Timeline of horse racing on UK television

This is a timeline of the history of horse racing on television in the United Kingdom.

1950s

• 1951
  • The BBC broadcasts horse racing for the first time when it televises races from Ascot.

• 1952
  • No events.

• 1953
  • The Scottish Grand National is shown on television for the first time. It was also shown the following year, but then wasn't screened again until 1969.

• 1954
  • No events.

• 1955
  • ITV launches, and shows horse racing from its earliest days on air.

• 1956
  • The BBC shows Glorious Goodwood for the first time.

• 1957
  • No events.

• 1958
  • 10 October – The first edition of multi-sport Saturday afternoon television show Grandstand is broadcast and throughout the programme's history, horse racing is a regular feature of the programme.

• 1959
  • March – The Lincoln Handicap is first televised by the BBC. The BBC would continue to cover the race until the closure of Lincoln Racecourse in 1964, after which coverage moved to ITV.

1960s

• 1960
  • 26 March – The Grand National is televised for the first time, by the BBC Television Service.
  • 1 June – ITV and the BBC both show the Epsom Derby because it was a protected event which could not be exclusive to either channel. However, the rest of the Epsom events, including The Oaks, are broadcast exclusively on ITV.

• 1961 to 1967
  • No events.

• 1968
  • ITV covers the late summer meeting at Goodwood, and does so for the next three years. This is the only time that ITV covered racing from this course in the 20th century as all other coverage was shown on the BBC until 2006

• 1969
  • The Scottish Grand National returns to television screens, with coverage on ITV.
  • 14 October – The first ITV Seven takes place, under the title of They’re Off!. The required number of races was obtained by televising races at two courses each week.

1970s

• 1970 to 1974
  • No events.

• 1975
  • 4 June – ITV becomes the only channel to show the Epsom Derby - the race had previously been shown by both ITV and the BBC.

• 1976
  • No events.

• 1977
  • 1 June – The BBC shows the Epsom Derby for the first time in three years. The race, and the rest of the Epsom meeting, is shown on ITV.

• 1978
  • No events.

• 1979
  • 6 June – The BBC shows the Epsom Derby for the final time in the 20th century.

1980s

• 1980
  • January – Meetings from Kempton Park switch from the BBC to ITV.
  • 4 June – ITV once again becomes the exclusive broadcast of the Epsom Derby.

• 1981
  • No events.

• 1982
  • No events.

• 1983
  • Racing coverage is cut back on ITV. The ITV Seven is no longer a guaranteed slot on World of Sport and several regional ITV stations stop showing midweek racing.

• 1984
  • 22 March – Horse racing coverage is broadcast on Channel 4 for the first time, resulting in the launch Channel 4 Racing.

• 1985
  • 5 October – The first weekend horse racing is shown on Channel 4 when ITV transfers coverage of horse racing to Channel 4 after the end of World of Sport.

• 1986
  • Channel 4, who until now had shown meetings that ITV would have been contracted to show, announces their own new contract with Ayr, Doncaster, Epsom, Kempton Park, Newcastle, Newmarket, Sandown and York. This means that coverage was focussed on these course and meant that weekly coverage was a thing of the past. The only winter midweek coverage is the King George VI Chase fixture at Kempton although the next few years see some fixtures added, such as Chester's May meeting. However it won't be until 1992 until weekly Saturday coverage returns.

• 1987
  • No events.

• 1988
  • 1 June – ITV ends its live coverage of horse racing for the next three decades when it simulcasts Channel 4's coverage of the Epsom Derby for the final time. ITV does show delayed coverage of the event until the early 1990s before it ends its coverage of the sport.

• 1989
  • 7 October – Channel 4 launches a morning preview programme Morning Line. The 25-minute programme aired every Saturday and was shown regardless of whether Channel 4 was televising horse racing later that day.

1990s

• 1990
  • No events.

• 1991
  • No events.

• 1992
  • No events.

• 1993
  • No events.

• 1994
  • 15–17 March – The BBC shows The Cheltenham Festival for the final time.

• 1995
  • March – Channel 4 takes over as broadcaster of the Cheltenham Festival as well as other meetings held at Cheltenham.
  • The Racing Channel launches and becomes the UK's first television channel devoted to a single sport.

• 1996
  • No events.

• 1997
  • No events.

• 1998
  • No events.

• 1999
  • No events.

2000s

• 2000
  • 10 June – Channel 4 shows the Epsom Derby for the final time for more than the next decade as the contract for Epsom transfers to the BBC. Channel 4 had shown the event since 1984, and exclusively since 1989. It will return to the channel in 2013 for four more years.

• 2001
  • 9 June – For the first time since 1979, the BBC shows the Epsom Derby.

• 2002
  • Coverage of meetings at Newbury switches from the BBC to Channel 4.
  • 1 May – At The Races launches. Channel Four Television Corporation is one of the partners involved in the venture.

• 2003
  • January – The Racing Channel closes. It had been on air since 1995.

• 2004
  • 29 March – At the Races closes down due to financial problems.
  • 29 May – Racing UK launches.
  • 11 June – At the Races relaunches as a stand-alone venture. without Channel Four.

• 2005
  • No events.

• 2006
  • 8 March – Racing TV launches an international racing channel Racing World with its output focussed on coverage from the United States. Consequently, Racing TV now concentrates on UK horse racing.

• 2007
  • 28 January – The final edition of Grandstand is broadcast. Racing had been a regular feature of the programme, and alternated with other sports during the first half of the show. However, recent years had seen less racing on the programme as the BBC had started to reduce its coverage of the sport in the 2000s.
  • Glorious Goodwood, alongside all other meetings held at Goodwood, transfer to Channel 4 after 50 years of coverage by the BBC.

• 2008
  • No events.

• 2009
  • 24 August – Racing World closes after just over three years on air.

2010s

• 2010
  • As a result of reductions in the amount of horse racing shown on the BBC, the Corporation shows just 13 days of racing in 2010.

• 2011
  • No events.

• 2012
  • 7 October – For the first time for many years, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is not shown on terrestrial television - coverage is broadcast exclusively by At the Races and Racing UK. The BBC had shown the event for many years and Channel 4 had also shown the race between 1986 and 1994 and in 2001. The event returns to Channel 4 the following year.
  • 27 December – BBC Sport shows horse racing for the final time ahead of Channel 4 taking over as broadcaster of all terrestrial horse racing from the start of 2013. The BBC had scaled back its horse racing in recent years, gradually losing more and more events to Channel 4.

• 2013
  • 1 January – Channel 4 takes over as the exclusive terrestrial TV home of all horse racing in the UK. The BBC had scaled back its horse racing in recent years, gradually losing more and more events to Channel 4. Consequently, races such as The Grand National are shown on Channel 4 for the first time.

• 2014
  • No events.

• 2015
  • No events.

• 2016
  • 14 March – Racing UK begins broadcasting in high-definition.
  • 27 December – Channel 4 Racing comes to an end after more than 32 years ahead of the transfer of all terrestrial television coverage of the sport to ITV.

• 2017
  • 1 January – ITV takes over from Channel 4 as the exclusive terrestrial broadcaster of horse racing. The deal will see ITV broadcast nearly 100 days of racing each year - 60 on ITV4 and minimum of 34 fixtures on the main ITV channel. This is the first time since 1988 that the sport had been shown on ITV.

• 2018
  • 17 December – Racing UK rebrands itself as Racing TV, doing so in anticipation of the first live broadcast of racing on the channel from the Republic of Ireland on 1 January 2019.

• 2019
  • 1 January – Sky Sports Racing launches, replacing At the Races.

2020s

• No events so far.