Racing World was a spin-off service from

Racing UK Racing TV (formerly Racing UK) is a Television in the United Kingdom, British television channel with 34 racecourses as shareholders and fixtures from 61 racecourses broadcast live on its output. Racing TV is one of the two major UK horse racin ...

operated as a joint-venture with Magna Entertainment Corp. and Churchill Downs Incorporated, and broadcast horse racing coverage from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

including such courses as

Arlington Park Arlington Park (formerly known as Arlington International Racecourse) is a former horse race track in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Illinois. Once called the ''Arlington Park Jockey Club'', it was located adjacent to the Illinois Rou ...

and

Churchill Downs Churchill Downs is a horse racing complex in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States that hosts the annual Kentucky Derby. It opened in 1875 and was named for Samuel Churchill, whose family was prominent in Kentucky for many years. The first ...

. The channel ceased broadcasting in May 2008, and was taken over by Setanta Sports until closing down fully on 24 August 2009.

History

On 3 March 2006, Racing UK announced the launch of a sister service entitled Racing World. The network would be a joint-venture with US horseracing companies Magna Entertainment Corp. and Churchill Downs Incorporated, and would feature Horseracing coverage from the United States. The channel fully launched on 8 March, and was broadcast on Sky Digital channel 433 from 5:30pm–1:00am, Wednesday-Monday. The channel was available to Racing UK customers at no extra cost, and was operated through Irish broadcaster

Setanta Sports Setanta Sports Media is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland and in Tbilisi, Georgia, broadcasting throughout select Eurasian countries, and the Philippines. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Iris ...

. On August 17, Racing World alongside Racing UK became part of a merged subscription package with Setanta Sports' networks, allowing Setanta customers access to the channel and Racing World and Racing UK/Racing World subscribers access to Setanta's networks on all platforms.

Closure

In May 2008, it was announced that Racing UK had axed the channel due to poor viewing figures and a niche market for US Horse Racing in the United Kingdom. Setanta Sports shortly afterwards took over the slot of the network, functioning it as a barter/filler network under the Racing World name, akin to Arsenal Replay and AH.TV. The channel's broadcast hours were reduced to 12:00am–3:00am (later 11:00pm-2:00am), timesharing with the Commercial/Pub version of Setanta Sports 1. Most of the time, the channel's status varied; ranging from airing a

test card A test card, also known as a test pattern or start-up/closedown test, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast (often at sign-on and sign-off). Used since the ear ...

for Setanta PPV2, simulcasting former sister channel Racing UK, or showcasing football matches and other sports from Setanta's other channels. On 23 June 2009, following financial difficulties and collapse into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

in the United Kingdom, Setanta Sports shuttered all their television networks. Despite the closure, Racing World remained broadcasting as a free-to-air service. On 11 July, Racing World broadcast a selection of

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. The larg ...

content from 9:00pm–5:00am. The channel broadcast all five episodes of the UFC's Top 100 Fights, then the UFC 100 countdown and then showed

UFC 100 ''UFC 100'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on July 11, 2009, in Las Vegas, Nevada. This event was the most bought UFC pay-per-view of all time with a buyrate of 1.6million, until UFC 202 brok ...

live to UK customers. On 24 August 2009, the channel was removed from the Sky EPG.

References

Sports television channels in the United Kingdom {{UK-tv-channel-stub

History

Closure

See also

References