Sky Racing Company Profile

About Sky Racing

Sky Racing is a world leader in multi-venue race broadcasting, telecasting more than 60,000 races each year to millions of viewers in Australia and around the globe.

The pioneer of satellite television in Australia, Sky Racing transmits to more than 5,000 outlets across Australia and in 18 countries around the world, via satellite, cable, mobile TV and the internet.

Sky Racing provides up to 17 hours of live thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing coverage each day. In addition, in-depth form previews and reviews are telecast, as well as racing and sports betting programming.

Sky Racing reaches approximately 2.2 million Australian homes with a potential reach of more than 5 million viewers.

Sky Racing is owned by Tabcorp – Australia’s premier gambling and entertainment group.

The heritage

The Sky Racing story commenced in 1985 when Australia's first domestic satellite was launched. This stimulated enormous interest in the possibilities for satellite narrowcasting and a number of companies were formed to exploit the new technology.

Within two years, through rationalisation, all operations merged into one entity, the then Sky Channel.

Sky Channel launched its home subscription channel on the Foxtel, Optus Vision and Austar platforms in September 1998 and was a primary driver of new pay television subscriptions in its initial years.

In 1998 the newly privatised NSW totalisator Tab Limited acquired Sky Channel for $260 million. In 2004 Tabcorp secured Sky Channel as part of its takeover of Tab Limited.

Radio is also part of the Sky Racing story. In 2001 radio station, Sky Sports Radio (formerly 2KY), a Sydney broadcasting institution since 1925, was added to the Sky Racing stable. Combined with the television station, it cemented Sky Racing’s status as the provider of the world's most comprehensive multimedia racing coverage.

The commitment 

There is no question that the Australian racing industry would not be as successful today without the presence of Sky Racing.

Because of its commitment to Australian racing – thoroughbred, harness and greyhound - Sky Racing is responsible for coordinating the scheduling all races in Australia and New Zealand. There is also an integration of race times from Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa and the UK. While television sport is not a new concept, the scale of Sky Racing’s operation is far greater to any other.

What viewers see on Sky Racing is a momentous daily logistical achievement. On any given day Sky Racing is receiving simultaneous transmission from up to 20 race tracks across Australia and the globe.

The millions of dollars in rights fees Sky Racing pays race clubs each year showcases a further commitment to Australian racing. This is complemented by significant sponsorships with thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing bodies.

The picture

Sky Racing is also available live across multiple platforms, including Optus 3G and Hutchison 3 mobile telephones.

In 2008, Sky Racing Active was launched on the Foxtel platform in Sydney and Melbourne. Sky Racing Active allows subscribers to use the red button function on their Foxtel remote to access real time wagering data, form, fields and results across all codes of racing. NSW and Victorian TAB account customers also can place bets using this service via their remote control.

Not only can you now access Sky Racing anywhere, anytime on the ground, you can also watch Sky in the sky. Sky Racing is live on Virgin Blue domestic flights through Virgin Live2Air. Before you board your flight you can even watch Sky Racing in Virgin Blue’s The Lounge.

The world

Sky Racing's international services deliver substantial profits to Australian racing through international wagering on Australian events. The global coverage reaches about 475 wagering outlets and on-course venues throughout North and South America, and is available to more than 250 million households.  

A peak daily audience of over 250,000 viewers watch Australian racing in New Zealand, while the service is also broadcast and wagered on in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Austria, Germany, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea.

Driving the growth of international marketing of Australian racing is Tabcorp’s ability to host bets from various countries such as New Zealand and South Africa into its SuperTAB pools.

The future

In the future, the picture only will be clearer. Sky Racing always has actively pursued and pioneered new technology to deliver a superior product for punters. The $100 million digital conversion investment of Sky Racing's fibre optic communications links from more than 160 racetracks nationwide in 2006 was the  final step in a five year program to fully digitise and upgrade studio production and transmission infrastructure. 

Technology research and innovation continues to produce opportunities that improve television quality and content features for the benefit of our viewers.

The future. The world. Sky Racing.