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Arena Leisure PLC
21 December 2005
ARENA LEISURE PLC ('ARENA')
At The Races Wins High Court Victory Over BHB in Racing Data Case
Arena Leisure Plc ('Arena') notes today's announcement by At The Races ('ATR')
regarding its successful High Court case against the British Horseracing Board.
The claim related to the supply to ATR of 'pre-race data', information on
runners and riders.
Roger Withers, Chairman, Arena Leisure, commented:
As shareholders in ATR, we are naturally delighted that, having been forced to
take this action against the British Horseracing Board over the supply of
pre-race data, ATR has been totally vindicated in its decision to take this
matter to court and has been awarded costs. We are nevertheless disappointed at
the financial resources that have been lost to the UK horse racing industry in
the form of legal fees. We now look forward to putting this issue behind us and
to all parties working together to build a brighter future for the leading horse
racing industry in the world, driving the popularity of UK horseracing both at
home and abroad.'
The full statement from At The Races is follows.
- ENDS -
For further information, please contact:
Arena Leisure Plc
Mark Elliott, Chief Executive 020 7495 2277
Bell Pottinger Corporate & Financial
David Rydell / Zoe Sanders 020 7861 3232
AT THE RACES
('ATR')
VICTORY IN RACING DATA CASE
ATR WINS LANDMARK JUDGMENT AFTER HIGH COURT FINDS BHB ADOPTED POLICY OF
EXCESSIVE AND DISCRIMINATORY PRICING
At The Races ('ATR'), the UK and Ireland's most watched dedicated racing
channel, is delighted to announce that the Judge, Mr Justice Etherton, has found
in its favour in its claim against the BHB over the issue of pre-race data. This
is the first time a court in the UK has ever found that a business practice is
in abuse of a dominant market position, a landmark in competition law. The Judge
also found that the BHB adopted a policy of excessive and discriminatory
pricing, again in breach of competition law.
ATR was also awarded costs with £700,000 to be paid on an accelerated basis
within the next 21 days.
The Case
The claim related to the supply to ATR of 'pre-race data', information on
runners and riders that is necessary to enable bookmakers to take bets on horse
races. ATR pays the Press Association ('PA') for the supply of a pre-race data
feed for ATR's service to overseas bookmakers, with the BHB having a separate
agreement to supply the data to PA. The BHB demanded that ATR enter into an
additional licence with the BHB to pay for database rights in the data.
After the European Court of Justice ruled in November 2004 that the BHB had no
database rights in the data, ATR asked the BHB to clarify the basis on which it
sought payment. In response, the BHB said that unless ATR agreed to pay licence
fees to the BHB, it would instruct PA to terminate its supply of pre-race data
to ATR.
ATR then brought the current proceedings, claiming that the threat by the BHB to
prevent PA from supplying pre-race data to ATR constituted an abuse of a
dominant position under EU and UK competition laws.
High Court Judgment
In the hearing, ATR argued:
*that the relevant market for the purposes of the proceedings was the
supply of pre-race data - the BHB argued for a much broader market;
*that the BHB was dominant in the market, indeed an effective monopolist -
the BHB asserted that it had no dominant position;
*that the BHB's conduct was an illegal refusal to supply ATR; that
pre-race data is an 'essential facility' controlled by the BHB; that the
licence fees proposed by the BHB were excessive and unfair; and that the BHB
was discriminating against ATR. BHB tried to justify the charges on the
basis that ATR should pay the BHB for investments made by the BHB and others
in British horseracing, irrespective of whether those investments benefited
ATR or overseas bookmakers
On all of these points the court found in ATR's favour.
Matthew Imi, Chief Executive, At The Races said:
'We have been totally vindicated by this resounding judgment. The BHB has been
found to have abused its position and pursued a discriminatory and excessive
pricing policy. Its actions have resulted in an unnecessary and considerable
waste of its resources both financial and in management time. ATR contributes
significant sums to British horseracing through its media rights payments to its
racecourse partners and we have made massive strides in increasing the exposure
of British racing, both at home and internationally. ATR has had a fantastic
year and we now look forward to 2006 with even more optimism.'
ATR was advised by Olswang.
- ENDS -
For further information, please contact:
Robin Tozer / Zoe Sanders / David Rydell
Bell Pottinger Corporate & Financial Tel: 0207 861 3232
NOTES TO EDITORS
* At The Races ('ATR') is the UK and Ireland's most watched dedicated
horseracing channel. It launched on June 11th 2004.
* It is a joint venture between BSkyB, Arena Leisure plc, Ascot
Racecourse, Northern Racing and several other racecourse partners. It has
agreements with 28 UK racecourses and all 27 Irish racecourses.
* Broadcasting 24 hours a day in basic subscription packages, At The Races
is currently available to 10 million multi-channel subscribers across the UK
and Ireland through Sky, NTL, Chorus, Telewest and NTL Ireland.
* Over 1.2 million individuals tune into the channel every month. An
average of 40,000 to 50,000 are watching at any time during live UK and
Irish racing with a record 360,000 different individuals tuning into the
channel on one day.
* Outside the UK and Ireland At The Races distributes its content into
over 20 countries by means of its own international channel - 'At The Races
International'- and through its agreement with SIS. Territories include
Holland, Germany, the Caribbean, Sri Lanka, the UAE, Italy, South Africa and
Australia.
* At The Races broadcasts racing from over 1,000 UK and Irish race
meetings per year and is the only UK channel broadcasting live racing from
the USA on a daily basis. It also broadcasts high quality racing from
France, Italy, Spain, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, Dubai and
Germany.
* In addition to its broadcast activities, At The Races generates up to £2
million per week in turnover from interactive red button betting on the Sky
platform alone. An interactive betting service recently launched on the NTL
cable network and ATR also has an agreement with Telewest to quickly develop
a similar interactive betting application.
* In May 2005, in partnership with William Hill, At The Races was the
first UK broadcaster to launch a live, daily sports service to 3G mobile
users in the UK.
* Attheraces.com, run in partnership with SkySports.com, has quickly
established itself as the No. 2 domestic horseracing website, behind
RacingPost.co.uk, with nearly 300,000 monthly unique users and over 20
million monthly page impressions.
* At The Races also successfully launched its branded casino and poker
sites - attheracescasino.com and attheracespoker.com - with the objective of
occupying the position of 'racing's online casino'.
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