ARE.L Regulatory News (ARE)

21 Sep 2005 11:57

Arena Leisure PLC21 September 2005 21 September 2005 Arena Leisure Plc AT THE RACES STATEMENT Arena Leisure Plc ("Arena") notes the press comment in today's Daily Telegraphrelating to 30 racetracks launching a counter claim for £213 million against AtThe Races. The counter claim referred to in the article was lodged in December 2004.Following due consideration at that time At The Races deemed it to have nosubstance and that it is irrelevant to its own claim against the courses formonies rightfully owed following the lawful termination of the original mediarights contract. The full At The Races Statement is attached below. -ends- For further information, please contact: Arena Leisure PlcIan Penrose, Chief Executive 020 7495 2277 Bell Pottinger Corporate & FinancialDavid Rydell / Zoe Sanders 020 7861 3232 21 September 2005 At The Races Statement AT THE RACES Following press comment in today's Daily Telegraph, At The Races makes thefollowing statement: "This is a misleading and one sided article. Rather than being a "dramatictwist", the "counter claim" to which the article refers was lodged as long agoas 13th December 2004. ATR has had plenty of time to consider it and has deemedit to have no substance and that it is irrelevant to its own claim against thecourses for monies rightfully owed following the lawful termination of theoriginal media rights contract. This claim is due to be heard in November 2005.ATR's resolve on this matter remains undiminished and it is looking forward toan opportunity to put the matter to the Court, resolving it once and for all." - ends - For further information, please contact: David Rydell / Robin TozerBell Pottinger Corporate & Financial Tel: 0207 861 3232 NOTES TO EDITORS • At The Races ("ATR") is the UK'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. It has not had a blank day since August 2004. • 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'. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange