SIS "POSITIVE RESPONSE" TO GG-MEDIA BID REQUEST

04 April 2001 - Satellite Information Services (SIS) have responded positively to a request from GG-Media to bid for certain media rights if that company's negotiations with 26 racecourses are successful.

The SIS offer covers between 300 and 416 fixtures a year, at up to 26 racecourses, for a period of five years, from May 1, 2002.

These rights include :

• Exclusive betting shop rights in all existing SIS territories
• Exclusive non-terrestrial television rights in the UK, Ireland and certain other territories.
• Non-exclusive Internet rights
• Non-exclusive exploitation of any other rights
• Right of access to the courses concerned for the purpose of covering the races and collecting information.

The SIS offer contains two principal elements: a one-off payment upon signature, and a daily rate for each fixture.

SIS Chief Executive David Holdgate said that the courses involved would clearly be better off with this deal than under the proposed Go Racing contract. "But we're not trying to sabotage that deal. Go Racing have said that they could go ahead with 70% of turnover, and they will still have that, even if all the smaller courses accept this offer".

Mr Holdgate said SIS "naturally remain interested" in renewing their betting shop broadcast rights for the remaining courses when the current SIS contract comes up for renewal next year. "But we have been waiting 14 months for the RCA to respond to our approaches; we have a business to run and we must continue planning for the future".

Mr Holdgate added that this deal, supported by the growing range of other SIS products, including international racing events, together with the availability of terrestrial (free-to-air) broadcasting, should enable bookmakers to operate on "almost normal" levels of turnover.

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