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If all the problems concerning the future coverage of racing by the BBC and C4 weren’t enough…
Here is an extract from an article published in the RP the other day.
…It looks like the future of Racing UK may be in some doubt after August next year after the recent Premier League TV rights negotiations will leave Setanta with a reduced portfolio of games.
Since 2006, racing fans who initially had to pay £15 per month for Racing UK were able to save £5 – and gain access to six more channels featuring all the live football – by paying for the service through Setanta.
Dr Toby Syfret, a television expert at London-based Enders Analysis, told the Financial Times: "Undoubtedly Setanta will lose subscribers with fewer games and I think the future for them could be quite bleak, although obviously they will have a cost saving."
Management at Racing UK, led by chief executive Richard FitzGerald, have to address the question of whether subscribers who are now used to paying the present fee of £12.99 for ten channels will be able to be tempted to renew at a higher rate for racing only once the deal with Setanta expires in February 2010.The developments were yesterday described by one insider as "not a crisis" for Racing UK. "No-one is panicking," the insider claimed.
However, others close to the subject believe that Racing UK subscribers via Setanta could well form the view that the package is less attractive than it was.
At present, Racing UK is bundled with nine other channels, including Setanta Sports 1 and its 79 exclusively live Premier League games.
And now Canal+ has announced that its 8 years of racing coverage in France, both thoroughbred and trot, will cease after August this year. For the last couple of years, the French racing authorities have been paying Canal+ to cover broadcasting costs. There appears to be no substitute broadcaster waiting in the wings.
Any solutions, anyone?
Ideally, I would like to see one dedicated racing channel with all racing from UK, Ireland, & certain French meetings.
On the main feed would be perhaps the main meeting of the day or even continue to run the main feed as is.
Then on the red button the viewer would have the option of any meeting of the day, similar to the way Sky Sports show the Champions League with up to 8 matches available to view live on a Wednesday.
The technology is there – it should be used
I would pay €20 per month for this service. However, I would like to see a Weekend/Festival package available whereby, for say €10 per month, a subscriber could view the racing on a Saturday & Sunday and also certain "Festivals" which would be agreed on subscription.
Festivals would be meetings like
Cheltenham
Aintree
York May meeting
Epsom
Ascot
Newmarket July meeting
Glorious Goodwood
Newmarket October meetingAlso a lot of big meetings have a raceday on the Friday (eg Cheltenham in October) so they should form part of the Weekend package too.
You get the idea anyway
All Christmas racing should be free-to-air as you have more chance of catching the casual viewer flicking through the sports channels.
Sounds brilliant but there’s more chance of me winning the Scoop6 sadly!
Having come this far, I’d doubt RUK would be allowed to disappear. I – and I’m sure the majority of subscribers – would be quite willing to revert to the £20 a month it was when a ‘standalone’ channel; infact I’d welcome their re-acquired independence.
Davidbrady’s idea about the introduction of various packages is a good one. Personally I’d be content with a half price November-April subscription, as the majority of summer-jumping courses are on ATR.
Those who advocate a single racing channel would do well to bear in mind the race clashes and ‘split-screens’ that would become the norm rather than the exception: "a busy day but don’t worry you’ll be able to watch a recording of the races from Cartmel tonight"
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Racing Post should exploit this gap in the market.
Drone,
I think I may have missed something here, but at the minute you pay
£12-99p a month with 9 bonus channels and RUK is stand alone, you can watch it all day, but you would be happy to pay £20 a month to RUK and have no other channels.Surely there should be some further reduction not an increase.
I’d be happy to pay for Racing UK on it’s own although I appreciate the Setanta package as I support a team in the Blue Square Premier!
However the main advantage for me is the Racing Review so I can watch races when I get home from work – something that I can’t do on ATR due to them going over to racing in the States.
Venusian – any news on Equidia are they affected by this Canal+ withdrawal?
Venusian – any news on Equidia are they affected by this Canal+ withdrawal?
I’m not at all sure. I don’t know whether they get the Canal+ races "free" or whether they have to pay for them, or, indeed, if they get them at all. I don’t watch television when I go to France! Perhaps someone else knows.
Canal+ basically covers the big races like the Arc and D’Amerique, as well as the quinte races. The viewing figures are good and no one knows quite why this has happened, especially as the broadcasting costs are subsidised by the sport. It could always be just a negotiating stance by Canal+, I suppose. The quinte is a very big money spinner for French racing.
Surely it all comes down to the product, Horse Racing suggests horses running against each other to win. Tactical battles! Small fields and scandals hardly impress the viewer, I’ve backed horses for years but i rarely go racing. There will probably only be one or two races in an ordinary meeting i’m interested in. I get RUK free through virgin XL but i would never pay for it.
i pay £35 for phone line Xl Tv package (everything but sky sports) and broadband. £20 for RUK i don’t think so.
I think it is worth mentioning that most – or certainly some of the major – online bookmakers have the function to watch a race that you have had a bet on via streaming. Personally, this is a much more convienient and easy way to watch the racing that I want to, or have had an interest in than subscribing to RUK for the monthly fee.
The reviews are a great feature, but for me do not justify a subscription for those who work full time. I think most recreational bettors prefer to watch only the races on which they bet, and with many bookmakers’ sites having this, I cannot see a viable future for the pay-to-air channel despite its good coverage.
Setanta, are seeking 159m worth of funding:-
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcastin … nding.html
Regards- Matron
I think I may have missed something here, but at the minute you pay
£12-99p a month with 9 bonus channels and RUK is stand alone, you can watch it all day, but you would be happy to pay £20 a month to RUK and have no other channels.Surely there should be some further reduction not an increase.
In effect I’m currently paying 12.99 a month to watch RUK as having no interest in what’s being shown on the ‘bonus channels’ I don’t watch them. So on the premise that little fish should fear big fish I would happily pay an extra two-pints-of-lager-and-a-packet-of-crisps-please per month to watch an independent RUK unfettered from the chains of the subsidising Setanta leviathan.
Being a specialist channel catering for a niche market: the fortunate minority able to fritter away afternoons watching and betting on live horse racing, I suspect – and hope – that should Setanta go tits-up then RUK would survive on its own with its loyal core audience – if necessary – happy to stump up what they once did to ensure its future as a standalone channel.
Am I the only one who’s grown fond of and protective towards lil’ ol’ well-spoken no-frills RUK, but other than being deprived of racing from Hexham and Perth couldn’t give two hoots if that shower at ATR disappeared tomorrow?
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