A meeting of members of the Racing and Betting industries was held at BHB yesterday afternoon to consider the substantial financial subsidy requested by Channel 4 for continued coverage of racing.

In view of the extent of the subsidy requested and the precedent such action would set it was unanimously agreed not to meet Channel 4’s request.

Both the Racing and Betting industries have greatly valued Channel 4’s excellent coverage of racing and would regret any decision by Channel 4 to curtail it, especially in the light of the new commercial opportunities opened up by Ofcom this week.