Festival races all on cable

Satellite, digital and selected cable subscribers will be able to enjoy every race at the Cheltenham Festival next month.

The 4 Extra channel will screen all 20 races from the meeting, as well as showing reviews of the previous day's action from 6.00 a.m.

In the largest outside broadcast production ever mounted by Channel 4, 90 crew and 24 cameras utilising some 72 miles of cabling will be covering this year's action.

This year will also see the first use of the Wire-Cam, one of the most technically innovative pieces of equipment utilised, as well as the Air-Cam, am airship-mounted camera moored at 1,000 feet over Prestbury Park.

The Afternoon Line will start each day at 1 p.m, and daily roundups of all the action will be shown at 11.30 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, with a summary of all the action at 8.30 p.m. on Thursday.

Mark Sharman, controller of Sport at Channel 4, said: "Our viewers deserve the very best from this top quality sports event."