The network, which took over as the sport’s terrestrial broadcaster in 2017, will show more than 117 days of live racing under a new four year deal
Horse racing’s crown jewel meetings will continue to be shown on terrestrial television after a new four year deal was agreed with ITV. ITV replaced Channel 4 as the sport’s broadcast partner in 2017 with Ed Chamberlin as its main presenter and face of its Grand National, Cheltenham Festival and Royal Ascot coverage.
On Tuesday ITV announced it had agreed a new four-year deal to show exclusive, free-to-air coverage of UK horse racing from 2027 until the end of 2030, which will comprise 117 days of live coverage across ITV1, ITV4, STV and STV Player – all simulcast on ITVX – along with morning racing programme The Opening Show.
As well as the Grand National, Cheltenham Festival and Royal Ascot, the network will also screen the Derby and the other four British Classics.
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ITV’s racing coverage in 2025 has generated over 15 million streams on the ITVX platform, the Grand National drew its biggest peak audience of 5.2 million while 5m viewers watched Royal Ascot over its five days, a 20 per cent increase on 2024. Audiences for the Cheltenham Festival and Derby were also up.
Niall Sloane, ITV Director of Sport said: “This is a vital deal for ITV Sport and UK horse racing, ensuring the very best fixtures across the UK are available free-to-air on ITV until 2030.”
Nick Mills, Racecourse Media Group CEO, said: “On behalf of our racecourses, we are thrilled to extend our partnership with ITV for a further four years. British horseracing will again receive extensive mainstream terrestrial television coverage across 117 days – an exceptional level of visibility that allows millions of racing fans to watch the best the sport has to offer. I’d like to thank ITV for their award-winning coverage and wholehearted commitment to this wonderful sport.”
BHA acting CEO Brant Dunshea said: “This is excellent news for British racing. ITV have shown themselves to be first class broadcast partners, not only in terms of the quality of their coverage but in bringing more and more racing to mainstream terrestrial audiences.
“It is also exciting to consider what the future can hold in terms of working together around innovation in the broadcast experience, with growth in engagement with racing and attracting and retaining our audiences being a core area of focus for the sport’s industry strategy.”