Bookmaker Ladbrokes has dropped its opposition to racing service Turf TV after agreeing to show the channel in its 2,200 betting shops. The move could end a nasty industry fight over facilities to broadcast horse races.

A legal battle involving several bookies and technology group Alphameric, which owns Turf TV alongside 31 racecourses, may be dropped if further customers sign up to the service. Gala Coral joined up last week and William Hill could be next.

The major bookmakers are understood to be accepting the new channel for fear of their service being banned from major race meetings.

They had resisted signing up to Turf TV because they wanted to run their own system called SIS. The joint venture took legal action against Alphameric last year for breaking competition law by trying to raise fees for televising horse races and sports data.

In retaliation, Alphameric initiated legal action against several bookmakers including Ladbrokes and William Hill for anti-competitive behaviour.

SIS has contracts with the remaining 28 race courses in the UK. Bookmakers will now have to secure contracts with both broadcast platforms to show all races.

A potential takeover bid for Alphameric collapsed last month after failing to agree on a price, sending its share price down 18% to 20p. Today's deal with Ladbrokes lifted the stock by 12% to 34.75p.