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I cannot afford RUK (nor will my employer pay for it!)
I don’t understand why RUK cannot provide a PPV system on a meeting-by-meeting basis.
Completely miss the days when the Craven meeting used to be on C4 but also completely understand why Countdown etc is of more general appeal to terrestial tv viewers.
What I don’t get is why C4 cover racing on Grand National Saturday when surely nobody would be watching…….if there are only so many days to go around ( hence another reason why the Craven and other half decent meetings are missing) then surely this shouldn’t be one that is included.
Pay per view RUK is a great idea.
Agree with the above poster entirely.
There was something about Channel 4 televising the important Craven meeting which set the scene for the flat season. It is sadly missed.
RUK doesn’t have the density of subscribers necessary to turn a race meeting into an
event
– which is why racing needs terrestrial coverage, even paid terrestrial coverage, if necessary.
Cheltenham to the left, Betdaq between the eyes, Gregory Peck to the right: a heavenly afternoon, well done C4 I say
Are you privileged enough to afford an extra tenner per month Racing Daily?
If so, RUK live-online is waiting for you
Or for zilch you have their free-to-view replays
Value or what?
Being underprivileged I have neither ESPN nor Sky Sports. It’s so unfair. Life’s a bitch innit?
Seriously, the Craven meet lacking terrestrial coverage does seem to epitomise the mess racing finds itself in at present
Is this the first year C4 haven’t shown it?
Yes, it would be nice if the Craven meeting were to return to terrestrial TV, but I don’t see it happening in the foreseeable future. I’m afraid the days of broadcasters being expected to offer some kind of "service for punters" have long gone, and probably quite rightly.
Maybe something could be done, some kind of trade-off, if C4’s pointless Grand National day offering were dropped, along with about a dozen or so other saturdays when, objectively speaking, the fare on offer is undeserving of being broadcast. But no doubt there’d be many loud squawks of protest if this were to be done!
Aren’t they compelled to broadcast on Saturdays, Venusian, because of the Scoop 6? Otherwise, I would definitely agree with you.
Isn’t that stipulation in the contract between the BHA and C4?
Save for the top notch post race analysis if Mellish or a few others are doing it, 20 quid a month for endless repeats, endless previews of the same races, endless waffle in some cases and bookmaker infestation, its just not worth it anymore, and I was a believer at one stage.
You’d wonder if they’ve shot themselves in the foot with the free stuff on the SL site. Its all you need imo.
Thank god for Sporting Life is what I say, probably the best free website around. I was extremely disappointed when Racing Post went to a pay site as I primarily used their facilities, and as I am only able to watch racing at the weekends due to work commitments, I can’t really justify in getting RUK or Sky for ATR. But I suppose if you require live racing/endless info pretty much 24/7 for what ever reason (usually for pro-gambling/in the industry I would imagine) then I suppose £20 a month (or 70p a day, as much as a bar of chocolate?) for RUK, whatever it is for RP and the package to get ATR would probably be worth it.
Save for the top notch post race analysis if Mellish or a few others are doing it, 20 quid a month for endless repeats, endless previews of the same races, endless waffle in some cases and bookmaker infestation, its just not worth it anymore, and I was a believer at one stage.
You’d wonder if they’ve shot themselves in the foot with the free stuff on the SL site. Its all you need imo.
There is comfort in routine and the familiar so on unsubscribing from televisual RUK and ATR I was concerned there would be an unfillable hole in my life; but not so, I don’t miss them at all and find the tenner-per-month online live RUK and free repeats-only ATR more than adequate
If anything, watching the racing on one PC monitor with Purple and Blue on the other concentrates the mind whereas lying prostrate on a sofa in front of the box dozing off to the soporific sounds of Nick Luck and the clippety-clop of horses hooves obviously doesn’t: where did that afternoon go?
Less valuable time thieved
As you intimate CR, the endless chat, repeats and advertising is tiresome and to be (nearly) free of all that is a blessing
I will shortly be unsubscribing from live-online RUK too until October and will content myself with the free replays as per ATR as and when I need it or fancy it
Yep, having free access to replays on both their own site and SL can’t do much for the subscriber count I’d imagine
Channel 4 hasn’t broadcast the Craven meeting for a few years now for the reason they can get a much bigger audience showing repeats and Countdown rather than a few horses running at Newmarket.
I don’t think it will be long before Channel 4 drops their racing coverage altogether, arguing that its too expensive and it doesn’t get the viewers.
I cannot afford RUK (nor will my employer pay for it!)
I don’t understand why RUK cannot provide a PPV system on a meeting-by-meeting basis.
Let’s not forget that the BHB scuppered a deal between Betfair and RUK when it started up in 2004 that would have seen the channel remain free to air and available in about 12 million homes rather than just be restricted to the 40 or so thousand "privileged" subscribers.
It was a nightmare getting my RUK installed by cable. I had to get the workmen to tunnel under the moat and in the end knock down the servants’ quarters. The servants are now living in the stables. Still, it was worth it. For me, at least.
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God: I wish I was supercilious!
- Total Posts 438
God: I wish I was supercilious!
God, I wish I were Superman!
I’d be able to fly from meeting to meeting, thereby avoiding that twenty quid a month subscription and those pesky ads.
And there’d be the added bonus of being able to throw Nick Luck and Rishi Persad spinning into space. Cool.
God, I wish I were Superman!
I’d be able to fly from meeting to meeting, thereby avoiding that twenty quid a month subscription and those pesky ads.
Not at the moment you wouldn’t!
I don’t see why Channel4 are getting flack for this. I think we’re all forgetting that the principal audience of their daytime schedules is ‘people of a certain age.’ I’d imagine if they showed racing from Newmarket instead of Countdown & Deal Or No Deal with ‘that lovely Noel Edmonds’ there’d be uproar. In fact I suspect if they showed the weeks winning lottery numbers instead of Countdown there’d be uproar also.
We need to accept that Channel4 are not a sports channel. Just think how much sports coverage they had a few years ago; Italian football, Tour De France, test cricket & going back further, American Football & baseball. For what I suspect are financial reasons they’ve let them all go. We should almost consider ourselves lucky that they continue to show any racing at all.
We really should be pointing our guns at the BBC considering they’re the ‘public service broadcaster.’
BT Vision is rubbish by the way, you can’t get ATR!
Anthony,
When Ch4 do show midweek racing – which they will at Chester and York next month – it has no effect on Countdown or Noel Edmonds as the racecourses are compelled to start early so that the show can be fitted into the schedule before them and in place of the usual diet of ancient films.
The last couple of years that the meeting was televised, the first race was at 1:10 and the feature races were all run before 3:00. So perhaps Newmarket just decided that the coverage, which earned them not a penny remember, wasn’t worth the hassle of the early start.
AP
[quote="apracing")
The last couple of years that the meeting was televised, the first race was at 1:10 and the feature races were all run before 3:00. So perhaps Newmarket just decided that the coverage, which earned them not a penny remember, wasn’t worth the hassle of the early start.
AP
Don’t think that was the case, if Newmarket had the coverage they would have started earlier. Paul Struthers has said on this forum, racing will bow down to C4 & BBC regards schedules etc.
Having said that I quite like the early starts, should be more of them, spreads the racing out a bit more rather than all the afternoon meetings starting around the 2.00 mark.
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