Irish Racing on the verge of returning?

mike2084

Taken from today's Irish Field:

TV deal imminent

Progress has been made between SIS and HRI on the establishment of a TV channel which will cover Irish racing.
It's understood that a financial backer has been identified by SIS and the initial soundings from HRI have been positive.
The matter is expected to come up for discussion at Monday's HRI board meeting. Further encouragement comes from final audience figures for tvthree's Go Racing which attracted 1.2 million viewers during it's 13-week run. Over 80,000 tuned-in to the programmes presented by Brian Gleeson.

So, is there light at the end of the tunnel?

donhughberto

I know my dad badly misses the racing channel and i will pass this news on, he allways has attheraces on!

Thanks for that Michael!

Dec4

Looks like we might have to wait another while yet ( see below ).


Plans for launch of Racing Channel becoming clearer


by Michael Clower



THE new-look Racing Channel, whose launch is planned for next February, will be a subscription affair expected to cost between £10 and £15 a month.

Former Coral Eurobet managing director Trevor Beaumont and David Craven, ex-chief executive of 24 Dogs,are spearheading the project and have already had discussions with Horse Racing Ireland about the inclusion of Irish racing.

Craven said on Thursday: “Irish racing is intended to be an essential part of the package.

"We will also have racing fromthe ten GG-Media tracks and we are looking at including American racing as well. In addition we will have what we are calling the Best of British Greyhounds which is all the leading greyhound tracks.

“We don’t yet know exactly what it will cost but weare working on a price structure. We want something that the punter can see a profit from and from the viewer’s perspective it has got to compare with the charges under the Sky system.

“The price shouldn’t be too far from the Racing Channel’s £14.95 a month but we would like to get it below that and have the monthly charge around £10."

Craven added: “February remains the intended start date but we are dependent on a number of factors being met through the Sky Go-Live programme.”

HRI’s chief executive Brian Kavanagh confirmed his willingness for Irish racing to be part of the programme, subject to agreement being reached on terms.

He said: “One of the stated objectives in our strategic plan is to get our racing back onto a public channel.”

The old Racing Channel, which included Irish racing but paid nothing for the product, closed in January.


Plans for launch of Racing Channel becoming clearer

carrolls

Originally posted by Dec4
THE new-look Racing Channel, whose launch is planned for next February, will be a subscription affair expected to cost between £10 and £15 a month.

I would like to give all concerned a little advice for what its worth.
You will not make a profit from a Racing Pay channel.
Of the 7 million who have a Sky Subscription, you would be lucky to get a few hundred who would be willing to pay £10-£15 a month for Irish racing. They would rather spend their £10-£15 in the bookies.
Setanta's GAA coverage has been a dismal failure, Sky's Formula One coverage was a dismal failure.
People are very slow to pay for something they are used to getting free.

donhughberto

With 90% of racing on attheraces nobody will pay for irish racing and the odd GT track meeting not on attheraces. its robbery yet again. I know there was no subscription needed before they went out of business first time, i wouldnt think they will be up and running long before they are gone again!

Dec4

Don't be too surprised to see ATR start to charge when their current contract for carriage on Sky expires in May 2004. They are losing money hand over fist and their main shareholders ( Arena Leisure ) want to see some return for their outlay ( £307m for UK picture rights alone ).

donhughberto

I am surprised they didn't go on subscription first anyway. it is only for the mad gamblers really and they might get people to pay a tenner but they won't now as people want it free with sky sub.

DMC

The logic there was that it wasnt a stand-alone subscription channel, so it would pull in the viewers and build its audience. I've always believed that attheraces will become a stand-alone subscription, but I have not heard of any plans to change this recently. As for the contract for carriage, BSkyB part own the channel, so carriage wont be too much of an issue.

byte

I don't think it would be a good idea for the new Racing Channel to be a Premium channel, as atr is on Family Pack. Back in the day, the original Racing Channel was a premium channel but went FTA when/before ATR arrived on the scene, and it closes some time after.

The only way it could possibly work would be if ATR became a premium channel also. Probably be a good idea if both worked together so that a single €15 per month (for example) was for BOTH racing channels.

carrolls

I don't think that very many people would have such an interest in Irish 'point to point' racing to pay £15 for the pleasure of watching it 24/7. Most of the pleasure of racing or betting is actually strolling to the bookies or the actual race meeting and having a bet with your mates. OK if it was part of Sky's family pack maybe it would just about survive.
Have these people ever heard of market research?. I suppose their vanity dictates that their product, ie horse racing is more popular than it actually is.:rolleyes:

donhughberto

With the age of internet betting, a punter can have 24/7 access to making bets all from the armchair. A lot of people i know rareely visit the ole bookies nowadays as they can shop around between ladbrokes, hills, victor chandler etc for the best price or even go active on attheraces to bet.

With every meeting on it gives the armchair punter a choice!

Dec4

Viability of a new Racing Channel will obviously be very dependent on size of customer base. As an Irish racing fan I would be more than happy to pay ( tho' I wonder will I also need a Sky sub ? ).
I agree that a small minority will pay but does anyone know or have an idea of uptake numbers on say Setanta sport or F1+ ??

donhughberto

Not sure on setanta but F1+ has took a hammering and lost piles of money because people can see the races on ITV and RTE, why would anyone pay for something they can get free to air. Setanta show scottish football but the main games are shown on BBC and RTE anyway, again seems pointless having to pay for it. If it was free to view with a sky sub i dont think i would watch it. NASN i would love to have as i am a major fan off american baseball, basketball and football, anybody know how much it is?

DMC

But the reason F1 Digital + was invented by Bernie was to give an added view of F1 for the Grand Prix enthusiast.

It failed for two reasons, 1, not having a season ticket early on, and 2, it was the most boring season for years. If Bernievision was on the go this year, figures would've been a lot better.

As for info on NASN, www.nasn.com