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All that and the start of the point to point season at the end of November. Anyone for Cottenham.
Already mapping out my autumn of work / non-work and wasn’t planning on taking in Cotters this time around (especially now I’m no longer local to it), but we’ll see. Alnwick or Wadebridge the weekend after seem likelier at this stage.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
It’s a chilly, dewy, near-autumnal morning and thoughts turn to winter and an RUK subscription
TV for a score or Web for a tenner? I just dunno
But for one evening of not working of my own making (witless mismatching of Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer compatibility following an upgrade), web subscriptions to RUK (and ATR, come to that) have been working just fine for me since moving flat. I’d not put you off pursuing that provision.
I’m not especially missing not having the time thieves that were all the other digital TV channels since then, either – BBC iPlayer, live streams of radio channels, etc. all do quite nicely instead for catching up, Ithankyew.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Like you I did away with all the thieving Sky guff late last year and made do with RUK ‘live’ on t’web and just the ATR replays; and since May have managed quite happily with replays all round
Really just wondering whether to bother with live broadcasts again. Don’t bet in running, on photos, on stewards’ etc and only find live pictures valuable for the paddock/canter pics (when we get them) and what’s going on at the post. On balance five months cold turkey Hislop, Neesom, Fremantle is long enough for any gent and I’ll probably go for live web at a tenner
Increasingly of the opinion that TV is yesterday’s thing. Wireless and Web is the way it will be, and they’re essentially all I want and need nowadays
Do wish those media types up in Edinburgh taking themselves too seriously would divert their attention from BBC TV and extol the virtues of BBC Radio: that is most certainly worth the licence fee alone
Becher Chase… not on telly?
But… but….. NO!!! *poof*
I need ATR or RUK to save me… i can’t allow my collection to be hampered!? It’s my favourite race of the year
Bar the National that isgone are the days when BBC had racing on every saturday.the good old days
Yes, I know – it’s actually scandalous the way they’ve treated the sport. There was a time when Ch4 would have their courses, and BBC had theirs – and you knew what meetings would be on at anytime of the year.
What’s happened to the Timeform Hurdle/ MercedesBenz Chase meeting at Chepstow? The BBC would cover that while Ch4 would have Newmarket/ Longchamps double header. Memories eh…??Am probably repeating myself here, Channel 4 are scheduled to show the Old Roan Chase from Aintree in about a month’s time, but they aren’t bothered to show the Becher Chase as its on a Sunday and the viewing figures will be poor…. oh yeah, and I’m sure the viewing figures during the week are much higher….
How can they dare to show the National itself but not be prepared to show one of the most important races in the lead up to it. Very poor imo.
How can they dare to the National itself but not be prepared to show one of the most important races in the lead up to it. Very poor imo.
Very poor is an understatement!! All they cover is basically the National, Derby and Royal Ascot – cherry picking!! Shouldn’t be allowed – if you want them, you have to have other meetings. Of course nothing wiill happen.
Saying that – Racing isn’t the only sport to have been given the cold shoulder. Remember programmes such as Sportsnight, Sport on Friday, Grandstand??? All covered minority ‘niche’ sports which were thankful of coverage. Now we know that the BBC just want the ‘Big’ events…..and all the ‘lesser’ sports have been shafted.
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I’m surprised that we haven’t seen any direct challenge to the BBC, on the grounds that it is breaking the terms of its Charter. Its pursuit of audience ratings for the sporting events
perceived
to be most populist cuts across its chartered agreement to present coverage of a wide and representative range of national interests, including sport – and the arts, which are even more blatantly sold short.
The BBC suits would of course argue that, over the year, they do precisely that. But the reality (as other posters have pointed out) is this creeping reduction in coverage of virtually everything other than football which leaves terrestrial sport in the doldrums.
Having said which, the idea that private individuals should pay direct to see what they are interested in, rather than through the licence fee, has plenty going for it.
I think we must face the brutal fact that a great era is over.
But how are people going to find that they are interested in a different sport if they have to be interested enough to pay for it in the first place? I actually found myself watching cricket when we won The Ashes, but, shortly afterwards it disappeared from our screens and I haven’t seen a match since.
The BBC have shown an awful lot of athletics this summer, reflecting the educational and cultural origins of their decision makers.
They love their snooker too. Cheap to film, perhaps?
They also spent forty massive of our money on F1 – a pastime of such teethgrinding tedium, even molluscs, trapped in front of a TV set, have been known to throw themselves into a tub of Saxa rather than be forced to watch it.
And why do people consider racing a minority sport? It isn’t. Badminton is a minority sport. Small bore shooting is a minority sport.
You jump fans ought to write a very big and angry letter about the Becher issue. Even I enjoy that contest – I might even sign it
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And why do people consider racing a minority sport? It isn’t. Badminton is a minority sport. Small bore shooting is a minority sport.
I don’t think the BBC would argue on the basis of "minority". They would argue on the basis of perceived
uncool
, which is an entirely different thing.
Now of course the prevalent image fostered by tabloid caricature is still that of hooray Henries, champagne and smoked salmon at one end of the stand; and flat caps, rollups and soggy chips in newspaper at the other.
Now in the main stand at Doncaster on St. Leger day I was hard pressed to see more than a handful of people over 40. Most were young men, flash, suited and booted, accompanied by smartly-dressed women in tight skirts and fascinators. Racing is evidently popular, but alas not
populist
in the way the media like, and (unfortunately) terminally
uncool
.
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But how are people going to find that they are interested in a different sport if they have to be interested enough to pay for it in the first place?
Many people who pay to watch are already committed, or practitioners themselves – certainly when it comes to cricket.
On another sport, I won’t forget the twist to my mindset at least when the
Tour de France
came through the South East London suburb where one of my households is based. Out of curiosity I turned out to see the thing, expecting there’d be a handful of odds and sods sprinkled along the route.
Not a bit of it. The crowd was five deep through Greenwich and all the way down towards Charlton’s Valley Stadium. There’d not been much publicity, and no media coverage worth speaking of. But talking to the onlookers, I discovered that many of them were enthusiastic, committed and knowledgeable: huge cycling aficionados, who claimed that cycling was the second most popular participation sport in the country.
I wasn’t surprised by this, or by the total lack of interest shown therein by our biased and football-crazed press and broadcasters.
Moral:
there are many more people out there who are actively interested in the plethora of other, more engaging sports than are obsessed by the sorry few our media masters continually foist upon us.
[After his exploits in this year’s
Tour de France
, and his Green Jersey today in Spain, Mark Cavendish should be a big front runner for BBC Sports Personality of the Year. In Europe he’s one of the most famous British sporting heroes. Yet is he even quoted in the betting?]
I don’t think you can get more uncool than running seven miles through a field wearing a stinky vest and plimsolls, Pinza.
Now in the main stand at Doncaster on St. Leger day I was hard pressed to see more than a handful of people over 40.
Agreed. Encountered quite a few young people betting on horses this past few weeks.
We’ve spoken about this before. Roger Mosey, the previous Head of Sport, was no fan of horse racing and is the notorious architect of the "implosion". Now he’s gone to sort out the Olympics, isn’t it time R4C/BHA/Racing Enterprises-United approach the new BBC panjandra?
Or do they care? Drone’s excellent post may be more attuned to current watercooler natters in Portman Square than we imagine.
Moral: there are many more people out there who are actively interested in the plethora of other, more engaging sports than are obsessed by the sorry few our media masters continually foist upon us.
Agreed Part II
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I don’t think you can get more uncool than running seven miles through a field wearing a stinky vest and plimsolls, Pinza.
Ah, but most of the BBC Execs. were raised in the faith that
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
was the Cool Bible of Our Time. You see, those sexy, sweaty working class boys in stinky vests and plimsolls were avatars of our Brave New Egalitarian (not to mention sado-masochistic-pinko) World.
Ah, but most of the BBC Execs. were raised in the faith that The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner was the Cool Bible of Our Time. You see, those sexy, sweaty working class boys in stinky vests and plimsolls were avatars of our Brave New Egalitarian (not to mention sado-masochistic-pinko) World.
Indeed, sir. Indeed.
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