Betfred to show Ascot’s Clarence House card in its shops after breakthrough in media rights stand-off
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Betfred will show action from Ascot in their betting shops and online this weekend following a slight easing of the impasse over media rights involving the bookmaker.
Ascot was one of the courses affected when a media rights deal between Betfred and betting shop channel The Racing Partnership (TRP) expired at the start of the year.
TRP is understood to have raised the flat fee per shop it asks independent bookmakers to pay for its service by at least 30 per cent.
It has failed to reach an agreement with Betfred, which means the bookmaker’s betting shop customers have not been able to watch action from the 21 racecourses which form TRP’s domestic racing service, which include all of Arena Racing Company’s (Arc) portfolio of tracks.
Betfred’s online customers have also received a reduced service, with silks and offers such as best odds guaranteed removed.
Ascot, one of the independent courses under the TRP banner along with Newbury, Chester, Bangor and Plumpton, was keen for the deadlock to end as quickly as possible. Betfred are the official bookmaker at Ascot and operate two betting shops at the course, which races for the first time this year on Saturday.
While none of the parties involved wished to comment, it was confirmed that a breakthrough had been reached to allow live action from Ascot to be shown.
The Racing Post understands that a number of independents had been operating under a one-month extension to avoid a blackout.
The level of media rights costs are a regular cause of complaint for bookmakers, with a previous flare-up leading to Flutter Entertainment’s Sky Bet and Paddy Power brands refusing to offer early prices for a number of meetings at Arc tracks in 2024.
A rise in media rights payments had been expected, but the scale of the increase came as a surprise, especially given the rising costs bookmakers will face from the tax hikes announced in November’s budget by chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves.
Betfred and Arc have previously been involved in stand-offs over media rights, including in 2017 when no pictures were shown in shops before an agreement was reached.
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