ITV win rights to GB horse racing from 2017

mike2084

UK horseracing is moving to ITV from next January say reports, could this be something that UTVI could get Irish rights to, if they still around.

http://www.racingpost.com/news/horse-racing/shock-as-channel-4-loses-racing-rights-to-itv/2012604/top/

mikeym

Its Utv Irelands One year anniversary and I think the Channel Number on Sky is too down the list.

3e should be made do a swap with Utv Ireland but thats my opinion and im sure someone will tell me 3e were there first.

iseegirls

mike2084 wrote: »

UK horseracing is moving to ITV from next January say reports, could this be something that UTVI could get Irish rights to, if they still around.

http://www.racingpost.com/news/horse-racing/shock-as-channel-4-loses-racing-rights-to-itv/2012604/top/

There's racing events like Cheltenham that RTE would like to keep hold of, whether they have an agreement there for that already. Would be interesting though to see how it turns out. It's a very weird purchase for ITV, completely unexpected.

political analyst

iseegirls wrote: »

There's racing events like Cheltenham that RTE would like to keep hold of, whether they have an agreement there for that already. Would be interesting though to see how it turns out. It's a very weird purchase for ITV, completely unexpected.

ITV used to have racing coverage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_ITV_Seven

icdg

So did RTE. Sports Stadium covered UK racing every Saturday. Now from what I can tell (and it may be this way since 1997) the only UK racing on the station is the Aintree Grand National meeting and the Cheltenham Gold Cup meeting.

There will be a lot of annoyance if someone doesn't pick up the slack, but will it be RTE? A lot of Channel 4's coverage is on weekdays and from what I can see RTE is no longer able to drop children's programmes from RTE2 on weekdays except for rare exemptions - certainly not on the regular basis picking this up would require them to do.

Alternatively Irish racing fans will have to get used to watching RUK or ATR for this coverage, or go to the bookies.

iseegirls

icdg wrote: »

There will be a lot of annoyance if someone doesn't pick up the slack, but will it be RTE? A lot of Channel 4's coverage is on weekdays and from what I can see RTE is no longer able to drop children's programmes from RTE2 on weekdays except for rare exemptions - certainly not on the regular basis picking this up would require them to do.

Alternatively Irish racing fans will have to get used to watching RUK or ATR for this coverage, or go to the bookies.

Maybe Setanta Sports will take up the Irish coverage.

RTE1 is repeats from around 2.30-4.30, and if they (could) move Neighbours and Home&Away to RTE2, then they'll have 3 hours to play with in regards to racing. They can add a few more Irish racing events like Wexford and Tramore - where they never show live.

Elmo

iseegirls wrote: »

Maybe Setanta Sports will take up the Irish coverage.

RTE1 is repeats from around 2.30-4.30, and if they (could) move Neighbours and Home&Away to RTE2, then they'll have 3 hours to play with in regards to racing. They can add a few more Irish racing events like Wexford and Tramore - where they never show live.

Any long term changes to RTE's schedules have to be approved by the Minister.

icdg

Confirmed now:

http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/british-horseracing-announces-exclusive-domestic-tv-rights-deal-itv

Thread split from UTV

B17G

mike2084 wrote: »

UK horseracing is moving to ITV from next January say reports, could this be something that UTVI could get Irish rights to, if they still around.

http://www.racingpost.com/news/horse-racing/shock-as-channel-4-loses-racing-rights-to-itv/2012604/top/

Couple of tweets in this article noting that ITV is not on Virgin/UPC. Not good for horse racing fans in the Dublin area, unless as you say UTVI get the RoI rights, or you have a dish.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/sport/channel-4s-loss-of-horse-racing-rights-could-have-a-big-effect-on-irish-fans-713788.html

Originally posted by icdg: Confirmed now:

http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/british-horseracing-announces-exclusive-domestic-tv-rights-deal-itv

EDIT: a minimum of 34 meetings on ITV1 and 60 on ITV4 from that ITV press release.

Jimmy Bottles

Absolutely dreadful news for those stuck on Virgin.

I can't imagine that UPC are too happy either. Further loss of content will force more viewers over to Sky and FTA Satellite.

icdg

iseegirls wrote: »

Maybe Setanta Sports will take up the Irish coverage.

The problem for them might be whatever terms are in the agreement they have with Racing UK (which always struck me as an odd one, a standalone premium channel agreeing to supply some of its content to a basic cable channel).

Elmo

Jimmy Bottles wrote: »

Absolutely dreadful news for those stuck on Virgin.

I can't imagine that UPC are too happy either. Further loss of content will force more viewers over to Sky and FTA Satellite.

They could always buy the rights and put it on 3e. I suspect that ITV4 will air these events.

mike2084

Setanta already have a deal to simulcast Racing UK for about 50 days a year. To the committed racing folk it won't make a lot of differnce as most of those have RUK and ATR or else watch in a betting shop. I'm told that the ATR and RUK contracts are up for renewal later this year which could really change the landscape.

AwaitYourReply

icdg wrote: »

So did RTE. Sports Stadium covered UK racing every Saturday. Now from what I can tell (and it may be this way since 1997) the only UK racing on the station is the Aintree Grand National meeting and the Cheltenham Gold Cup meeting.

There will be a lot of annoyance if someone doesn't pick up the slack, but will it be RTE? A lot of Channel 4's coverage is on weekdays and from what I can see RTE is no longer able to drop children's programmes from RTE2 on weekdays except for rare exemptions - certainly not on the regular basis picking this up would require them to do.

Alternatively Irish racing fans will have to get used to watching RUK or ATR for this coverage, or go to the bookies.

Yes and the now defunct BBC Grandstand would often have inserted RTÉ Ireland in their rolling credits for any horseracing coverage from Ireland too back in the days so; it was probably a case of if you give us UK major races then we can give you the Irish major races in the old days. Not sure how it went in recent years. Still, I suppose you have dedicated racing channels: attheraces and Racing UK.

Frankly, I don't understand why RTÉ 2 cannot interrupt children's programmes given that we've now all be forced on to either digital terrestrial, cable or satellite tv and they now all carry RTÉ Junior which is broadcasting similar line of kids programming as RTÉ 2. Perhaps the relevant line Minister needs to update this policy as it seems outdated and no longer necessary that RTÉ 2 even carries children's tv programmes in this block since a dedicated digital tv channel was set up specially to fulfill this purpose some years ago.

AwaitYourReply

Elmo wrote: »

They could always buy the rights and put it on 3e. I suspect that ITV4 will air these events.

I understand that 25 days of racing will go out on the main itv channel across each year and the rest of the coverage is likely to appear on itv4 like you said.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/racing/itv-wins-horse-racing-tv-rights-deal-374116.html

I know that when they secured French Open Grand Slam Tennis Championships from Roland Garros, you would find the major finals on itv main channel while rest of their coverage would be broadcast on itv4.

Elmo

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

Frankly, I don't understand why RTÉ 2 cannot interrupt children's programmes given that we've now all be forced on to either digital terrestrial, cable or satellite tv and they now all carry RTÉ Junior which is broadcasting similar line of kids programming as RTÉ 2. Perhaps the relevant line Minister needs to update this policy as it seems outdated and no longer necessary that RTÉ 2 even carries children's tv programmes in this block since a dedicated digital tv channel was set up specially to fulfill this purpose some years ago.

Minister Rabbitte was asked (in 2013), he failed to make a decision and RTÉ withdrew the proposal to move RTÉjr from RTÉ2 (in 2014). Minister White did expect to see a new proposal in December but it has been moved to January when RTÉ are expected to provide a updated proposal for a number of new services.

AwaitYourReply

Elmo wrote: »

Minister Rabbitte was asked (in 2013), he failed to make a decision and RTÉ withdrew the proposal to move RTÉjr from RTÉ2 (in 2014). Minister White did expect to see a new proposal in December but it has been moved to January when RTÉ are expected to provide a updated proposal for a number of new services.

Interesting - I imagine RTÉ will be anxious to explore several options which obviously would require approval from the Minister in question to be allowed generate commercial revenue (i.e.) advertising from certain services as they are unable to invest or expand them and they are trying to survive without adequate resources.

Obviously the Minister concerned will have to be careful to strike the right balance as the Independent commercial sector will not sit back if they feel RTÉ is being given unfair advantage especially as it has a large portion of the existing TV Licence Fee funding and advertising on some stations. However; I am sure that RTÉ will argue that it has a lot of other baggage that it needs to shoulder such as Irish language programming, concert orchestras, Aertel digital teletext which runs on Saorview and so on etc;

Little or no commercial advertising is derived from the following RTÉ TV & Radio channels RTÉ junior, RTÉ News Now, RTÉ One+1, RTÉ Digital Radio channels like RTÉ Radio1 Extra, RTÉ 2XM, RTÉ Gold, RTÉ Pulse, RTÉ junior radio/RTÉ Chill. I believe RTÉ Choice on digital radio closed down some time ago.

It may suit the Minister to kick this headache straight into touch at this late stage in the government's schedule. I imagine that the General Election date will probably be announced very shortly as I suspect if they have a 3-4 week lead-in canvassing campaign right up to Election Voting Day so; you are probably talking late Feb/early March to polling date? Any later than this would run the risk of interrupting St. Patrick's Holiday period when Taoiseach, Tánaiste and other key government ministers travel to various capital cities including Washington DC in the United States during the week of St. Patrick's Day.

Elmo

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

Obviously the Minister concerned will have to be careful to strike the right balance as the Independent commercial sector will not sit back if they feel RTÉ is being given unfair advantage especially as it has a large portion of the existing TV Licence Fee funding and advertising on some stations. However; I am sure that RTÉ will argue that it has a lot of other baggage that it needs to shoulder such as Irish language programming, concert orchestras, Aertel digital teletext which runs on Saorview and so on etc;

This time he can just look at the size of the companies that own RTÉ TV's main competitors Virgin Media (UPC Europe) and ITV, expanding RTÉ TV's reach won't be as much trouble. IMO.

As I say if Virgin feels that the sale of these rights to ITV will cause them problem with their subscribers they can always go after the rights for TV3 and 3e. (See how I brought it back around )

AwaitYourReply

Elmo wrote: »

This time he can just look at the size of the companies that own RTÉ TV's main competitors Virgin Media (UPC Europe) and ITV, expanding RTÉ TV's reach won't be as much trouble. IMO.

As I say if Virgin feels that the sale of these rights to ITV will cause them problem with their subscribers they can always go after the rights for TV3 and 3e. (See how I brought it back around )

I think UK horse racing moving from Channel 4 to itv should not be of any serious concern of the Minister whatsoever in this day and age. This is Ireland and if people want to obtain coverage they can if they so wish even if it means dropping down to their local betting office to view the coverage. Those viewers who feel upset by the move need to realise that at the end of the day these are commercial companies buying and selling sports rights in a completely different jurisdiction to the one we pay our TV Licence Fee here. I don't think itv is gonna be in the slightest bit concerned that Virgin Media supplying digital cable tv no longer carries UTV(NI) since UTV Ireland was launched on 01.01.2015 - itv will make decisions on a purely commercial basis taking into account what they can and cannot do in another jurisdiction.

Elmo

My point in relation to the Minister is that he can decide that TV3 and UTV Ireland now have the backing of 2 major media groups when he makes a decision on any new RTÉ TV services.

My point in relation to British Racing is if Virgin Media Ireland don't feel happy about the ITV rights they can buy Irish rights through TV3, this may limit there subscribers moving to other platforms.

AwaitYourReply

Elmo wrote: »

My point in relation to the Minister is that he can decide that TV3 and UTV Ireland now have the backing of 2 major media groups when he makes a decision on any new RTÉ TV services.

My point in relation to British Racing is if Virgin Media Ireland don't feel happy about the ITV rights they can buy Irish rights through TV3, this may limit there subscribers moving to other platforms.

I understood your arguments and they sound quite rational if the Minister and/or Virgin Media chooses to pursue such a strategy should it arise and be in the best interests of who they represent - I merely used your quote in my reply as a reference to give context so; it was not intended to disregard your views on the subject in any way. (No offence was intended whatsoever)

Having read the Irish Examiner article on this topic dated 02-Jan-2016 I was surprised at first to learn that Channel 4 had not managed to hold onto the contract but when I read that Channel 4 have been unable to stem the decline in viewers of the sport I suppose it made sense not to pay silly money if they were unable to arrest the decline in this audience segment.

I'm just amazed that with all of the UK TV stations now on Free-To-Air digital satellite for a few years now or possible to receive via UK Freeview DTT along much of the East Coast (including Dublin) that the switch of UK Horseracing from Channel 4 to itv from 2017 would be much of an issue over here. There are also ways to pick up itv via other methods on the internet if you are stuck with only UTV Ireland as a cable subscriber.

icdg

We won't talk about those other methods, if you please. However we can say that Virgin subscribers can still see GB racing coverage on At the Races, Setanta Ireland, RTE, and (if they are willing to pay for it) Racing UK.

As I keep saying, it seems to be often a surprise to those based outside Dublin simply how dominant Virgin is in Dublin and how slow Sky/Freesat penetration has been in the city but you have to realise that right up until 2002 or so NTL (as was) take up was at over 90% of homes passed and that is the base it was starting at when UK terrestrial services finally became available on satellite.

To turn this back to racing, there is a suggestion that it was not all about the money and that the wholesale changes/reinvention of Channel 4 Racing in January 2013 (which a lot of the public were annoyed at) played a massive part.

ftakeith

icdg wrote: »

We won't talk about those other methods, if you please. However we can say that Virgin subscribers can still see GB racing coverage on At the Races, Setanta Ireland, RTE, and (if they are willing to pay for it) Racing UK.

As I keep saying, it seems to be often a surprise to those based outside Dublin simply how dominant Virgin is in Dublin and how slow Sky/Freesat penetration has been in the city but you have to realise that right up until 2002 or so NTL (as was) take up was at over 90% of homes passed and that is the base it was starting at when UK terrestrial services finally became available on satellite.

To turn this back to racing, there is a suggestion that it was not all about the money and that the wholesale changes/reinvention of Channel 4 Racing in January 2013 (which a lot of the public were annoyed at) played a massive part.

ICDG

Around where I live in Crumlin, Dublin 12, Freesat/saorview is increasing as most of these people are not interested in pay tv and have axed Virgin Tv/broadband

lertsnim

icdg wrote: »

As I keep saying, it seems to be often a surprise to those based outside Dublin simply how dominant Virgin is in Dublin and how slow Sky/Freesat penetration has been in the city but you have to realise that right up until 2002 or so NTL (as was) take up was at over 90% of homes passed and that is the base it was starting at when UK terrestrial services finally became available on satellite.

And for many the option of ITV is there for a low one off cost if they want it bad enough so the Virgin being dominant in Dublin isn't an argument at all.

mike2084

icdg wrote: »

We won't talk about those other methods, if you please. To turn this back to racing, there is a suggestion that it was not all about the money and that the wholesale changes/reinvention of Channel 4 Racing in January 2013 (which a lot of the public were annoyed at) played a massive part.

I'm led to believe that was the case I understand that Sky's bid was the highest, but racing wanted the highest possible audience. ITV's bid was still £31 million though which was better than a number of years ago when racing was paying Channel 4 to show coverage.

icdg

Would Sky even have been eligible? As I understand it these rights were specifically "free to air" rights, are non-exclusive and do not affect the two pay-TV racing channels, At the Races (which is part owned by Sky) and Racing UK.

mike2084

According to the end of this article they did bid and they would only have had to share a small few listed events and they could have had the rest.

http://www.racingpost.com/news/horse-racing/reach-and-engagement-key-to-itvs-winning-bid/2013519/latest/

Elmo

TBH I don't really understand why Sky don't use PICK more than they do. How many times has that channel been re-branded since it was called FTN.

IMO Sky would on to a winner if it decided to compete with the main terrestrial channels by aim PICK at their audience and picking up (pardon the pun) FTA listed sporting events for the channel. A no repeat channel that could insist that viewers pay to get reruns and on-demand.

Digifriendly

mike2084 wrote: »

According to the end of this article they did bid and they would only have had to share a small few listed events and they could have had the rest.

http://www.racingpost.com/news/horse-racing/reach-and-engagement-key-to-itvs-winning-bid/2013519/latest/

What does it mean in this article when it states that ITV have 'a bigger digital reach' than Channel 4? Both are available on all transmitters on DTT in the UK.

Elmo

Digifriendly wrote: »

What does it mean in this article when it states that ITV have 'a bigger digital reach' than Channel 4? Both are available on all transmitters on DTT in the UK.

It really just means ITV has a bigger reach than Channel 4, it having move viewers.

Did Channel 4 ever use More 4 for 4 Racing?

IMO Channel 4 probably has a bigger reach if ITV plan to put the majority of the sport on ITV4.

Richard Hillman

Elmo wrote: »

It really just means ITV has a bigger reach than Channel 4, it having move viewers.

Did Channel 4 ever use More 4 for 4 Racing?

IMO Channel 4 probably has a bigger reach if ITV plan to put the majority of the sport on ITV4.

They did use More 4 when they had Cricket but that was over 10 years ago.