Balding new Channel 4 Racing lead presenter
Balding will be the figurehead of the channel’s racing coverage from next January after IMG Sports Media were announced as the new producers for the show yesterday.
The freelance presenter’s stock could not be higher after her recent BBC Olympics coverage gained universal praise.
Balding has fronted coverage of the Derby, Royal Ascot and the Grand National for the BBC, but earlier this year the corporation lost the rights to horseracing.
The move means she will continue to lead the coverage of those major racing events, as well as the already established Channel 4 meetings such as the Cheltenham Festival and Glorious Goodwood.
The IMG Sports Media deal, in operation from January 2013 until December 2016, runs alongside Channel 4’s four-year media agreement with Racecourse Media Group.
Channel 4 Racing sponsors, Dubai, have signed a new four-year extension deal until 2016. Carl Hicks, BBC Sport senior programme editor, will also be joining the IMG team now London 2012 is over.
Under the new contract IMG Sports Media will produce around 90 days a year of live terrestrial horseracing coverage in addition to the Morning Line.
