TVG, the main horse racing TV network in the U.S., announced that HRTV, which it acquired in February, is being rebranded as TVG2, effective today. HRTV.com also will be renamed TVG2.com today. The move will allow TVG to better leverage its TV production infrastructure to provide improved horse racing coverage to consumers and distributors alike, TVG said. “We’ve made good progress in integrating the two television productions, and integrating the brands was the logical next step in the process to optimize television coverage for horse racing,” said TVG CEO Kip Levin. “Importantly, having TVG and TVG2 allows us to better utilize TVG’s state-of-the-art television facilities to deliver a premium product for both networks. We look forward to continuing to work with our important track and distribution partners to deliver more races and higher quality broadcasts to racing fans like never before.” Since the merger of TVG and HRTV, there have been improvements in horse racing coverage including more races being broadcast over more hours, TVG said. The merged network is on pace to televise more than 40,000 live races in the first year of operation, compared with less than 30,000 prior to the transaction. TVG is broadcasting an additional 396 hours of live racing on the former HRTV.
