Betfred to launch its own TV channel

The British online and land gambling group Betfred, which last year acquired The Tote in a 265 million pound sterling deal with the British government, has announced that it is to launch its own TV channel, created by SIS and operational in time for the top horse racing event, the Cheltenham Festival.

The deal was signed in mid-December last year, and called for SIS to distribute all three of Betfred’s shop TV channels from its MediaCityUK studios in Salford, providing full production, voice-over booths, gallery with editing suite, and a two-tier studio presentation.

The production will see existing channels re-branded and repackaged and the addition of exclusive content previewing major events.

The initial channel will be aired in Betfred’s 1365 shops nationwide, and will include interviews with trainers Nicky Henderson, Paul Nicholls and David Pipe in the run up to the Cheltenham Festival.

Betfred boss Fred Done said: “Who would have thought that less than a mile from my first-ever shop in 1967 I now have my own TV channel in MediaCity! It’s exciting times and the most important part of the channel will be to entertain and inform punters. At the end of the day we are in the entertainment industry and this is a great platform.

“It’s all about how we package the channel and I’m delighted we are launching just before the biggest week of the year.”