Following news of ITV winning the terrestrial television rights to broadcast British Racing from 2017, Simon Bazalgette, Group Chief Executive of The Jockey Club, said:

“The agreement with ITV should provide even greater audience reach for our sport through a combination of ITV1 and ITV4, more days on free-to-air TV and significant promotion and programming for racing as an important sport, as well as a significant increase in rights fee. It’s a tribute to all involved in the sport that we have benefited from such a competitive process driven by the improving perception of racing’s value to broadcasters and commercial partners.

“I should like to thank Channel 4 wholeheartedly for all their years of great coverage of British Racing, which has helped our sport to reach more than 40% of the UK each year through our latest exclusive partnership. Our courses look forward to working with the team throughout 2016.”