William Hill launches in-shop TV service

William Hill has launched a new TV service to provide breaking news on sporting events throughout its entire UK network of betting shops.

From 12pm today, William Hill TV started broadcasting to all 2,450 licensed betting offices in Britain from a recently installed production studio at the company's Leeds headquarters.

Presented by Carla Hilton and Ross Brierley, the TV service will host rolling news content, including the latest odds on sporting events, along with exclusive insight and features.

However, William Hill spokesman David Hood said that the company does not expect to rival Sky Sports News "just yet".

He added: "But we take some pride in being the first bookmaker to launch its own dedicated TV service, independent of the industries suppliers SIS (Satellite Information Services) and [bookmakers channel] Turf TV. The new launch provides us with an extreme amount of autonomy, both now and for the future.

"We will commence with a simple, single presenter service, with a short preview of the best of the day's sporting action and ensuring that punters within a William Hill betting shop are up-to-date with all the breaking news. Ultimately, we expect to be delivering our own branded content and exclusive betting products to the customer."