Horse and Greyhound Racing Act, 2001

Media rights committee.

10.—(1) HRI shall establish a committee (“media rights committee”) to negotiate on and from the establishment day in relation to all contracts or arrangements made on or after that day with any person in relation to the transmission or relaying of any broadcast (within the meaning of the Broadcasting and Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1988 ) or the photographing, filming or sound recording for commercial purposes of a race-fixture or any part thereof (“media rights”).

(2) The media rights committee shall consist of 3 members appointed by HRI who shall be members of HRI.

(3) The chairman of the media rights committee shall be the member of HRI representing the interests of authorised racecourses.

(4) The media rights committee shall include one member of HRI representing the Racing Regulatory Body.

(5) HRI may regulate the procedure of the media rights committee.

(6) There may be paid out of the income of HRI to members of the media rights committee such allowances for expenses incurred by them in the discharge of their functions as HRI may determine with the consent of the Minister and the Minister for Finance.

(7) A member of the media rights committee who fails to perform his or her functions may be removed by HRI.

(8) The secretariat and executive functions involved in servicing the work of the media rights committee shall be provided by HRI.

(9) For the first 5 years after the establishment day the income generated from media rights vested in authorised racecourses under section 61(2) of the Act of 1994 shall accrue to the authorised racecourses.

(10) HRI shall enter into arrangements with the executives of authorised racecourses in respect of the distribution of income generated after the period referred to in subsection (9) in relation to the media rights referred to in that subsection and the guarantee to them of an income from those media rights for each of the next 5 years following the period referred to in subsection (9) of at least the average annual income generated in respect of the period referred to in that subsection.

(11) Subsections (1) and (3) of section 61 of the Act of 1994 are, with effect from the establishment day, repealed.

(12) Nothing in section 61 of the Act of 1994 or this section shall prohibit HRI from independently carrying out its functions under paragraph (b) of section 8 (1).

(13) The property rights held immediately before the commencement of section 8 by the Racing Regulatory Body in relation to the publication of the lists of runners and riders and associated information on race-fixtures collected and compiled by it in the course of its Registry Office functions shall on the commencement of section 8 pursuant to the transfer of those functions to HRI under that section be transferred to and vested in HRI and HRI shall pay to the Racing Regulatory Body the following amounts:

(a) for the first 5 years after the commencement of section 8 , the amount of the income generated from the sale of that information, and

(b) for each of the subsequent 5 years after the period referred to in paragraph (a), the average annual income generated in respect of the period referred to in that paragraph.

(14) In this section, “authorised racecourse” and “race-fixture” have the meanings assigned to them by the Act of 1994.