THE promise of more choice and greater showcasing of major events accompanies today's launch of Tabcorp's second racing TV channel.
Sky Racing 2 will be beamed into homes and retail outlets for the first time today.
And Tabcorp's third channel, Sky Racing World, will start with the Warrnambool carnival on Tuesday, May 4.
While Sky Racing World will cover thoroughbred racing only, Sky Racing 2 will cater for racing's three codes.
"We're all systems go with Sky Racing 2. It will be a soft launch to ensure we get all the retail and scheduling issues sorted," Sky Racing chief operating officer Brendan Parnell said.
"About 35 meetings a week will be added to our schedule. By spring, that will be more than 40 across all three codes.
"It includes two new Australian thoroughbred meetings a week and more international thoroughbreds."
For three days, until all retail outlets are ready, all Sky Racing 2 content will be also be shown on Sky Racing 1.
"We will then transition all international racing to Sky Racing 2 because we can only partly cover it now," Parnell said.
"New Australian meetings will be on Sky Racing 2.
"The third element is extended coverage of Sky Racing 1 meetings, such as feature events, on Sky Racing 2. At the moment we are limited by time, but we can do a whole lot more with Sky Racing 2.
"It's great we can give punters more choice, complete international coverage and really show off the big events better for all three codes."
Sky Racing 2, channel 520 on Foxtel, will be free until June 1.
Sky Racing and Foxtel will make a joint announcement on pricing for Sky Racing 2 and Sky Racing World today. It is expected to be $5 a month.
Sky Racing 2 will be beamed into homes and retail outlets for the first time today.
And Tabcorp's third channel, Sky Racing World, will start with the Warrnambool carnival on Tuesday, May 4.
While Sky Racing World will cover thoroughbred racing only, Sky Racing 2 will cater for racing's three codes.
"We're all systems go with Sky Racing 2. It will be a soft launch to ensure we get all the retail and scheduling issues sorted," Sky Racing chief operating officer Brendan Parnell said.
"About 35 meetings a week will be added to our schedule. By spring, that will be more than 40 across all three codes.
"It includes two new Australian thoroughbred meetings a week and more international thoroughbreds."
For three days, until all retail outlets are ready, all Sky Racing 2 content will be also be shown on Sky Racing 1.
"We will then transition all international racing to Sky Racing 2 because we can only partly cover it now," Parnell said.
"New Australian meetings will be on Sky Racing 2.
"The third element is extended coverage of Sky Racing 1 meetings, such as feature events, on Sky Racing 2. At the moment we are limited by time, but we can do a whole lot more with Sky Racing 2.
"It's great we can give punters more choice, complete international coverage and really show off the big events better for all three codes."
Sky Racing 2, channel 520 on Foxtel, will be free until June 1.
Sky Racing and Foxtel will make a joint announcement on pricing for Sky Racing 2 and Sky Racing World today. It is expected to be $5 a month.