Horse racing "hopes to have a new free-to-air broadcasting deal in place by this time next year, with the BBC to be encouraged to bid to bring the sport back to its screens," according to Owen Gibson of the London GUARDIAN. While Jockey Club CEO Simon Bazalgette "praised the impact of Channel 4’s coverage" since it sealed an exclusive £15M ($22M) deal to exclusively show all the major meetings, he said that "the door was open for the BBC to return." Bazalgette said, "Channel 4 have been a good partner, they’ve really promoted racing. Equally, I think racing is probably a more attractive sport than it was four years ago so I think there will be competition for it. ... If the BBC were only coming in for the crown jewels they’d have to convince us that was better for the sport than doing it week in, week out. But that’s possible, they may be able to do that." The current three-year deal "runs to the end of next year, but Bazalgette said he hoped to have a new one in place by next year’s Cheltenham Festival" (GUARDIAN, 3/11).
