The channel is the punter's companion and the industry's shopfront — the form, the odds, the results, the replays. From the Group 1 glamour of the spring carnival to the midweek country meetings, Racing.com is where Victorian racing lives — "Where Racing Lives", as the slogan puts it. It is the only free-to-air channel on Australian television devoted to a single sport: racing, all day, every day — the sport that stops the nation, on the channel that never stops. The barrier's up, they're racing — somewhere, every day.

Coverage and Audience

Racing.com broadcasts free-to-air nationally: Channel 78 in metropolitan areas (Seven owned stations), Channel 68 in regional areas, and on Foxtel channel 522. Streaming is via the Racing.com Live Vision platform and Seven's 7plus. The free-to-air coverage reaches 96% of the Australian population — the widest reach of any racing channel in the country. Its audience is the racing public: punters, owners, breeders, trainers and the spring carnival crowd — anyone who follows the horses. From the mounting yard to the living room: the channel brings the track to the people — free, everywhere, every day. No subscription, no blackout: just racing.

Ownership

Racing.com is owned and operated by the Seven Network (Seven West Media) and Racing Victoria, in a joint venture partnership announced in August 2015. Seven West Media CEO Tim Worner described it as an important new partnership: Seven committing to building an increasing presence for horse racing across all forms of content delivery — the home of horse racing on broadcast television. Racing Victoria chairman David Moodie called it the start of a new era for Victorian thoroughbred racing — a foundation for growth in engagement, participation, ownership, wagering and attendance. A broadcaster and a racing body, building a channel together: the partnership that turned a blackout into a beginning — and a dispute into a destination for the racing public. The model has endured: a decade later, the partnership still runs the channel.

Digital Presence

Racing.com streams live via the Racing.com website's Live Vision platform and Seven's 7plus, extending beyond broadcast television to all connected devices. Racing.com: where racing lives — free-to-air on 78/68, on Foxtel 522, since 29 August 2015. Born of a blackout, built for the punters — the channel that turned a dispute into a destination, and a ten-week emergency into a decade of racing television. Where racing lives, indeed.