RNS Number:4776I
Arena Leisure PLC
07 March 2003

                               Arena Leisure Plc

                   attheraces launches on Telewest Broadband

Arena Leisure Plc ("Arena"), the racecourse operator, gaming technology provider
and media rights owner, is pleased to announce that from today attheraces, its
horseracing and gaming joint venture in partnership with BSkyB and Channel 4,
will also broadcast its daily racing programme on Telewest digital television
(channel 534). The channel will be available as part of Telewest's digital TV
starter pack.


attheraces is currently being shown on Sky digital (channel 418) and ntl cable
(channel 908) and this new carriage agreement adds a further 830,000 digital
homes to attheraces' audience reach, raising the number of UK households now
capable of receiving the attheraces broadcast to over 8.5 million.


attheraces launched its first racing coverage on Sky on May 1st 2002 and then
added ntl in October 2002. attheraces broadcasts racing seven days a week, 17
hours per day from 49 of the 59 racecourses in the UK, including all the premier
tracks. Racing from North America is also now shown seven nights of the week. An
interactive digital TV betting service was launched on attheraces' Sky channel
in October 2002.


Ian Penrose, Group Managing Director of Arena Leisure, said:


"This is another positive step forward for attheraces and comes at a time when
racing's major festivals are about to start. The television audiences for
attheraces are growing steadily, and the strong levels of audience interaction
already achieved on our Sky digital, internet and telephone platforms are a
testament to the quality of the attheraces product and betting opportunities. We
look forward to offering our full interactive betting services to all broadcast
channels carrying attheraces during 2003."




For further information please contact:


Nick Davis

Director of Communications

Arena Leisure Plc                              Tel: 020 7495 2277


Emma Kent/Miles Bake

Bell Pottinger Financial                         Tel: 020 7861 3232


About Arena Leisure


Formed in 1997, Arena Leisure Plc is a leading racecourse operator, gaming
technology provider and media rights owner. It is the UK's largest independent
racecourse owner in terms of fixtures, hosting 1,661 races in 2002 at its six
racecourses (22 per cent of all British horseracing).


Together with its partners in attheraces, BSkyB and Channel 4, Arena acquired
the majority of media rights to UK horseracing for a period of up to 10 years
from July 2001. attheraces will exploit the media rights associated with live
racing across all technology and media platforms and in many territories around
the world. The first platform (www.attheraces.co.uk) went live on the Internet
in December 2001, and the attheraces interactive Digital Television Channel went
live on Sky on 1 May 2002 (channel 418). This was subsequently followed up by
going live on ntl cable (channel 908). attheraces also has a telephone betting
service (0800 083 83 83).


In partnership with Scientific Games Corporation of the USA, Arena has developed
TrackPlayTM gaming software. This software allows racing organisations to
provide their customers with the ability to view live or archive races, research
race information and place bets remotely. This software can be adapted for use
on current and future technology platforms including the telephone, Internet,
interactive Digital Television and mobile devices.


Arena Leisure is listed on the London Stock Exchange. For more information about
Arena Leisure Plc, please visit www.arenaleisureplc.com.





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