by Anton Johan
A long running legal battle has finally been concluded in court, with a
court's decision not to allow an appeal.
Gambling groups, including UK bookies Ladbrokes and William Hill initially
launched a case against the parent company of Turf TV, Amalgamated Racing
(Amrac).
The bookies claimed that Amrac performed as a cartel with the establishment
of Turf TV in order to undermine the channel used by UK bookmakers, Satellite
Information Services (SIS).
The groups alleged that Amrac had not acquired the horse racing media rights
according to the UK competition laws and in line with the European Community
Treaty.
The facts are that Amrac was established as a partnership venture between the
racing tech group, Alphameric and Racecourse Media Services.
The latter is owned by dozens of the largest racecourses in the United
Kingdom, Ascot and Epsom among them.
In August 2008, UK bookies took the case to the High Court, seeking a ruling
that would stop Amrac from broadcasting live races from 31 of the racecourses
around the country.
The bookies lost the case, as they did another subsequent request in the
Court of Appeal in 2009.
At the time of the initial rulings, the Chief Executive of Alphameric, Alan
Morcombe said that the group remained committed to working with its bookmaker
clients. "We hope that Amrac and the major bookmakers can develop closer and
better relations, which we believe will lead to a more profitable future for
everybody concerned," he said.
On Monday of last week, the bookies once again sought to bring an end to
Amrac's operations by making a final request in the Supreme Court, however the
court ruled that there were no grounds for appeal and dismissed the case.
