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Channel Four not showing the Arc this year citing media rights costs.
Full report (from Lee Mottershead) is on the Racing Post website but heres an exerpt:-
“We are not going to be showing the Arc,” a Channel 4 spokeswoman said yesterday. “As the race is this year being staged at Chantilly there were inflated media rights costs. Channel 4 therefore took the decision not to cover the race and to instead focus on British racing.”
Erm…
1. Channel 4 don’t cover British racing on Arc Sunday (and don’t show the Saturday card anyway)
2. Malyasia F1 GP is shown live on the same morning. Suspect C4 will fill the Arc slot with a rerun/highlights show of the pap-paps!Could be a good opportunity for ITV to get some match practice? All they would need is a couple of bods in a studio and the live feed from France? Could be a way of filling up ITV4 for a couple of hours.
ITV missing a trick if not getting AP on board. One of the few recognisable people within racing to the man in the street.
Channel Four not showing the Arc this year citing media rights costs.
Full report (from Lee Mottershead) is on the Racing Post website but heres an exerpt:-
“We are not going to be showing the Arc,” a Channel 4 spokeswoman said yesterday. “As the race is this year being staged at Chantilly there were inflated media rights costs. Channel 4 therefore took the decision not to cover the race and to instead focus on British racing.”
Erm…
1. Channel 4 don’t cover British racing on Arc Sunday (and don’t show the Saturday card anyway)
2. Malyasia F1 GP is shown live on the same morning. Suspect C4 will fill the Arc slot with a rerun/highlights show of the pap-paps!Could be a good opportunity for ITV to get some match practice? All they would need is a couple of bods in a studio and the live feed from France? Could be a way of filling up ITV4 for a couple of hours.
First of all how unprofessional would that look sticking a few people in a studio which probably hasn’t even been built yet, most of the presenters and crew won’t yet be under contract to present it and it’s hardly the fanfare start itv want a few people sat in a studio watching a tv screen.
Why on earth should Channel 4 spend over the odds covering the Arc for the good of racing when they have had the rug pulled from under their feet after years of commitment to the sport and will lose the rights within months?
The BBC did exactly the same and pulled out of covering the Arc shortly after they lost the Crown Jewels of racing.
Channel 4 would get a tiny audience for what they say are increased fees for covering the race.
Why should they now go the extra mile and put themselves out when the end of the line is nigh? It’s a bit unrealistic to expect anything else and entirely understandable to dip out of covering the Arc.
ITV missing a trick if not getting AP on board. One of the few recognisable people within racing to the man in the street.
…..but sadly not showing any promise at all at punditry….clearly not his thing.
Fitzgerald is far happier in front of camera but sadly talks in bland unresearched cliches…whoever has hired him for ITV is being very very lazy.
I think when McCoy asked Lydia Hislop how many winners she’d ridden, the coffin lid on his media career should have been shut before he climbed in.
I see John Hunt has turned down the job of main commentator with ITV to stay with BBC radio until 2020. The amazing thing about that for me is that a BBC radio commentator can command a salary anywhere near what he would receive on ITV. Thought they would be the poor relation.
Another example of how badly the BBC licence fee is used? The sooner the television licence is discontinued the better, I begrudge paying it.
How do you know it has anything to do with money? It might just be that the BBC job suits him better. Don’t forget he does other things for the BBC such as the Olympics and that might just excite him more.
From The Guardian:
Meanwhile, John Hunt, who had been widely tipped to be the principal commentator for ITV Racing when terrestrial racing coverage moves to its new home from Channel 4 in January, said on Monday night that he will instead remain with the BBC, where he will be able to work on a range of sports in addition to his commentary commitments for Radio Five Live.
Hunt recently worked on the swimming events at the Rio Olympics, an experience that may have been crucial in persuading him to stay with his current employer, on a new deal that will run until the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and may also include wider opportunities for Hunt to commentate on football.
Hunt told the Racing Post on Monday evening that the BBC offered “exciting opportunities… off the back of one of the best experiences of my life in Rio”. His decision will be seen as a setback for ITV Racing, which has signed a contract to broadcast at least 34 fixtures each year on its main channel, and 60 more on ITV4.
I wonder if the ITV commentator will be someone who is not on the current commentators roster and will also be used for other sports ?
If Hunt was offered the job it means that Holt and Hoiles were not wanted.Reported on another forum that the ITV equivalent of The Morning Line will start at 10AM and be fronted by Oli Bell.
They look to be going for a completely new team, apart from Mick Fitzgerald.
I think we do pretty well for commentators, maybe a legacy of all of them having had such a high bar to aim at (O’Sullevan)
I wonder if the ITV commentator will be someone who is not on the current commentators roster and will also be used for other sports ?
If Hunt was offered the job it means that Holt and Hoiles were not wanted.Can’t imagine Clive Tyldesley coming “under starters orders” but bearing in mind John Hunt’s quite “boombastic” commentary style which suits Radio well – compared to say the measured tones of Richard Hoiles – I’m going to take a punt that plan B may be someone like Mark “Shouty” Johnson.
Caveat – this is not based on any reported rumour – just a pure guess – so I’m probably completely wrong!
How do you know it has anything to do with money? It might just be that the BBC job suits him better. Don’t forget he does other things for the BBC such as the Olympics and that might just excite him more.
It’s hard to believe he would be staying on radio for significantly less money, especially when he keeps getting interrupted by the irritating Lysaght 😉
Lee Mottershead who appears to have the inside track on these matters stated in Monday’s Racing Post that “only a significant late financial counter-punch from ITV will lure Hunt from the BBC. If ITV is to get it’s most wanted man it will have to dig deeper into it’s piggy bank”.I would have expected BBC radio not to come anywhere near what ITV could offer and am amazed that they can. As I said previously misuse of the licence fee.
cormack,
Persad & Plunkett are also making the move along with Fitz from C4 and I would be surprised if there aren’t at least 1 or 2 more. What pundits are possible who haven’t already appeared on C4? For instance I’d be surprised if Graham Cunningham isn’t offered a job.
It’s all down to personal preference of those who are making the decisions but I was dismayed reading in the Racing Post today that Ladbrokes PR Mike Dillon is thought to have played a major role in advising ITV on the assembly of it’s new racing team.
Is there any part of horse racing that’s not tainted by bookmakers?No love for Thommo as the main ITV commentator? “Photo!” “That’s one for the judge!”
Thommo is the new Jimbo McGrath in terms of making mistakes
Blackbeard to conquer the World
Yeats – money isn’t the main driver for everyone.
I think in terms of job satisfaction the BBC job would be infinitely better for John (interruptions aside). He gets to call all the top meetings, is also the swimming commentator which gets him gigs all around the world plus on “free” weekends he gets to do football reporting. I also know from conversations I’ve had with him in the past he would love to do football commentary – although I think if he had to commentate on a West Ham game it would probably test his neutrality to the absolute limit. If he took the ITV job that would effectively finish off all the BBC work. I couldn’t see ITV releasing him to cover swimming at the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, World Championships etc. etc.
If I were in his position staying with the BBC would be a no brainer.
There are plenty of good commentators and I wouldn’t mind having a couple quid on either David Fitzgerald or Gareth Topham getting the top job.
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