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I agree with an earlier comment that RUK will become more like being in a betting shop. The worst example was on Boxing Day when a lowly bumper at Huntingdon ran into the start of the King George at Kempton, this forced me to watch ITV instead of getting a proper preview on RUK. I can see this happening a great deal more.
Also why are there so many factions in horse racing pulling in different directions: SIS, the Racecourse Group, British Horseracing Authority etc etc I’d like to think having one organisation controlling everything would work better.
There’s more to this than basically jumping ship from one home channel to another. SIS are now so linked to RMG via the betting shop deal and the international deal, now that they split from ATR and GBI Racing. SIS own the irish racing rights for a good number of years now until the early 2020’s. So this was a shoe in when they came back up for negotiation… Now… Are SIS doing, this in the best interests of Irish Racing or the larger commercial interests of SIS.. I would say the former.
Racing UK has been a subscription channel since 2004… So in 14 years they have never gotten above the 50 odd thousand subscriber mark, of that 50,000 how many are within the racing industry etc probably a fair chunk so the actual home viewer subscriber rate i.e your ordinary punter is pitiful… Also add into the fact that RUK is the single most expensive channel on all ok UK satellite and cable. Its not designed to expand the racing audience to the wider public.. If it was then its failed miserably in that… I have previously been a subscriber to RUK but only at a £10 a month offer, personally its not worth £25 a month , especially if you work full time etc to basically watch replay unless its during the summer and evening is included. Not happening.
This of course has to be rubber stamped by AIR who i would assume are already feeling the heat. Apart from 20 odd days on RTE.. ATR is the broadcaster of Irish Racing. This isnt a 2 channel split like here in UK . This is going to be the entire racing output of Ireland going behind an expensive paywall.. If you were a sponsor would you be happy with that? And not forgetting RUK on busy days struggle with split screens, add in the Irish stuff and well your main courses would prob get air time, but if you are the likes of Thurles, Ballinrobe , Tramore, Killarney you are screwed as i cannot see RUK open a 2nd channel.. If they did the subscription would need to increase to cover it and i cant see people paying for it.
As for ATR they are now in a sticky wicket, theres talk of some courses moving back, but wouldnt be enough to sustain a single channel over the course of a year. My hunch now that Sky are majority share holder is that courses contracts would change to be with Sky Sports, and the racing will then merge with the other sky sports channels, if you do that then you dont worry about having blank days.. Although i would imagine all of the current ATR shows would disappear apart from racing news.
Sorry for the long post but felt i could maybe add something to the current thread.
Good post James. I have already started to find the channel vastly over crowded, and it will be the end for me. I actually can’t see too many Irish flocking to pay for it, if they don’t already. Courses are more accessible here (distance wise) for the really keen racegoer, and there is also a pretty healthy country pub culture for those who prefer to get around a screen on the big days. Those are the only people for whom it is part of the fabric of their lives, and to be honest most of them are too busy farming or horsing for long hours to sit and watch TV all afternoon.
. David Cleary is as dry as an overcooked turkey in the Sahara, however, he is a shrewd judge and I’d rather a low-key personality than Chapman.
I’d rather someone who was shrewd and had a personality. This is still television. Jason Weaver, Kevin Blake and Rachel Candelora balance both brilliantly, and I can stomach almost all of the rest ITV/ATR/RUK have to offer.
50.000 snobs watching RUK wondering why the sport has turned to rat ****, whilst the background noise advertises Corals latest online bingo game.
The sport i once loved is a million miles away from people in tatty clothes who knew something about horse racing to the piss head brigade at haydock who parade around in a cheap suits sticking 2 quid on an odds on shot whilst the missus orders another bottle of WKD.
Sad really, it was such a great sport to be interested in.I know I am probably coming across as aggressive on this thread but the mind boggles at the logic, why are racecourses actively deciding to make the product less accessible to people ?
It is such a regressive step and reduces the sport to a debate amongst diehards over the credentials of Rachel Candelora v David Cleary instead of allowing future racegoers sample what is on offer for free…
It doesnt seem to be getting mentioned on the thread but it is possible to stream (in average quality and only of interest to the extreme racing fan) both RUK and ATR free through Chromecast / the internet…as I am sure most people will knowI know I am probably coming across as aggressive on this thread but the mind boggles at the logic, why are racecourses actively deciding to make the product less accessible to people ?
In the UK the racecourses decide who broadcasts their course in Ireland it is the IRH and AIR the courses do not get much say, in the last rights round Punchestown wanted to go to RUK but the irish courses don’t get the final say like they do over here.
In the UK most racecourses choose RUK because of the profits going back to them and not to Sky but in truth they have two choices soon they may have one.
No way is ruk better than atr. They are so bland as to annoy the racing nuts like me. Its a terrible day for Irish racing and racing as a whole. 50,000 subscribers. Can see owners pulling out of Ireland in a few years time and O’brien and elliot and mullins totally monopolising the big races. Totally hacked off about the whole thing.
As I said in my previous post Irish racing moving behind a paywall is no different to golf, F1 and cricket which have all done the same.
The R&A, MCC and Bernie Ecclestone were castigated for this with dire warnings about reducing interest in the sports but none of them appear to be keen to switch back to terrestrial. As long as the Irish racecourse are making more money viewing figures won’t be an issue.
And while I don’t agree with this move by RUK for many of the reasons quoted by others neither do I think that this move is going to have any effect on the interest in racing from the British public.
A lot of people have sky, which means they get ATR as a freebie.
They wont start paying out to watch irish racing. It will (along with ATR losing other tracks) have an effect on the audiance.”In the UK the racecourses decide who broadcasts their course in Ireland it is the IRH and AIR the courses do not get much say, in the last rights round Punchestown wanted to go to RUK but the irish courses don’t get the final say like they do over here.”
I dont understand your post Steve, I presume you mean HRI when saying IRH ? This surely came up in dialogue at some point with AIR/HRI about how their product was going to be broadcast to the market when agreeing the bones of a 7 year deal with SIS, unless the relationship has completely fractured it makes no sense that the crossover now looks more or less rubberstamped
From the RP – SIS holds sole and exclusive rights to broadcast racing from every Irish racecourse, having in March 2016 agreed a five-year deal with the Association of Irish Racecourses (AIR) – via an HRI media rights committee – that extends the arrangement until the end of 2023.
Am in agreement with Eddie O’Leary saying the Irish industry have sleepwalked their way into this.
I’m with Ginge. I much prefer the likes of Rachel Candelora (what a find she has been) doing the low-grade form in detail on RUK verus ATR’s ex-jockeys telling us what a ‘grand big sort’ a horse is or what an ‘absolute gentleman’ a trainer may be. RUK is intelligent and appeals to people who want to learn and challenge themselves as punters. In contrast, ATR is loud, crass and low-content. The Irish racing has perhaps been the exception with Gary O’Brien and Kevin Blake fairly sensible presenters, but even so Blake is considerably stronger in print and O’Brien is rather easy to tune out from.
The worry for the new world must be that RUK taking the Irish racing will mean some or all of the following:
– Increase in costs to fund media rights, new presenters and second channel – more advertising, more bookmaker segments and increased subscription fees
– Less analysis and more of a betting shop TV feel with a presenter doing rushed voiceover as they hop between races
– Lack of exposure for the lesser Irish meetings – which could be behind a red button or banished to the second channel more often than not.
– ATR with just a handful of UK tracks and whatever international stuff they can cobble together will no longer be viable at all.
Couldnt disagree more regarding ruk being for people who want to learn, as a punter who is as invested as i am (time wise) id much rather what atr has to offer than ruk, i dont find their analysis all that useful, just endless rambling, each to there though
…neither do I think that this move is going to have any effect on the interest in racing from the British public.
Exactly, racing is live and free to air just about every week. How many sports can say that? People have very busy lives so you can’t expect most of them to be able to devote more time to racing than the few hours a week of ITV coverage.
Not sure how exactly much they get free in Ireland but it seems all the major Irish events are on RTE so I can’t imagine the average bloke in the street over there will see much difference either.
I know I am probably coming across as aggressive on this thread but the mind boggles at the logic, why are racecourses actively deciding to make the product less accessible to people ?
It is such a regressive step and reduces the sport to a debate amongst diehards over the credentials of Rachel Candelora v David Cleary instead of allowing future racegoers sample what is on offer for free…
It doesnt seem to be getting mentioned on the thread but it is possible to stream (in average quality and only of interest to the extreme racing fan) both RUK and ATR free through Chromecast / the internet…as I am sure most people will knowYou make a very fair point. I was approaching this entirely from the point of view of a racing fan but, even as a relative newcomer to it, it feels as though something people have been talking about for forever is how to improve racing’s appeal. We have headlines about banning the whip, but it seems nobody had even thought about making sure the sport is freely available in the first place. I know football has moved to subscription services (Sky Sports, BT Sport) and benefits from it, but that’s in a position to do so. Without knowing the plan, it seems likely RUK will increase their fees and make the sport even more closed off, even to long-term fans.
It will be interesting to hear what comes out from RUK and SIS regarding this move and how they plan to take Irish racing forward.
Isn’t the problem in all this Racing UK’s ideal to be everything in racing, remember last time the rights came up they were in bed with Setanta plotting a 2nd channel etc, they don’t hide the fact they want all the UK’s racecourses under their umbrella and they don’t hide the fact they will do anything to get it.
In an ideal scenario we have two channels split with half and half of the racecourses which is what we nearly had a few years ago (except RUK still had all the big ones) and it worked generally well most of the time both channels has something to show, then Jockey club bought Exeter and the Scottish tracks all decided to be under Racing UK, then Ascot went using QIPCO as an excuse and Leicester and Stratford this year citing SIS and Taunton.
Now we are in the situation where RUK will have about 75% maybe more of the fixtures and the rivals will struggle to attract ad revenue to survive.
Some may say one channel having everything is ideal but in reality the smaller courses will disappear into the background as the main events shine and racing needs the smaller courses also there’s nothing stopping RUK dropping the Irish deal if it doesn’t work out.
One other thing that could happen the Reuben Brothers may now feel it’s time to get out of racing and sell off the smaller courses to any developer.
50,000 snobs watching RUK wondering why the sport has turned to rat ****, whilst the background noise advertises Corals latest online bingo game.
The sport i once loved is a million miles away from people in tatty clothes who knew something about horse racing to the piss head brigade at haydock who parade around in a cheap suits sticking 2 quid on an odds on shot whilst the missus orders another bottle of WKD.
Sad really, it was such a great sport to be interested in.Nobody knows what “50,000” people watching RUK/TV are like. Calling them/us “snobs” and judging racegoers on what they wear and drink – says more about you than them, Strawbear.
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