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Horse racing tv rights post 2016
andy_d77
Posts: 682 Forum Member
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does anybody know when the next tender to bid for horse racing tv rights which are held by C4 will be issued? I spent last week at aintree where there was lots of discussion amongst supposed 'people in the know' and some journalists that the powers that be are not happy with the standard of coverage provided by C4 for the 'big' meetings and feel that it is not doing them any favours.
I'd be interested to know if the BBC would be interested in sharing again, or as I expect they wouldn't want the rights back and we see them move to a shared PTV & FTA combo, in a similar way to the sharing of the masters golf ie only the actual big race Derby / GN are shared the rest is split by days or races
If this was football and pay tv dominated there would be a thread already on this.
I'd be interested to know if the BBC would be interested in sharing again, or as I expect they wouldn't want the rights back and we see them move to a shared PTV & FTA combo, in a similar way to the sharing of the masters golf ie only the actual big race Derby / GN are shared the rest is split by days or races
If this was football and pay tv dominated there would be a thread already on this.
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There's a slim chance ITV 4 might have a sniff due to them losing a lot of football, but I can't see it going from C4 for a long time
don't forget these events are on the 'list a' events so have to be shown etc etc etc...
A national newspaper man did say that a certain meeting held in spring were after 'better' exposure, can't see courses reps running to the tv rights holders and saying 'we want out' just yet - you'd need to have a second broadcaster up your sleeve to even think of that move
The battle between Highflyer and IMG was bitter and dirty. In my view, the Highflyer coverage did need freshening up and enhancing in some ways, but this could have been done organically as the increased amount of coverage would've required more staff anyway, along with the fact that a few people were approaching retirement age. Andrew Franklin, the boss at Highflyer, had decades of production experience of racing going back to the days of World of Sport, and John Fairley, the former MD of Yorkshire TV, was also a real pro.
The current IMG coverage, while very slick, lacks the sense of fun and 'joie de vivre' of the Highflyer days, and the coverage and profile of the sport is suffering as a result.
thats the less swear laden view I got last weekend - can you or anyone help, were 'highflyer' seen as a shoe-in by those outside ch4? its IMG that seems to be getting most knocks
I think when the racing industry signed a contract to go exclusively with Channel 4 from 2013 onwards, they were expecting the coverage to be similar in tone to the Channel 4 Racing of the previous decades. It needed to evolve, as indeed it always had, but the basic product was a good one.
HighFlyer (and its forerunners) had produced Channel 4 Racing since its inception, and as I mentioned before, Andrew Franklin had been a senior member of the production team since the World of Sport/ITV days. 2010 was the first time the production contract had gone out to tender, and HighFlyer got a renewal until the end of 2012, albeit with some changes promised, such as the new-look Morning Line, some fresh faces, and a reduction in the number of appearances for John McCririck.
The industry would've assumed the coverage would have continued in a similar light post 1st January 2013. Instead, what we got was a bitter and dirty bidding war between HighFlyer, a regional, independent production company with decades of experience in covering the sport, and IMG, a huge, multi-national company which poached two of HighFlyer's production staff.
The executive producer at IMG, Graham Fry, has a 'controversial' reputation to say the least - he's the man who sacked the BBC's long-serving snooker commentator, Clive Everton, in a corridor after decades of service, due to him publishing the truth about the sport's then-governing body in a magazine he edits.
Instead of a bigger, better version of the HighFlyer-produced programme we had enjoyed for decades, we had a bland, soulless IMG-produced programme. It lacks the sense of fun and enthusiasm of the old programme. Yes, I welcome the addition of Clare Balding and Mick Fitzgerald, but all that crap about wanting to attract a 'younger', more modern audience has backfired spectacularly. The viewing figures are down and the new programme hasn't captured the public's imagination.
I have a great deal of sympathy for Franklin, Fairley and others who built up Channel 4 Racing over many decades and as soon as the opportunity came to broadcast the Grand National and Royal Ascot, the production contract was snatched from them under highly dubious circumstances.
The racing industry has the right to feel let down by Channel 4 and IMG. This is NOT the kind of coverage they thought they'd signed up to. However, it's unlikely they would find another home on free-to-air TV now.
The HighFlyer (and its predecessors, 3on4) produced Channel 4 Racing was essentially an enhanced version of the old ITV coverage. Midweek racing moved across to Channel 4 before weekend coverage followed some time afterwards. It was the same on-air team and largely the same production team too.
That team evolved and changed over the years but was disbanded when HighFlyer lost the production contract at the end of 2012.
There was talk of Andrew Franklin and John Fairley setting up a new, free-to-air sports channel focussing on Olympic sports called London Legacy, but these plans came to nothing and it might be a bit late now to create an Olympic legacy. I don't know what their future is. Fairley is well past retirement age but of course that doesn't necessarily mean he's actually going to retire. I expect he's still enjoying his days out at the races - Greg Dyke once joked that Fairley built up Yorkshire TV into one of the country's most successful production bases from his box at York racecourse!
Is there any chance that HighFlyer could win back the contract from IMG come 2017?
I think I'm right in saying that HighFlyer continues to produce Racing UK's content, although I'd be willing to stand corrected on that. If not, then the company doesn't actually do much.
I think post-2017 is a long shot for HighFlyer to resume the Channel 4 Racing contract. There was a great deal of bitterness in the last bid. A few issues:
1. HighFlyer doesn't have the financial clout of IMG. HighFlyer is a small, provincial, but very effective independent production company. IMG is an international giant with a presence in at least 30 countries.
2. Will Channel 4 even be interested in renewing its racing contract? It's a business and continually low viewing figures will be a matter of concern.
2. If HighFlyer has been inactive for several years, it's hard to see them springing back into life and putting a bid and team together which may well not win the contract.
4. John Fairley will be approaching his late 70s by then. I don't know Andrew Franklin's age but he's not all that young. Would they have the appetite to return, especially in light of the bitterness with which their company lost the contract last time around?
thanks for this makes good reading, One of the points that I'm interested in as i'm impatient and like to look at possible outcomes of things, is the listed status of these events.
I think ch4 will be the only bid on the table in 2016, the BBC have made it very clear and have taken editorial decisions based upon this decision that they will not be bidding there is also some direct impact with other BBC sports coverage on a 'new' 4 year contract so doubtful they would bid.
I'm not old enough to recall ITV coverage on WOS but have seen odd bits - would ITV want to share races with ch4 [like they did in the past] and give it proper standing? One of the debates I often have with work mates is that ITV[4] *could* have a grandstand type show now as they have lots of highlights and a smattering of live material that could easily fit a saturday afternoon esp with a 'soccer saturday' style show included, would the advertisers like it would it need to be on itv?
I guess that horse racing could not survive without FTA tv exposure - or is that too harsh, reason being it is possible that one event (rugby league cup final) could well be being pulled from the list 'A' of events, or as a minimum be shared with SKY. Would this therefore lead the BHA or whoever deals with contracts etc to already be thinking of petitioning the government for a law change so they could in practice sell out to the highest bidder, thus creating a larger pot from which to distribute funds.
I am sure someone has looked at football cricket and rugby [both codes] and seen the 'bidding war' that there was over their rights, I can't understand why even with list a status remaining other big events are not being offered to PTV
Or is it just the case that with RUK & ATR there's no real need for another PTV channel to want to share rights with?
[just to add and i'm putting it here 'cos I don't want a lot of football fans going on about this point, but surely the FA & FL miss a trick in not selling a 'reporter live at the ground' package for all prem games or do they? or is it tied in elsewhere?]
I think thats it - it comes as a full package. The odd event others maybe interested in is saddled under the same contract as a fog bound Tuesday at Sedgefield. Sky show evening racing sometimes through the summer and seem to be content with that level of coverage
If ITV were to bid, I would suspect most meetings would be on ITV4, with the big events on ITV.
As for the old ITV7 on World of Sport, in the 1980's ITV decided that blokes in working mens clubs doing an accumulator on a Saturday afternoon weren't that attractive to advertisers. The original C4 Racing was typically from one course, only expanding to the 2 courses that we see now in the 1990's, when racing, or should i say "a day at the races" became a thing to do for younger people / stag / hen do's etc. Big Mac, was a pantomime vilian and at times a pantomime dame, people lapped it up. Its all a bit serious now. I attend Cheltenham, an have done for 20 years, I am generally to be found by the betting ring, there's a buzz there, but it does miss the big fella!
Their last tweet was in May 2013 but recent posts seems to be non-racing related, perhaps posted by a former staff member.
https://twitter.com/Highflyer_TV
Any one of them, wondering if this summer Sky might show a lot more evening horse racing, as they haven't got as much County Cricket filler for the summer evenings anymore
Great viewing for a Saturday afternoon.....hang on your right ive just woken up and it's 2014.
Much like Cricket going to Sky and racing going to Channel 4, viewing figures have dropped alarmingly but it return the respective authorities have the money, alas I doubt that will ever change.
At least for the time being live Horse racing is FTA.
The Winning Post for evening racing has been on SKY Sports since the early 90's it was the first channel to show evening racing and preceded the main racing channels.
No point Sky showing racing that much as they have ATR on their platform
Also it was only in 1993 that betting shops could open in the evenings during the summer.
So C4 are the only broadcaster that will show racing every weekend and unless they break up the rights again will be the only option on the table.
I watch ATR and RUK and very rarely C4 as they don't target show at me, a real racing fan. My dad does not have RUK so relies on C4. Unfortunately racing is not as popular with more younger people betting on football so perhaps C4 struggling is more of a social change rather than them being poor.
In terms of spending, plenty of the money they put into the rights they must surely recoup with all the betting advertising which would not be allowed on the BBC.
Also should the BBC spend the license fee on a sport that is well covered on terrestrial TV?
Finally if the racing tracks followed Towcester lead and gave more free entry days then it may attract a new audience who would get into the game and watch on TV.
For me it would be better if RUK became free to air, maybe sponsored by the bookies as turnover would increase with TV racing on every meeting.
Some sports governing bodies are keen for their product to be shown as a stand alone programme these days. That was one of the reasons that apparently the ERC weren't happy with the BBC's coverage of the Heineken Cup. It was shown within Grandstand, sandwiched between other stuff, rather than as a stand alone programme.
ITV has enough sports rights to have a 'World of Sport' type programme. They could show 'On the Ball' from 12:30pm, a mix of live sports and highlights until 4:40pm ish (their motorsport rights, cycling, tennis, darts, snooker and they could buy in secondary boxing rights from the previous weekend very cheaply), then a results service from 4:40 with 'down the line' match reports from key games. But my point is, would they WANT to? The trend these days is for stand-alone programmes and a much fuller level of coverage than 30 years ago.
It's not entirely unthinkable, but really the trend is towards stand-alone programmes now.
Where have you seen this? I'm sure if the BBC were invited to tender for the racing contract from 2017 onwards they would bid. The Grand National, for example, would fall under their business model of broadcasting "events which bring the nation together".
Two parties in particular were insistent of the sole terrestrial broadcaster model going forward. While Ascot - understandably - wanted to keep the status quo, it was Racecourse Media Group (RMG - the parent company of Racing UK) and the British Champions Series who wanted the sole terrestrial broadcaster, preferably C4. Indeed, in the latter's publicity before last years BCS, they were giving it large about "every race being on the same one channel"
Familiarity is now breeding contempt regarding C4's weekly coverage with viewers turning off in their thousands.
You're getting mixed up with F1. The seven-year joint broadcasting deal with BBC/Sky in that sport expires in 2018; the four-year racing broadcasting deal with C4 expires at the end of 2016.
Yep, that's why the BBC pruned their racing coverage from 2007-2012 to cover meetings that would justify being on a stand-alone programme.
When you consider what fills the main ITV channel on a Saturday afternoon, this is an option ITV should seriously consider. The problem with investing in a football preview and results service is of course that it would be in direct competition with the BBC and Sky - and be bound to lose. To make a credible Grandstand-style programme, but also cost-effective, maybe on-screen goalflashes and a skeletal results round-up would suffice.
If the rest of the content was generated from rights which ITV already hold and they managed to do some good business in acquiring others, then why wouldn't they want to do it? At least it would be a point of difference for them I remember Granada used to have their own regional two-hour sports slot on a Saturday afternoon, Granada Sport (also shown on Border) - but within content originating from further afield.
I don't see ITV going in any horse racing as it's not exactly a ratings winner. I suspect that ITV will plug the hole left in it's sports portfolio with highlights packages and maybe live boxing which would be a good fit for ITV4.
Racing will likely stay on Channel 4 unless Channel Five suddenly get the urge to bid.