UK Bookmakers & Turf TV

Turf TV which provides TV pictures to the Retail bookmakers in the UK has not had its introduction all plain sailing having targeted over half the UK courses and having secured the TV rights to these course but the online bookies have not taken this move sitting down and the latest in the saga is that Ladbrokes, William Hill, Coral and Fred Done have issued a High Court challenge against 30 of the 31 courses behind Turf TV, accusing them of infringing competition law by collectively selling their media rights exclusively to the new racing channel.

If that were not enough they are also claiming that Turf TV is abusing its position by raising charges for pictures from £1,600 to £6,500 per shop, increasing their bill by £50m a year and this is what really hurts these bookmakers who have thousands of shops between them spread throughout the UK.

A spokesman for Turf TV said that the case would be defended ‘vigorously’, adding that it would be issuing a counterclaim. “We are bringing competition to what was previously a monopoly market and the shareholders of what was the previous monopolist – Ladbrokes and William Hill – have a vested interest in preserving the monopoly of SIS,” he said.

Tom Kelly, chief executive of the Association of British Bookmakers, told the UK’s Telegraph newspaper that, with the exception of Ascot – which is not named in the claim – the courses gave rival broadcaster SIS, ‘no opportunity to discuss new contracts’.

The betting firms are seeking an injunction preventing any of the defendants from ‘giving effect to the collective exclusive licensing’, and additional, un-quantified damages.

Source:ATE Online