Blank screens force Ladbrokes into deal with rival Turf TV

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2008-01-02 博彩518 https://www.gowanbo.cc

Blank screens force Ladbrokes into deal with rival Turf TV

By Simon Goodley
Last Updated: 12:07am GMT 02/01/2008

Ladbrokes, one of the country's top bookmakers, has finally signed a deal with Turf TV - after its 2,300 betting shops were left without pictures of the first two races from yesterday's Cheltenham meeting.

The new TV channel, owned by a consortium that includes 31 of the UK's racecourses and listed technology company Alphameric, has exclusive rights to many meetings.

But Ladbrokes, Coral, William Hill and Betfred control a rival service called SIS and the quartet have boycotted the new service - despite the fact that, from yesterday, it left them without pictures from some meetings.
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Hours after its screens were left blank, Ladbrokes followed rival Coral, which signed up to Turf TV late last month. The deal is thought to have cost Ladbrokes about £12m a year.

The absence of pictures is predicted to hit takings at William Hill and Betfred, the final two major names yet to sign up. Both are expected to meet Turf TV later this week.

While the agreement marks what looks to be the beginning of the end of this bitter spat, insiders privately hint that in the long term the betting industry will reduce its sponsorship of racing.

Yesterday's big race meeting was at Cheltenham, but William Hill and Betfred punters could not watch the first two and final races. One William Hill customer in the London Victoria Street branch left, asking: "Do they have pictures at Better? I'm going there."

Rival bookie Better, also on Victoria Street, has Turf TV. There, customer Irving Harris said: "I'm a Ladbrokes' shareholder and I wrote to them telling them to stop being so stupid." Read

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