Towcester have cleared the way for a deal to be signed off to televise the quarter finals, semi finals and final of the 2018 Star Sports English Greyhound Derby.
The Northamptonshire venue have been attempting to reduce a six figure shortfall in the cost of staging the event, by asking the off-course bookies to pay to take the first three rounds into the betting shops.
Towcester would then ‘donate’ the quarter finals, semi finals and final meetings to SKY, for free, with the greyhound/betting industries (via RPGTV) sharing the production costs of the programmes.
With LadbrokesCoral agreeing this week to pay for the pictures to be broadcast into their shops, a chunk of the funding deficit has been plugged. However, as things stand, some other majors, most notably Paddy Power and Betfred will not be taking the Derby coverage in their shops.
Towcester MD Kevin Ackerman said: “As far as we are concerned, we are not holding up a TV deal for the Derby. There have been tough negotiations and I must thank our media partners ARC for their roles as conduits in making this happen.”
It now remains to be seen whether SKY and the industry brokers RPGTV can deliver a schedule in time for May 22, May 26 and June 2.
