The UK-based bookmaker William Hill is to replace Dubai as an official sponsor of the British broadcaster ITV’s racing terrestrial television when its coverage moves from Channel 4 to ITV. This is scheduled to happen on January 1st, 2017.
The British broadcasting company has managed to surpass both Sky Sports and Channel 4 in the competition for the four-year racing sports deal and eventually won the battle. The deal is to be active in the period from 2017 to the end of 2020. Currently, the Racecourse Media Group leads the rights holders, which has basically embraced the idea of increasing the audience figures for several showpiece events. The latter include Royal Ascot, Investec Derby and Quipco British Champions Day and are considered as events of greater importance.
The newly-signed sponsorship agreement between the two parties is for a period of four years and has been estimated to £10 million. It is to come into effect on January 1st. Under the terms of the deal, the UK-based bookmaker will be granted with naming rights around the entire coverage that is to be held by ITV over the next four years. The broadcaster would be controlling the free-to-air coverage for racing sports events.
The deal between William Hill and ITV comes after Dubai decided to put an end to its long-term collaboration with the British racing’s terrestrial coverage. It explained that the change to ITV came naturally. This is only a part of the alterations made in terms to this type of coverage. Other changes include coverage sharing agreement between the main channel of ITV and ITV4, as well as some managerial changes in the presenting team, which is to be headed by Ed Chamberlin from now on.
Currently, ITV offers the largest number of commercial channels on the territory of the UK, and its global influence is constantly growing. The broadcaster has been decided to make some changes that would take the quality of its services to a whole new level, and is focused on attracting new users to its customers base. Thanks to the sponsorship agreement with William Hill, the British broadcaster could increase the number of the customers engaged with its sports racing content with the UK-based bookmaker’s users.
- Author
Olivia Cole
