Savill hits out over £307m TV deal

Racing's £307 million media rights deal was under threat today.

British Horseracing Board chairman Peter Savill withdrew support for the deal and blamed both the negotiators, the Racecourse Association (RCA), and architects, the Go Racing consortium of Channel 4, BSkyB and Arena.

Speaking at the BHB's annual general meeting in central London, he said: "It is probable that we should be dividing our rights into four or five packages and awarding the rights to different bidders rather than bundling them into one package.

"Will other companies be interested? Of course they will. I've already had three calls since late yesterday wanting to discuss the opportunities.

"We have an enormously appealing product and I am confident that we will generate more income than we would have under the Go Racing deal which was on the table. And I'm confident we can do it with the whole industry behind it."