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For the first time on terrestrial tv Channel 4 will show all of the 30 Royal Ascot races… another blow for ATR.
"In Racing Post tomorrow @LeeMottershead reveals @Channel4Racing will show all 30 Royal Ascot races live next June. "
The link doesn’t work for me Steve, maybe because I don’t have a twitter acount? Does seem a surprising move as even the BBC didn’t show all 30 races, I guess the main channel will show 4 races and the other two on one of their satellite channels as they did with the Cheltenham Festival a few years ago.
No it states terrestrial tv which is only channel 4 not more4.
No it states terrestrial tv which is only channel 4 not more4.
More4 is available on Freeview and with the entire country now digital the channel would now be considered to be "terrestrial"
The BBC did show the shoulder races on red button, which would have been available to almost all viewers.
I’m amazed that Ascot has apparently allowed C4 to show all 30 races. Obviously the course will be full of the usual idiots who wouldn’t know one end of a horse from the other, but would guess that some people will not bother going knowing they can see everything on tv.
As stated, the additional races will clearly be on More4, which is a de facto terrestrial channel these days. Completely different circumstances from a decade ago when the additional Cheltenham races were on Film4 – then only available to a comparatively small audience.
I had suspected from quite a long way off that they’d do this – a good move.
yeah they couldn’t possibly put all of the races on their main channel, imagine how that would screw with their schedules.
we’d be deprived of all of those brilliant episodes of deal or no deal and come dine with me
I really don’t think pressing two different digits on your Freeview remote is going to be that much of an effort. Why are people so lazy – and why do they assume their interests are the only ones?
(I have no great love for what Channel 4 is now compared to what it was for its first decade, btw, but I understand entirely *why* it is what it is and the pressures it is under.)
we’d be deprived of all of those brilliant episodes of deal or no deal and come dine with me
Both of which have consistently higher audiences than the racing and are therefore more attractive to advertisers.
we’d be deprived of all of those brilliant episodes of deal or no deal and come dine with me
Both of which have consistently higher audiences than the racing and are therefore more attractive to advertisers.
A very pertinent point indeed.
I happened to have a conversation with what might be deemed an "industry insider" the other day. He works at a reasonably low level for a broadcaster but his father is very high in the senior management so he is well versed in the machinations of UK racing.
So it was to my surprise when I mentioned to him that racing in the UK is a minority sport he firmly disagreed.
To me this is an example of how the racing industry can at times tend to bury its head in the sand with its members often guilyy of thinking their sport is more promonent in the minds of the public than is actually the case. With no racing coverage on either BBC1 or ITV1 (the channels which carry the largest audiences), and the major sponser of the biggest betting event (John Smith’s) pulling out for among other things the switch to C4, plus the animal welfare issue, racing’s authorities really need to do something to arrest the slow decline.
How do you define a sport as a ‘minority sport’?
If you judge it as interest from the population, then surely most if not all sports are minority in that less than 50% of the population take an interest in them. Football might just be an exception, but even it would be a close run thing. Racing does at least capture the interest of a significant percentage of the population on the odd day or two every year.
We could define it as interest from the ‘sport following’ percentage of the population. Racing might still be a minority sport on that basis, but so would most sports in the main. With many sports it’s only events such as Open Golf, Wimbledon Tennis of the Olympics that capture the interest from a large amount of the public.
Each sport seeks to obtain as much interest from the population as it can. I can’t see that giving a sport the label of a ‘minority interest’ tells us much.
Rob
A very pertinent point indeed.
I happened to have a conversation with what might be deemed an "industry insider" the other day. He works at a reasonably low level for a broadcaster but his father is very high in the senior management so he is well versed in the machinations of UK racing.
So it was to my surprise when I mentioned to him that racing in the UK is a minority sport he firmly disagreed.
To me this is an example of how the racing industry can at times tend to bury its head in the sand with its members often guilyy of thinking their sport is more promonent in the minds of the public than is actually the case. With no racing coverage on either BBC1 or ITV1 (the channels which carry the largest audiences), and the major sponser of the biggest betting event (John Smith’s) pulling out for among other things the switch to C4, plus the animal welfare issue, racing’s authorities really need to do something to arrest the slow decline.
Is that not what Racing for Change are trying to do Ivanjica?
You may not agree with WHAT they are doing but surely we can’t deny that NOTHING is being done. That doesnt mean MORE shouldnt be done of course.
Will losing BBC really affect the audience figures? That suggests that racing used to get floating viewers from people who only watch BBC. That may have been true a few years ago in the days of Grandstand and before Sky but I guess nowadays people only watch the racing if they want to watch the racing, regardless of whether it is on BBC or C4. I happen to think it is a good thing that C4 have the full rights. They seem to have plenty of ideas at least – time will tell whether they are good ones. I do think C4 have been the only terrestrial channel to show any genuine interest in our sport over the last few years and I expect them to have a real push at attracting as wide an audience as possible.
I still think that racing as a sport lacks a vital ingredient that most other sports have. A narrative. Most sports have leagues or cups or competitions that build towards a conclusion. We don’t really have that yet. I defy anyone to call The Champions Series a series of any kind. It means nothing to people within racing let alone outside it. It needs tweaking. Would so many people watch Manchester United v Fulham if it was just a random match and not part of any league or cup? We don’t watch pre-season friendlies do we?
I think we need a proper competition that runs through the Flat and NH season. A competition for horses, for trainers and for jockeys. Perhaps something that takes place at the weekend. Perhaps the C4 races. At the same time, I think more can be made of things like the Scoop 6. Only racing people get involved in that and yet millions of people buy National Lottery tickets every week. What if we could entice those people to choose 6 horses instead of 6 random numbers? Would that get more people interested in watching the outcome?
Alternatively we can keep our beloved sport exactly the way it is and not worry about audiences receding trusting in the product and the fact that we will always have new fans coming through. We hope!
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