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Just seen the news that Ascot is switching to RUK from 2014, good news for RUK but leaves ATR with not much in the way of top class racing apart from Doncaster.
You’ve got to wonder why there are two racing channels to cover British racing in the first place.
The only reason I can think of is that allows a lot more people to have their fingers in the pie.No surprise Ascot is switching from "tabloid" ATR to "broadsheet" RUK – the only surprise is they went with ATR in the first place
No surprise Ascot is switching from "tabloid" ATR to "broadsheet" RUK – the only surprise is they went with ATR in the first place
Totally agree Paul. Best thing Ascot could do to get much better coverage. Surely its now time for ALL racing to go to RUK
ATR lost Exeter , Perth and Kelso earlier this year, will lose Folkestone and Hereford soon and then Ascot so gradually RUK are becoming the dominant broadcaster in terms of courses and quality of racing shown.
also no surprise considering how awful ATR has become since their relaunch earlier in the year, how they continue to cut back on their racing replays is ridiculous.
Yeh, OK Tony, but some of us can’t or don’t want to pay for racing UK. I couldn’t justify it I am not in the industry, not interested in betting, just like racing. ATR is available to more people.
Are Channel 4 going to cover any Ascot?Ascot has done absolutely the right thing in switching channels.
Racing UK is so much more professional in every way. At The Races has become widely derided, not helped by some of its presenters, but Racing UK seems to take a much more authoritative approach.
The continuing appearance of Doncaster on ATR isn’t a great consolation because, leaving aside the handful of quality days, there are plenty of decidedly lacklustre meetings at the South Yorkshire course, especially on the flat, which hardly inspire great enthusiasm.
It will be interesting to see if Doncaster follows suit and rejoins the RUK fold in due course.
Next time Ricky Lake and others describe ATR’s racing coverage as "dross", they will certainly have had their view strengthened by the loss of Ascot.
Less-than-thrilling all-weather fare, Irish meetings, obscure foreign meetings and humdrum minor British meetings won’t inspire huge bursts of interest from many viewers.
Good job it’s free if you subscribe to Sky. I certainly wouldn’t pay for it.
Good job they’ve got quality presenters in Matt Chapman, John Hunt and Robert Cooper.
Are Channel 4 going to cover any Ascot?
Channel 4 are going to show all of Ascot from next year now that the BBC is pulling out
Everything comes to those who wait
mark my words Crusty , they will show dog racing in the afternoons in the reasonable future
Still racing is sorting itself , quality on Ruk , Dross fest ATR
Enjoy
IMO
rICKY
You’ve got to wonder why there are two racing channels to cover British racing in the first place.
The only reason I can think of is that allows a lot more people to have their fingers in the pie.One channel simply couldn’t cover all the meetings in the UK properly. It’s bad enough when there are 3/4 meetings on ATR; there’s no time to reflect/review one race because the next one is about to start, plus you’ve got the obligatory commercial breaks to squeeze in too and heaven help you if one meeting starts running late! Imagine what coverage of Boxing Day would be like with just one channel, or the Bank Holidays. There were 9 scheduled meetings last Boxing Day and 8 each the previous two years, although some were cancelled due to the weather, and those figures don’t include the Irish meetings. How on earth could RUK or any channel give you decent coverage with that number of meetings on one day? No, you’d simply end up with them covering the same big meetings that Channel 4 are going to cover and the smaller tracks will be the losers, in terms of coverage and sponsorship money. After all, who’s going to want to sponsor a race that no one is going to see except for the few people at the course?
Also, not everyone can afford or wants to pay the prices that RUK charge. My OH would throw a fit if I suggested I wanted to buy it, so ATR is my only daily outlet. I don’t like watching on the computer because the picture quality is awful here with no high speed broadband service yet.
Sad to see it go. Whether you are against one channel or the other from the viewer’s perspective you want a balance of meetings on both channels otherwise there will be too many clashes.
I don’t know enough about racing politics to know what is behind this decision or those of Exeter and Perth but personally I think those courses have made a mistake. They will not be afforded greater exposure on RUK. RUK still continues to treat its viewers with complete contempt in showing endless replays and even padding out live shows with replays.
Thankfully, ATR continue to retain the Irish meetings. The standard of the best of these is considerably better than the average Ascot NH meeting and in any case the ‘jewel in the crown’ is now on Channel 4.
I don’t know enough about racing politics to know what is behind this decision or those of Exeter and Perth but personally I think those courses have made a mistake.
Exeter moved because if became a Jockey Club racecourse and all the other Jockey Club courses were with RUK.
My understanding, in the case of Perth (and Kelso) Scottish racing markets itself under the "Scottish Racing" umbrella and the decision was taken it would be easier to market centrally if all five courses were with the same broadcaster. I’m sure Rob North will know more about that one than me.
Quite right, Paul. The five Scottish courses came together under Racing UK as they wished to promote all their fixtures via one medium.
Rob
It will be interesting to see if Doncaster follows suit and rejoins the RUK fold in due course.
How can Doncaster follow suit after all the fuss over the court case when Arena took over running from the council?
Arena owns a major stake in ATR they are hardly likely to give their premier course rights back to RUK.
The council and Arena fought tooth and nail in court to get the rights off RUK they are not likely to give it back to them.
Ascot owns or owned 5% of ATR which is why initally they signed to ATR the writing was on the wall when they signed to Turf TV.
I wonder if ATR can claim that RUK has an unfair monopoly on UK major racecourses I am surprised the rights are allowed to be given out to their own companies like they are in most sports like football a club has no say and they tv rights are sold in packages maybe this is how racing should go.
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