Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) is to live stream coverage from this year’s show (7-11 October), as the event will not be broadcast on TV this year.
A spokesman for HOYS told H&H that a “select number” of championship classes from HOYS will be live streamed from the event in Birmingham.
More information regarding the streaming timetable, platform and televised classes will be released in July.
In April it was revealed that HOYS would no longer be covered and broadcast by Sky Sports.
At the same time Hickstead announced that it was to move away from Sky Sports for the Derby meeting due to production costs, and only use the broadcaster for the Royal International.
At the weekend (26-28 June) Hickstead live streamed the Derby meeting for the first time, a decision that organiser Edward Bunn told H&H was “justified” by the positive feedback from riders and fans.
Eight cameras were used, it what the production team believes was the biggest live streamed equestrian event in the UK.
And now HOYS will be using the same company — Impact Media — to cover its classes.
“The growing popularity of streaming seems to be impacting positively on equestrian sport,” said a HOYS spokesman.
“Streaming opens the sport to a wider audience and allows more engagement from the equestrian community.
“Nothing can compare to the atmosphere of being at a live event, but for those that can’t physically be there streaming allows viewers to still be involved. Various sporting events have seen success with streaming recently, and this avenue is one we are keen to explore.”
For more on the growth of live streaming in equestrian sports, don’t miss this week’s issue of H&H — out Thursday 2 July
