Background
TVG began broadcasting in 1999, and has since become the largest interactive horse racing network in America. In May 2006, TVG introduced new shows, including "Morning Line", "Fandicapping", ":58 Flat" and "Lady Luck," an all female panel focusing on the day's races, and Drive Time, a new show covering exclusive racing from the Meadowlands. TVG also provides All Access coverage on select weekends. TVG places microphones on select Jockeys, Owners, Trainers, and the Starting Crew to give viewers an inside look at racing.
The company used to maintain a fictional betting site, TVGfree.net, which allowed it to have a presence in the fifteen states which prohibit televised and off-track betting. This is similar to poker sites which use the .net domain to differentiate their fictional betting sites from the .com sites which allow real gambling. The site was discontinued at the start of 2012 due to a site upgrade, and currently redirects to TVG.com.
TVG covers over 100 tracks, with exclusive coverage of several tracks, including North American tracks such as Woodbine Race Course, Keeneland Race Course, Del Mar Racetrack, Hollywood Park Racetrack, Meadowlands, Suffolk Downs and Monmouth Park. The network also broadcasts races from various tracks in Australia, United Kingdom, Ireland and Japan. TVG coverage includes events such as the Travers Stakes, Haskell Invitational, Pacific Classic, Hollywood Gold Cup, Blue Grass Stakes, Wood Memorial, Melbourne Cup, Japan Cup and the All American Futurity.
In late February 2007, TVG ended its longtime affiliation with Churchill Downs Incorporated.
On January 27, 2009, Betfair has completed its acquisition of TVG from Macrovision for $50 million in cash consideration, breaking it apart from the founding owners, which also operated TV Guide Magazine and the TV Guide Network, thus the allowance in using the "TVG" initials.
Read more about this topic: TVG Network
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