At The Races signs new distribution deal with ntl Ireland

At The Races and ntl Ireland have entered a new agreement for carriage on ntl´s digital television pack. The agreement is effective from today and ATR is now available to over 95,500 ntl digital subscribers and to new customers who sign up to its digital TV pack.

At The Races broadcasts live action from the UK, Ireland, North America, France, Germany, Dubai and Australia and is available to over 10 million homes in Ireland and the UK. Coverage in 2005 includes action from all 27 Irish racecourses.

Matthew Imi, Chief Executive of At the Races, said: 'We are very pleased to have agreed terms with ntl Ireland and look forward to working with them to market our channel to their growing digital subscriber base. This agreement is entirely consistent with our strategy of making British and Irish horseracing accessible to as wide an audience as possible and we are particularly happy that ntl Ireland digital subscribers will now be able to see live coverage from at least 250 Irish race meetings a year as well as the 54% of meetings we broadcast from the UK fixture list.'

Mark Mohan, Marketing & Sales Director of ntl Ireland, said: 'The inclusion of At The Races as part of our Digital TV service at no extra retail charge signals our commitment to providing value added and top quality programming. We will continue to enhance our product line-up at every opportunity. We are sure that our customers will appreciate the terrific selection of live action from well-known racecourses around Ireland, the UK, North America and elsewhere on ATR.'

At The Races is scheduled to broadcast from over 727 UK race meetings in 2005, including the relocated Royal Ascot meeting at York. As well as providing coverage from its 28 partner racecourses in the UK, ATR will broadcast from each of the 27 Irish racecourses in 2005. These include: Ballinrobe, Bellewstown, Clonmel, Cork, Curragh, Down Royal, Leopardstown, Limerick, Listowel, Naas, Navan, Punchestown, Roscommon, Sligo, Thurles, Tipperary, Tralee, Tramore and Wexford. Live US racing will be shown every night and additional content will be broadcast from select race meetings in France, Dubai and Germany.