SIS Greyhound Racing: What It Is and How to Watch

The Feed Behind the Betting Shop Screen

If you have ever walked into a betting shop and watched greyhound racing on the wall-mounted screens, you were almost certainly watching an SIS feed. Sports Information Services — SIS (formerly known as Satellite Information Services until its 2017 rebrand) — is the broadcast infrastructure that delivers live racing content to bookmakers across the UK. It is not a channel you subscribe to. It is not a brand most punters recognise by name. But it is the backbone of live greyhound racing distribution, and understanding what SIS is and how it operates explains why you can bet on and watch greyhound races at almost any time of day.

SIS sits between the racetracks and the betting platforms. It captures live video and data from meetings, packages them into broadcast feeds, and distributes those feeds to licensed bookmakers — both high-street shops and online operators. The races you stream through your bookmaker’s website or app are, in the vast majority of cases, SIS content delivered through the bookmaker’s own player. The bookmaker provides the interface. SIS provides the pictures.

For bettors, the distinction between SIS and other broadcast platforms matters because it determines which races are available, when they are available, and through which channels you can access them. SIS is not the only show in town, but it is the biggest one.

What SIS Is and How It Works

SIS is a content provider, not a broadcaster in the traditional sense. It does not operate a television channel. Instead, it produces and distributes live racing feeds under contract to racetracks and betting operators. The company holds rights to broadcast from a large number of UK and Irish greyhound tracks, and it packages this content into products that bookmakers license for their retail and online platforms.

The SIS product range includes several tiers. The primary greyhound product delivers live racing from BAGS meetings — the morning and afternoon fixtures operated under the Bookmakers Afternoon Greyhound Service — as well as selected evening meetings. The feeds include live video, commentary, and pre-race information such as trap draws, form snapshots, and starting prices. Everything arrives as a single package that the bookmaker integrates into its streaming service.

From a technical perspective, SIS operates via satellite and internet distribution. High-street betting shops receive the signal through satellite dishes — the reason you see dishes mounted on the exterior of most bookmaker premises. Online platforms receive the feed via internet delivery, which is then embedded in the bookmaker’s website or app. The quality is consistent across both delivery methods, though online streams may experience slight delays relative to the satellite feed, particularly on congested networks.

SIS also handles the data layer. Starting prices, race results, and official times are transmitted through the SIS infrastructure alongside the video. This integration means that the moment a race finishes, the result and dividend are available to the bookmaker’s settlement system almost immediately. The speed of this data pipeline is one of the reasons greyhound betting settles faster than most other sports — your winning bet is typically paid out within minutes of the race finishing.

SIS vs RPGTV: Different Products, Different Purpose

The most common confusion in greyhound broadcasting is the relationship between SIS and RPGTV. They are not the same thing, they do not serve the same function, and understanding the distinction clarifies which races you can watch and where.

SIS is a distribution service. It delivers live racing to bookmakers as a commercial feed. The production values are functional — a fixed camera or limited multi-camera setup, straightforward commentary, minimal pre-race analysis. The purpose is to deliver a clear, reliable video of the race so that bettors can watch the dogs they have backed. SIS does not aim to entertain. It aims to inform.

RPGTV is a television channel. It broadcasts selected greyhound meetings with studio presentation, expert analysis, paddock coverage, and multi-camera production. RPGTV meetings are chosen for their quality — strong cards, competitive fields, feature events — and the coverage reflects that selection with a standard closer to mainstream sports broadcasting. RPGTV content is available on Freeview, Sky, and Virgin Media, as well as through bookmaker streams.

The key point is that the same meeting can appear on both SIS and RPGTV. When an evening fixture is designated as an RPGTV meeting, the RPGTV production team covers it with their cameras and presenters, and RPGTV distributes the enhanced coverage. SIS may also carry the meeting through its own feed, but the SIS version will be the standard production rather than the RPGTV broadcast. Bookmakers that carry both feeds will typically default to the RPGTV version for designated meetings, because it offers superior presentation.

Meetings that are not covered by RPGTV — most BAGS fixtures, minor evening cards, and trials — are available exclusively through SIS feeds. This is the majority of the UK greyhound racing programme. If you want to watch morning and afternoon racing, SIS-distributed streams through your bookmaker are effectively the only option. If you want premium evening coverage, look for the RPGTV badge.

Which Tracks Are Covered by SIS

SIS holds broadcasting rights for the majority of GBGB-licensed greyhound tracks in the UK and a substantial number of venues in Ireland. The coverage is extensive enough that on any given day, every BAGS meeting and most evening fixtures are available through SIS-distributed bookmaker streams.

The specific tracks under SIS contract include major BAGS venues — Romford, Sheffield, Doncaster, Monmore, and others that form the core of the daytime greyhound programme. Crayford and Swindon, previously regular BAGS fixtures, closed in 2025, while Dunstall Park in Wolverhampton opened as a replacement for Perry Barr. Evening meetings from these and additional tracks are also carried, depending on the fixture schedule and the broadcasting arrangements for the specific card.

Irish greyhound racing from GRI-managed tracks (Greyhound Racing Ireland, formerly the Irish Greyhound Board) is also distributed through SIS to UK bookmakers. This extends the available racing to include venues like Shelbourne Park, Curraheen Park, Limerick, and Mullingar, among others. Irish fixtures typically run on afternoon and evening schedules that complement rather than overlap with the UK programme, which means the combined SIS offering provides an almost continuous flow of greyhound racing from late morning through to late evening.

Coverage rights can shift between SIS and competing providers. Periodically, a track may move from one distributor to another, which affects which bookmaker platforms carry the stream. These changes are usually announced in advance through the Racing Post and industry media. If a meeting you normally watch through one bookmaker suddenly becomes unavailable, a rights shift is the most likely explanation, and checking an alternative bookmaker that licenses the new provider will restore access.

Accessing SIS Streams Through Your Bookmaker

You do not access SIS directly. There is no SIS app, no SIS website for consumers, and no SIS subscription. The feed reaches you through the bookmaker you bet with. Every major UK bookmaker that offers greyhound streaming — bet365, Coral, Ladbrokes, William Hill, Betfred, Paddy Power, Betfair, and others — licenses SIS content and delivers it through their own platforms.

The access requirements are the same as for any bookmaker streaming service. A funded account, a qualifying bet on the meeting, or simply a positive balance — the specific threshold depends on the operator. Once the requirement is met, the SIS-delivered stream appears alongside the racecard in the bookmaker’s greyhound section. Click the stream link or the camera icon, and the feed loads in the embedded player.

The quality of the stream depends partly on SIS’s production and partly on the bookmaker’s player technology. Most operators deliver SIS content at a standard quality that is clear enough to follow the race but falls short of high-definition broadcast standards. The stream is functional rather than cinematic. You can see the trap break, the running order, and the finish — which is all you need to assess a race and confirm your bet’s outcome.

One practical advantage of SIS distribution is redundancy. Because multiple bookmakers license the same SIS feed, a technical problem with one bookmaker’s stream does not mean the race is unwatchable. If your primary platform fails, switching to a secondary bookmaker account that also carries SIS typically restores the feed within seconds. Maintaining accounts with two or three operators is cheap insurance against missing a race you have backed.

The Feed Comes First, the Analysis Comes From You

SIS delivers the pictures. It does not deliver the insight. The commentary on SIS feeds is competent but rarely analytical in the way that RPGTV’s specialist presenters offer. The pre-race information is factual — trap draws, recent form, starting prices — without the interpretive layer that experienced commentators provide on premium broadcasts.

This is not a criticism. SIS exists to distribute racing efficiently to a betting audience, and it does that job well. But it means that the analytical work remains yours. The stream shows you the race. You decide what it meant. A dog that was bumped at the second bend and lost three lengths before staying on for fourth — SIS showed you that. The form guide will record it as a mid-field finish. Your notes should record it as a performance that was better than the result suggests.

The most productive use of SIS streams is systematic watching. Rather than tuning in only for races you have backed, watch the full card at tracks you bet on regularly. Note how dogs run, how they handle the bends, how they react to interference. This kind of observation builds a knowledge base that times and form comments alone cannot replicate. The SIS feed makes this possible every day of the week, from a phone screen or a laptop, at no cost beyond the bookmaker balance you already maintain. The infrastructure is there. Using it well is the edge.