Satellite Information Services
Encyclopedia
Satellite Information Services (or SIS for short) is a company which provides news gathering services and broadcasts events such as Horse Racing and Greyhound Racing, as well as Lottery games such as Rapido and 49's, to betting shops in the United Kingdom and Ireland and other Worldwide destinations.
It was formed in 1986 when bookmakers took the opportunity to broadcast live racing in their shops for the first time - previously only live audio commentary was broadcast to Licensed Betting Offices (LBOs) and a 'whiteboard' man transcribed the shows and results in the LBOs. The service was launched initially in Bristol on May 5, 1987 and subsequently rolled out to approximately 10,400 bookmakers in the UK and Ireland.
SIS is owned by Ladbrokes
23%, Caledonia Investments
22.5%, Alternateport Limited 20.5%, William Hill Organisation
19.5%, Fred Done 7.5% and Tote
6%. Minor shareholdings are also held by Leicester Racecourse Holdings Limited, The Bibury Club Limited (Salisbury), Stratford on Avon Racecourse co Ltd, Thirsk Racecourse Ltd, Catterick Racecourse Company Ltd and Frontrelay Ltd.
Ladbrokes PLC, William Hill Organization Limited and the Horserace Totaliser Board are all shareholders of Satellite Information Services (Holdings) Limited. Mr Fred Done (the owner of Betfred bookmakers) is also a private shareholder. Shareholder bookmakers therefore account for approximately 5,800 LBOs receiving the SIS service. Each of the bookmaker shareholders have board members representing them on the SIS (Holdings) Board in the form of Nick Rust(Ladbrokes), Fred Done (Betfred), David Steele (William Hill) and Joe Scanlon (Tote)
In 2008 Amalgamated Racing Limited (trading as TurfTV) entered the marketplace and is SIS's only competitor for the distribution of horse racing and virtual racing products to LBOs in the UK and Ireland. TurfTV does not distribute to any of the Worldwide locations serviced by SIS.
In 2010 Phil Siers, ex sales and marketing director of TurfTV, made a shock move from TurfTV to SIS. This is without doubt a major case of gamekeeper turned poacher, but hasn't stopped TurfTV making great inroads into the marketplace under the leadership of its new Management team.
sold their outside broadcasting
division (BBC Outside Broadcasts) to SIS, and on the 9th of September launched the new combined company, SIS LIVE.
Now received in virtually all UK and Ireland shops, together with 300 outlets in Western Europe - a total of 9,500 shops. It is also broadcast to betting outlets in the Caribbean, Sri Lanka, Italy and the former USSR.
It was formed in 1986 when bookmakers took the opportunity to broadcast live racing in their shops for the first time - previously only live audio commentary was broadcast to Licensed Betting Offices (LBOs) and a 'whiteboard' man transcribed the shows and results in the LBOs. The service was launched initially in Bristol on May 5, 1987 and subsequently rolled out to approximately 10,400 bookmakers in the UK and Ireland.
SIS is owned by Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes plc is a British based gambling company. It is based in Rayners Lane in Harrow, London owned by Bhavin Kakaiya. From 14 May 1999 to 23 February 2006, when it owned the Hilton hotel brand outside the United States, it was known as Hilton Group plc...
23%, Caledonia Investments
Caledonia Investments
Caledonia Investments plc is a UK investment trust company based in London and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. The company was listed on the LSE in 1960, and became known as Caledonia Investments plc in 1981. It actively invests in 30-40 companies at any one time...
22.5%, Alternateport Limited 20.5%, William Hill Organisation
William Hill (bookmaker)
William Hill plc is one of the largest bookmakers in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters is in the north London suburb of Wood Green and in Leeds, West Yorkshire. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
19.5%, Fred Done 7.5% and Tote
The Tote
The Tote, formerly the Horserace Totalisator Board, is a British bookmaker with head offices in Wigan. It was owned from its formation in 1928 by the UK Government but was sold to Betfred in July 2011. Under the brand totesport the Tote has 514 high street betting shops, outlets on Britain's 60...
6%. Minor shareholdings are also held by Leicester Racecourse Holdings Limited, The Bibury Club Limited (Salisbury), Stratford on Avon Racecourse co Ltd, Thirsk Racecourse Ltd, Catterick Racecourse Company Ltd and Frontrelay Ltd.
Ladbrokes PLC, William Hill Organization Limited and the Horserace Totaliser Board are all shareholders of Satellite Information Services (Holdings) Limited. Mr Fred Done (the owner of Betfred bookmakers) is also a private shareholder. Shareholder bookmakers therefore account for approximately 5,800 LBOs receiving the SIS service. Each of the bookmaker shareholders have board members representing them on the SIS (Holdings) Board in the form of Nick Rust(Ladbrokes), Fred Done (Betfred), David Steele (William Hill) and Joe Scanlon (Tote)
In 2008 Amalgamated Racing Limited (trading as TurfTV) entered the marketplace and is SIS's only competitor for the distribution of horse racing and virtual racing products to LBOs in the UK and Ireland. TurfTV does not distribute to any of the Worldwide locations serviced by SIS.
In 2010 Phil Siers, ex sales and marketing director of TurfTV, made a shock move from TurfTV to SIS. This is without doubt a major case of gamekeeper turned poacher, but hasn't stopped TurfTV making great inroads into the marketplace under the leadership of its new Management team.
1986
SIS was formed in response to the impending change in the law. Betting shops were able to have televisions displaying live racing action, replacing the previous Extel service of commentary over a loudspeaker.1987
Service launched on 5 May. Supplied race coverage from two horse race and one greyhound meeting per day. Received by just 100 shops in Bristol with a target of 3,000 shops in its first year.2002
Successfully renegotiated contracts with the UK and Irish bookmakers for a further five years. Appointed by the betting industry to manage its rights licence with 49 of the UK racecourses and to include those races within its services.2003
The service supplies more than 1200 UK horse race meetings per year, 1500 greyhound meetings, 300 Irish and 300 South African horserace meetings and, as a response to the introduction of the National Lottery, a range of numbers betting products, including virtual horse and greyhound racing.2008
On 1 April 2008, BBC ResourcesBBC Resources
BBC Studios and Post Production is a wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, providing TV studios and post production services to the media industry....
sold their outside broadcasting
Outside broadcasting
Outside broadcasting is the electronic field production of television or radio programmes from a mobile remote broadcast television studio. Professional video camera and microphone signals come into the production truck for processing, recording and possibly transmission...
division (BBC Outside Broadcasts) to SIS, and on the 9th of September launched the new combined company, SIS LIVE.
Now received in virtually all UK and Ireland shops, together with 300 outlets in Western Europe - a total of 9,500 shops. It is also broadcast to betting outlets in the Caribbean, Sri Lanka, Italy and the former USSR.
External links
- SIS Official site
- SIS LIVE Official site
- BBC announces successful bidder for BBC Outside Broadcasts BBC Press Office
- BBC unit likely to be sold to Satellite Information Service Telegraph
- BBC Resources to be split up Guardian
- The Facts PressRooms
- http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/cwg-scam-cbi-make-significant-arrests-soon-414 Deccan Chronicle