FanDuel TV to end horse-racing broadcasts after 27-year run

FanDuel TV’s horse-racing arm is winding down after 27 years, and the sport is staring at a hole that is bigger than a cable slot. In a March 27 video meeting, Flutter Entertainment told employees the linear channel would be sharply reduced in 2026 and that television operations were scheduled to end by the end of 2027, a move that could eliminate more than 100 jobs, with the first wave of cuts expected by November 2026.

The exit lands hard because TVG, the Television Games Network, launched on July 14, 1999 and became the sport’s national classroom. For years it did more than show races. It taught bettors how to read a tote board, gave casual viewers a reason to stay for the post parade, and made simulcast racing feel like a live event instead of a side bet. By the time the channel was rebranded as FanDuel TV, it had become the most familiar horse-racing broadcast home for a generation of fans.

Industry reaction has been blunt. Mike Repole expressed deep sadness over the shutdown and warned that racing would lose an important marketing engine and fan-engagement tool at a time when the sport can least afford to go dark. BloodHorse and Daily Racing Form have both highlighted the same blunt reality: many fans 45 and under have known horse racing only with TVG and FanDuel as the constant national presence in the background of their adult lives.

The practical question now is who takes over that daily habit. Flutter said the racing cutback was part of a broader cost-optimization push, while non-racing programming such as Up & Adams and Run It Back would continue across FanDuel’s wider media platforms. That leaves horse racing to fight for its own airtime, and the New York Racing Association has already started weighing expanded coverage and even a possible new digital channel to replace what FanDuel TV is about to remove.

The alarm reached regulators, too. At the California Horse Racing Board’s May 13 meeting, commissioners and staff discussed efforts to urge FanDuel to reconsider or delay the exit. Tony Allevato, who leads NYRA Bets, has said the organization is exploring options to offset the loss. The sport is not just losing a network. It is losing the most reliable on-ramp it had for turning viewers into bettors, and it will have to rebuild that bridge fast.