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Horse Racing on Terrestrial TV |
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#1 |
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Join Date: Feb 2010
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Horse Racing on Terrestrial TV
There is a report in today's Racing Post (unfortunately not available online) that Channel 4 are aiming to be the sole terrestrial broadcaster of horse racing in the UK from 2013, wresting away meetings like the Derby, the Grand National and Royal Ascot from the BBC.
The BBC pays £7.5 million for 13 days racing a year from 2010-2012 and the report stated that C4 would break away from their habit of getting the authorities to pay for their broadcast of racing and go flat out to pay for the whole shebang and the offer on the table reportedly dwarfs the current Beeb deal (It is also worth noting that C4 had bid to show Formula 1 from 2013 onwards, so they have a war chest for sports rights available). Given the Beeb's well-documented situation and C4 having available funds, this deal has legs and could well happen. And if it does, this could well be the final nail in the coffin for BBC Sport, losing coverage of a sport and one big event in particular, for well over 50 years and another victim of the Tory-led Government freezing the licence fee.
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#2 |
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Join Date: Oct 2007
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It would surprise me if the BBC let go of the Grand National.
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#3 |
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Waterford Ireland
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Where are C4 getting the money for these rather audacious proposals/bids?
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#4 |
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I enjoy watching horse racing, and feel that the BBC gave up on it a couple of years ago. CH4 coverage and presentation is far superior with the notable exception of clare balding who has decent knowledge of the sport. Wouldn't surprise me if the BBC only held onto the Grand National and nothing else, i can remember when the beeb used to have midweek racing on BBC2 afternoons from places like Windsor etc. It was great for a shift worker like myself.
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#5 |
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Join Date: Jun 2009
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I'm sure McCririck would be ecstatic if the Grand National came to Channel 4.
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#6 |
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Quote:
Given the Beeb's well-documented situation and C4 having available funds, this deal has legs and could well happen. And if it does, this could well be the final nail in the coffin for BBC Sport, losing coverage of a sport and one big event in particular, for well over 50 years and another victim of the Tory-led Government freezing the licence fee.
![]() Not at all the 'final nail in the coffin' - a loss, but the Beeb have been moving away from horse racing for sometime, even more so since the end of Grandstand. A far bigger loss would be Wimbledon, the World Cup or - biggest of all - the Olympics and probably the Six Nations as well. The Beeb have (Olympics aside- reports are they're working on an agreement for future games) ensured they're all tied up on long term deals. Also worth noting that as part of the 'Delivering Quality First' report and after the F1 rights were shared the Beeb said they didn't invisige loosing any more 'crown jewels'. This deal - if being considered - would change that but of the ones they have the Derby and Grand National would probably be the least 'jewels'. One of their priorities was 'events that bring the nation together' (the closest sport got to a direct mention) - ie those that go beyond normal fans of the sport. The Grand National and the Derby probably could be argued to come under that heading (Six Nations, Olympics, World Cup, Wimbledon certainly do), so they'd want to hang on to them- and it explains some of the rights they let go- Australian Open Tennis, African Cup of Nations amongst them. On F1 its not clear whether C4 actually ended up bidding- all we know for sure is they asked a design company to put together a pitch document- which they released (and then removed) on their website. They have lost the World Athletics Championships (after 2013) which are returning to the BBC for 2015 and 2017 (in London) so they'll have a bit of spare cash there as well. Might be a tempting deal for the horse racing authorities, but its a bit 'eggs in one basket'. What if, further down the line, C4 decide they're not interested any more? |
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#7 |
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Join Date: May 2005
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Yes:
Six Nations - to 2017 Wimbledon - to 2017 F1 - to 2018 Except for MOTD (which must be 99% certain to be retained), BBC has done an excellent job in locking up all its key contracts for a very long time indeed. The Grand National (and to a lesser extent The Derby) would obviously be a big prestige loss but it's only one (or two with The Derby) big afternoons per year so it doesn't change much in the big scheme of things. As posted above, the BBC is not planning to lose any more crown jewels. But that does rather depend on being able to renew existing deals at prices similar to what is currently being paid. If someone else comes in for anything at a much higher price than the BBC is now paying, the BBC is not in a position to respond. |
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#8 |
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Well, C4 are definitely not short of money for sports rights, but not all sporting rights sellers see £££ as their primary concern, so we'll have to wait and see what happens with Ascot and the Grand National etc.
Pretty sure ITV, and subsequently C4, had The Derby rights for a long time, up until a few years ago, anyway. |
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#9 |
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Join Date: Nov 2003
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is horse racing even a real sport? best I can tell it mostly only exists so that people have something to bet on.
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#10 |
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Quote:
is horse racing even a real sport? best I can tell it mostly only exists so that people have something to bet on.
BBC utilises personeal quite well when they do the races with Balding etc, even John Parrot, Dan Walker and co used it gives it a good feel. If BBC was to drop most it's racing (that's left) Would Jim McGrath now be soley stuck on ATR or would/could he appear on Channel 4 alongside Simon Holt? |
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#11 |
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Quote:
always one...
BBC utilises personeal quite well when they do the races with Balding etc, even John Parrot, Dan Walker and co used it gives it a good feel. If BBC was to drop most it's racing (that's left) Would Jim McGrath now be soley stuck on ATR or would/could he appear on Channel 4 alongside Simon Holt? If there is so little of it left on BBC, then im not sure of the big loss. |
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#12 |
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Join Date: Mar 2008
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I struggle to see why the BBC pays large amounts of cash - in this case £7.5M for events that include the Grand National and the Derby - that are on the protected sports list and therefore are to be broadcast free-to-air?
Why don't they offer a fraction of that, and if the hosts don't like it, sell the rights to C4/elsewhere. Also, what would happen if both the BBC and C4 bid peanuts for a protected event that by law has to be free-to-air, and the organisers refused to accept such a low bid? |
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#13 |
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Quote:
Also, what would happen if both the BBC and C4 bid peanuts for a protected event that by law has to be free-to-air, and the organisers refused to accept such a low bid?
It would then be the Secretary of State's call as to what was "reasonable". What it all boils down to is that the Listed events system can only survive by consensus. |
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#14 |
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Join Date: Feb 2006
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Quote:
is horse racing even a real sport? best I can tell it mostly only exists so that people have something to bet on.
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#15 |
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Quote:
I am not saying the BBC does not provide good coverage, im just asking if horseracing is a sport or not, for all of my life its been associated with gambling, the working class on the races, and the upper class on investments in the horse.
If there is so little of it left on BBC, then im not sure of the big loss. |
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#16 |
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Join Date: Dec 2008
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I am very surprised by this I would have thought Channel 4 would move away from Horse Racing when analogue went or shift it to More 4 I would have thought T4 would more suit their Saturday afternoon schedule.
With ATR & Racing UK and the races broadcast in all bookmakers and most betting sites let you watch a race if you bet a £1 is the necessity still their for Terrestial coverage? No other sport really gets two dedicated channels 20+ hours a day What are the ratings for Channel 4 racing on a Saturday? Are they healthy for the time slot? |
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#17 |
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Join Date: Aug 2011
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Saturday afternoons wouldnt be the same with horse racing een though i dont really like the sport, apart from grand national.
I am 36, and theres always been horse racing on, I remember my grandfather used to like going up the bookies and doing the ITVSeven as it was called then. Was there such a thing as ITV7 or did my grandfather just call it that? |
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#18 |
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Quote:
Saturday afternoons wouldnt be the same with horse racing een though i dont really like the sport, apart from grand national.
I am 36, and theres always been horse racing on, I remember my grandfather used to like going up the bookies and doing the ITVSeven as it was called then. Was there such a thing as ITV7 or did my grandfather just call it that? |
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#19 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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I have an old TV Times from July, 1981. World of Sport on July 25 carried the ITV Seven from Newcastle and Beverley presented by Derek Thompson and Jim McGrath. Wasn't this something ITV cooked-up with the bookies ?
On the wider front - doesn't this story fall into the category of ''C4 to Bid for Wimbledon'' which we've been hearing every few years and nothing has ever happened. |
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#20 |
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Join Date: Sep 2003
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The BBC have for some time been uninterested in horse racing and are really only interested in the crown jewels. Their racing coverage is bloated and on the whole inferior to C4's so it will be no great loss if C4, who week in and week out provide very good coverage, take their remaining fixtures and if it means Willie Carson disappears it can only be good news.
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#21 |
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Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: west dunbartonshire
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Jmclaugh- totally agree, poor show from Beeb re Racing coverage. World of Sport with Dickie Davies, usually kicked off with an hour of wrestling, which still gets repeated on Men+Movies channel or something these days.
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#22 |
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Join Date: Apr 2008
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Quote:
is horse racing even a real sport? best I can tell it mostly only exists so that people have something to bet on.
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#23 |
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Join Date: Dec 2006
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Quote:
No the ITV Seven was a real thing, I'm also too young to remember it but apparently it was part of World of Sport
It was a very hard bet to win, but if someone did, they'd often be invited to the studio and would be interviewed by Dickie. |
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#24 |
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Join Date: Aug 2011
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Yeah thanks for the replys yes it was hard cant ever remember my grandfather even getting one winner.
Only ever bet on 2 races, both grand nationals, one was when they had the bomb scare, and the other was when the tape didnt go down properly So if any of you fancy calling a halt to a race pm me. |
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#25 |
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Quote:
Jmclaugh- totally agree, poor show from Beeb re Racing coverage. World of Sport with Dickie Davies, usually kicked off with an hour of wrestling, which still gets repeated on Men+Movies channel or something these days.
After WoS finished in October 1985, it did move to an earlier Saturday lunchtime slot until it was axed at the end of 1988. |
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