Royal Ascot, which will feature 36 races for the first time as the coronavirus results in a spectatorless meeting, will reach over 120 countries via television broadcasts, Ascot Racecourse announced on Monday. ITV1 in the UK will display the iconic, five-day meeting, while the royal meeting will also be available in America, Australia, the Middle East, India, the Caribbean and Europe.
ITV will cover 30 races on their main channel. Sky Sports Racing, reaching 14 million homes in the UK and Ireland, will broadcast all 36 races, and the Royal Ascot feed will be streamed to more than 20 online bookmakers in the UK and Ireland. RAI will broadcast Royal Ascot in Italy, while other European broadcasters include Match TV (Russia), Movistar (Spain), Polsat (Poland), S Sport (Turkey), Silknet (Georgia), and Sport Klub (Balkans).
In America, NBC will broadcast Saturday's races, with Tuesday-Friday's races being show on NBC Sports Network. NBC's total coverage will reach almost 80 million homes Stateside. Also, ESPN will showcast the five-day stand across Latin America and Caribbean fans will have access via SportsMax.
Racing.com will broadcast the entire card in Australia, while in Asia, Shanghai TV, Beijing TV (China) and Eleven Sports (Taiwan) will also show the meeting.
The Middle East and North Africa will be served by the Dubai Racing Channel and Yas TV (Abu Dhabi TV), reaching approximately 42 million homes in 17 countries. Israel's Charlton will show Royal Ascot. Supersport will serve 48 other countries in Africa. About 45 million Indian viewers will be able to see the races through Discovery's Eurosport India channel.
In addition, Royal Ascot coverage will reach over 124 territories through a new distribution partnership with international horseracing media rights agency, HBA Media.
Juliet Slot, Commercial Director at Ascot Racecourse, said ,”We are delighted that the strength of Royal Ascot is once again demonstrated by the breadth of international broadcasters taking our pictures despite the meeting being held behind closed doors. It will be a unique event, as it always is but one that can be enjoyed by an ever-increasing global audience. We would like to thank all of our global and UK broadcast partners for helping us bring our event to millions of homes around the world.”
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