TVG buys HRTV
 

Can't say I saw this coming

http://www.rttnews.com/2457978/betfa...ick-facts.aspx

best way to get rid of competition. too bad, that means job losses.

More details in TDN piece that make it more merger than 'takeover'..

TVG & HRTV to Merge

TVG will take over the operations of HRTV, which will be operated from TVG’s studio in Los Angeles, Betfair’s TVG and The Stronach Group announced Wednesday. The merger is part of a joint effort between Betfair’s TVG subsidiary and The Stronach Group to improve the quality and quantity of televised horseracing by capitalizing on The Stronach Group’s investment in an enhanced racing experience and TVG’s state-of-the-art high definition television capabilities.

The newly unified operation will feature races from Santa Anita, Gulfstream Park, Pimlico, Laurel Park and Golden Gate Fields over a seven-year period, as well as additional domestic and international racetracks. The agreement will result in the broadcast of more than 5,000 additional races from across the U.S. to be broadcast on the two networks.

"This is a very exciting step for TVG and HRTV as it enhances our ability to deliver premier horseracing content to our viewers, to show more races and to promote racing in the US," said TVG CEO Kip Levin. "With our recent investment in our new, state of the art, HD studios now complete, we’re pleased to expand our coverage of the Stronach Group tracks as part of a unified TV platform. This agreement is part of TVG’s commitment to deliver the very best in US racing, to generate incremental wagering on our advanced-deposit wagering platform and, to drive additional advertising and distribution opportunities."

"Combining the significant investments we have made in our facilities and racing content with TVG’s significant investments in television technology and distribution is the best way forward for ensuring a world class experience for all of our important customers and our fellow stakeholders in racing," said Alon Ossip, CEO of the Stronach Group.

TVG is currently available in 36.5 million U.S. homes and televises approximately 27,000 races per year. Meanwhile, HRTV is available in 19.5 million U.S. homes and airs 16,000 races per year. There is significant overlap between the two and many races on tape delay due to scheduling conflicts. The merger, which will take place over the next several weeks, will allow the two networks to broadcast 40,000 races per year.

Betfair will make an initial payment of $25 million and estimates that it will pay further consideration totaling $47.8 million over the seven-year period. The total consideration is dependent upon TVG’s future handle. Based on projected future cash flows, the present fair market value of these payments is estimated to be $56.3 million.

Under previous agreements over the past year, TVG paid $4.3 million in television fees to HRTV related to television content, including The Stronach Group racetracks for which HRTV has held exclusive rights. This merger eliminates the need for TVG to pay those fees.

Following the merger, Betfair will own 100% of the equity in the unified television operation. However, the transaction does not include XpressBet, the advanced-deposit wagering company owned by the Stronach Group.

I may be in the minority but think the 'merger' may be a great thing if it results in a more coordinated schedule among the 'big named' tracks with the intent of preventing them from running on top of each other. Less, mindless, blather between races would also be a bonus.

Instead of a fight it could be more of a dance.

lemme know when they start broadcasting the races in HD

Can I be an optimist here, since my cable company carries TVG but not HRTV, that I will get the complete lineup on my existing TVG channel?

Im praying that they get another channel. They could have 1 channel with all the talking heads pushing their tickets for the feature tracks. Then have another channel that just shows the races from everywhere else not named, Aqueduct, Belmont, Saratoga, Gulfstream, Keeneland, Santa Anita & Delmar.

Yeah, sounds like a plan to me.
The constant ticket pushing is really played out.

.

I have DirecTV and I'm thinking the same way.

I'm pretty sure that's up to the host tracks (a few do) and your cable provider to offer you TVG in HD (mine does not).

I have DirectTV also, expanding the tracks on TVG would be great.

Maybe we even get to see Churchill Downs on TVG?

As someone who really prefers the HRTV on air staff, format and extra shows, this merger sucks.

Hoping for the best, but my experience with tvg,is that they are a monopolistc otfit. where i live, no ADW chioice but tvg. and their promotions are anemic at best, wish it would have icluded expressbet to partake of their active promotions for customers. we shall see.

Much more detail from Hegarty..

TVG acquires lone television competitor HRTV
By Matt Hegarty

Television Games Network, the most widely distributed live-racing broadcast channel in the U.S., has acquired its only television broadcast competitor, HRTV, and will gain the exclusive broadcast rights for the racetracks owned by the Stronach Group for seven years, the companies announced Wednesday.

The acquisition is likely to be greeted warmly by TVG’s existing customers, allowing for live television broadcasts of races from Santa Anita in Southern California and Gulfstream Park in Florida for the first time in a decade. TVG, owned by the British-based exchange-wagering company Betfair, is currently available in 35 million households, and it typically broadcasts six to eight live races an hour from racetracks across the country.

Scott Daruty, the president of HRTV, said that both networks will continue to operate, but that the networks will be coordinated out of TVG’s Los Angeles headquarters and will no longer carry the same programming. Daruty likened the arrangement to ESPN and ESPN2.

“I think this is a very good thing for the racing industry,” Daruty said. “We’ll no longer be showing the same thing on both channels, and the best content will be available to everyone.”

However, Daruty acknowledged that TVG does not yet have any agreements with satellite or cable networks guaranteeing the addition of a new channel. HRTV has limited distribution compared with TVG, which is available in sports packages on both DirecTV and Dish Network and many national cable providers. Though Daruty said details have not yet been worked out on which tracks will be broadcast on which network, it’s likely that TVG will carry the most popular signals due to its much wider distribution.

TVG and HRTV both use live broadcasts of races to drive betting to their associated account-wagering platforms. While TVG’s account-wagering operation carries the same name, HRTV promoted the account-wagering operation XpressBet, owned by the Stronach Group. XpressBet, which provides account-wagering services to Daily Racing Form, is not a part of the transaction.

In a letter to its employees obtained by DRF, HRTV officials said they began exploring a “merger” with TVG because of concerns over HRTV’s ability to secure broader television distribution for the Stronach Group’s racing signals.

“Satellite and cable networks have continued to consolidate, making it harder to persuade them to carry and show two separate horse-racing networks,” the letter said. “This consolidation of carriers looks to be an accelerating trend. Therefore, we felt that the best way to assure continued, and even expanded, viewership of our horse race tracks was to enter discussions with TVG to seek to combine our respective networks.”

TVG will pay the Stronach Group $25 million initially for HRTV’s assets, according to a release from Betfair, a publicly traded company. The deal also will require TVG to pay ongoing fees to the Stronach Group for the broadcast rights to its racetracks, which Betfair estimated at $48 million over the next seven years.

Officials for both companies stressed that TVG’s effort to obtain high-definition slots with satellite and cable providers was an important component of the deal to merge. TVG has built an HD studio at its headquarters in Los Angeles and has urged racetrack partners to upgrade to HD equipment, though it has not yet been successful in gaining an HD slot on either major satellite provider or outside of several small local cable markets.

“I have to say that I’m extremely impressed with their state-of-the-art studio,” Keith Brackpool, chairman of the Stronach Group’s West Coast operations, told the California Horse Racing Commission at a meeting Wednesday. “At The Stronach Group, we’ve spent a lot of money for facilities for live racing. It was starting to become a fairly obvious marriage here. The last three months of putting this together have been extraordinarily complicated. We’re excited about it.”

HRTV was started in 2003 as a competitor to TVG, which was then the only horse-racing network on television. At the time, HRTV was owned by Magna Entertainment, a publicly traded company controlled by owner-breeder Frank Stronach that later went bankrupt. The Stronach Group acquired the company as part of an acquisition by Stronach of the assets of Magna Entertainment’s successor, MID, which also went bankrupt.

In 2013, according to Betfair, HRTV had revenue of $9.5 million from rights fees and advertising and a pretax loss of $3 million, with assets valued at $2.5 million. One of HRTV’s largest revenue sources was TVG, which paid HRTV $4.3 million a year for the rights to broadcast signals controlled by HRTV on its account-wagering platform.

“This deal strengthens TVG’s position as a significant player in the U.S. horse-racing industry, bringing together the U.S.’s leading racetracks under a single TV network for the first time,” said Breon Corcoran, Betfair’s chief executive, in the release announcing the transaction. The release said that Betfair believed the deal would be “revenue neutral” for the company based on higher handle on the Stronach Group signals.

Churchill Downs Inc. acquired a 50 percent share in HRTV in 2007 when it began building its account-wagering company, twinspires.com. Churchill sold its half-share back to the Stronach Group last year as part of a deal giving the Stronach Group the rights to operate Calder Race Course’s racing operations for the next six years. Twinspires.com has gone on to become the U.S.’s largest account-wagering company.

Churchill Downs Inc. also owns Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., Arlington Park in Chicago, and Fair Grounds in New Orleans. Officials of Churchill Downs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Santa Anita and Gulfstream have always been two of the most popular signals in the country among bettors, but the two tracks’ importance on the national racing scene had expanded over the last year due to upheavals on each track’s racing circuit. In 2013, Hollywood Park closed, allowing Santa Anita to pick up an additional two months of racing dates each year. In Florida, the deal between the Stronach Group and Churchill Downs Inc. has resulted in Gulfstream expanding its meet from four months a year to 10 months.

In its letter to employees, HRTV said some of its current employees would be offered positions at the combined network or other jobs at the Stronach Group, though others will be let go “where the right role is not available.”

In contrast to TVG, which devoted almost all of its airtime to live racing broadcasts and commentary, HRTV broadcast numerous pre-produced features on racing topics and the sport’s history. The network won three Eclipse Awards for programs produced by the network’s staff and an additional two Eclipse Awards for independently produced broadcasts that aired on the network.

Betfair acquired TVG in 2009 as part of a strategy to gain a foothold in the U.S. in case exchange wagering or other forms of gambling were legalized. The acquisition has allowed Betfair to lobby state legislatures for bills approving exchange wagering, efforts that have been successful in California and New Jersey.

Despite the passage of those bills, Betfair has not been able to launch exchange wagering in California due to a lack of agreement between all racing constituencies in the state, while its effort in New Jersey has been stalled by a delay in approving rules to govern exchange wagering. In addition, many legal experts have questioned whether exchange wagering runs afoul of federal regulations prohibiting bookmaking.

Exchange-wagering platforms allow customers to accept wagers from other customers on sporting events, including horse racing. Because customers can bet on horses to lose, the platforms have raised concerns about race fixing, though Betfair has countered that it voluntarily alerts regulators to suspicious betting patterns.

Scott Daruty, the president of HRTV, said that both networks will continue to operate, but that the networks will be coordinated out of TVG’s Los Angeles headquarters and will no longer carry the same programming. Daruty likened the arrangement to ESPN and ESPN2.

What does that mean with regard to showing races? Most of us only have access to one or the other?

Pretty incredible being that very little gets by you.

I'm going to guess that it means in instances where both networks have the rights to the same signal (ie. NYRA) the are not going to show the same race on both channels in real time. I would imagine TVG will get the larger circuits and HRTV will get the 2nd and 3rd tier circuits.

No way direct tv gives them another channel, they cant even get TVG in HD.

There already is one. It's called RTN network, and it is fabulous. https://www.rtn.tv/

welcome to the board.