Racing UK launches high definition channel in time for Cheltenham Festival
For the first time all 28 races from the 2016 Cheltenham Festival will be available to watch live in HD in the UK and Ireland. Racing UK viewers will be able to watch all the action from Britain’s top racecourses in high definition, after the channel revealed it is set to launch its HD service on Sky channel 432 on Monday, March 7.
Racing UK, the first dedicated horseracing channel to offer HD in the UK, will broadcast over 600 race meetings per year in native HD, including all the action from the major festivals, starting with Jump racing’s flagship fixture, the Cheltenham Festival, which gets underway on March 15.
Racing UK’s Cheltenham Festival Preview Part One is set to be the first programme to be broadcast in HD on March 7 (the second preview will follow on March 14), with Exeter’s fixture the first live racing to be shown in HD on Racing UK the following day.
Richard FitzGerald, CEO of Racing UK, said, “Racing perhaps more than any other sport lends itself to high definition so we are delighted to offer the service on Sky 432 for our members in the UK and Ireland. It is another significant chapter in the story of Racing UK and we look forward to showcasing the sport in finer detail than ever before.”
Research indicates that more than 80% of Sky viewers who watch Racing UK are ready to receive the channel in HD, and they will automatically migrate to the new service on Sky 432, so the vast majority of viewers will see an immediate benefit.
Existing SD customers who upgrade their equipment will also switch to high-definition automatically. Otherwise, Sky 432 will continue as normal in standard-definition for customers with SD-only equipment.
HD will form a significant benefit of the Racing UK membership, which also includes free racecourse admission initiatives via the Club Days and Winter Season Ticket; the Racing UK Anywhere service which allows members to choose and change how they view on multiple devices; and, most importantly, the action itself, with increased programming of more than 2,000 hours from both the UK and overseas scheduled for 2016.