15th June 2020 - Royal Ascot may be taking place behind closed doors for the first time in its history, but the world's greatest flat race meeting will still attract huge global TV audiences with over 120 countries due to tune in.

The traditional 30 races of the Royal Meeting have been supplemented by a further six top quality races to generate even more interest in one of the first major global sporting events to take place in the summer of 2020.

Led by extensive domestic coverage on ITV1 in the UK, coverage will span the globe with pictures also available in the USA, Australia, the Middle East, India, the Caribbean and Europe.

ITV's coverage will feature 30 races from the Queen Anne Stakes on Tuesday June 16 to the closing Queen Alexandra Stakes on Saturday June 20, live on their main channel.

Paul McNamara, Senior Director and Executive Producer, Major Events, ITV Sport said:

"ITV again has the honour of broadcasting Royal Ascot. This year's event, as ever, has top class racing but will be broadcast without the traditional thousands in attendance. This provides a unique challenge for us. We will aim to provide all the extra atmosphere via social media including reactions from owners and trainers, an insight into how the public is viewing at home, celebrity guests in the social stable and a virtual bandstand closer each day. It will be top class racing with a unique social media celebration."

Sky Sports Racing will broadcast every race live to around 14m homes in the UK and Ireland. Additionally, pictures will be streamed to more than 20 online bookmakers in the UK and Ireland.

James Singer, Director, Domestic and International Media Rights at Sky Sports Racing / At The Races, said:

"We are again delighted to bring Sky Sports Racing viewers and attheraces.com users comprehensive coverage of the Royal Meeting. We will broadcast every race live with at least one race each day this year exclusive to Sky Sports Racing. Despite some very important restrictions in place we will be on air, live from Ascot at 9am each day and will have Alex Hammond, Jim McGrath, Hayley Moore and Josh Apiafi all presenting live on course from 12.30pm, Tuesday to Friday and from 12pm on Saturday. Attheraces.com's dedicated Royal Ascot site is already live with Oisin Murphy and William Buick interviews plus an exclusive Aidan O'Brien stable tour. The site will be constantly updated with latest news, previews, tips and analysis to guide users through the week."

Coverage of Royal Ascot also continues on NBC, including Saturday which will be shown on the main NBC Channel (with days one to four on NBC Sports Network). NBC's coverage will reach almost 80 million homes across the US.

"While there may not be spectators in attendance, the terrific horse racing at Royal Ascot continues, and we are excited to once again present five days of live coverage to viewers in the United States," said Jon Miller, President of Programming for NBC Sports and NBCSN.

Around 42 million homes in 17 countries in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region will be served by live coverage from Dubai Racing Channel and Yas TV (Abu Dhabi TV).

Globally, coverage of Royal Ascot will have a reach over 124 territories, enhanced through a new distribution partnership with international horseracing media rights agency, HBA Media.

In Europe, major regional broadcasters including RAI (Italy), Match TV (Russia), Movistar (Spain) and Polsat (Poland) will air the event to millions of viewers alongside, S Sport (Turkey), Silknet (Georgia) and Sport Klub (Balkans). Viewers in Israel will again be able to watch the entire Royal Meeting on Charlton.

Australia's strong affinity with Ascot will continue with Racing.com, the country's free-to-air horseracing network, broadcasting the full action-packed race schedule.

ESPN will showcase Royal Ascot to its established audience across Latin America.

Meanwhile, 48 countries in Africa will be served by leading broadcaster SuperSport while Caribbean fans will have access via SportsMax.

Asia is covered by Shanghai TV, Beijing TV (China) and Eleven Sports (Taiwan) and others.

Global media powerhouse - Discovery - through its recently launched Eurosport India channel will take the Royal Meeting into 45 million homes in India.

Juliet Slot, Commercial Director at Ascot Racecourse, said:

"We are delighted that the strength of Royal Ascot is once again demonstrated by the breadth of international broadcasters taking our pictures despite the meeting being held behind closed doors. It will be a unique event, as it always is but one that can be enjoyed by an ever-increasing global audience. We would like to thank all of our global and UK broadcast partners for helping us bring our event to millions of homes around the world."

Henry Birtles, Chief Executive of HBA Media, added:

"We are delighted with the distribution secured during these unusual times, with Royal Ascot taking place behind closed doors, and we look forward to building upon this going forward."

ENDS