William Hill TV

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William Hill announced today that its new digital interactive television service, Channel 425, will be available, free to view, on the Sky platform from Wednesday, October 6.

The initial focus of the channel is to capitalise on the strong fan base for UK greyhound racing that has developed through Sky’s coverage of the sport in recent years with other betting opportunities being provided by live US horseracing and a number of simple random number generated products.

Commenting on the launch of the channel, David Harding, Chief Executive of William Hill, said: "This initiative cements William Hills position as the market leader in the UK betting industry in terms of exploiting interactive television, which is gaining growing acceptance as a transactional platform. Our well known and trusted brand, ability to cross-promote the service to customers in other parts of our business, and choice of partner in DITG, a proven operator in this field, should provide us with significant advantages in pursuing this new profit stream."

Initially set to show live greyhound racing from Tuesday through to Saturday nights inclusive, Channel 425 will launch with a series of minor competitions from its two tracks at Brough Park and Sunderland. The honour of screening the first race of the new channel, the Welcome to Greyhound Racing On Channel 425 Stakes (coincidentally worth £425 to the winner), will fall to Sunderland.

It is expected that the channel will move to providing live greyhound racing seven days a week within a matter of months and talks are already underway to bring other live sporting content to the channel as well.