Channel 4 secures all racing terrestrial rights

Agree regarding the other Beeb pundits and I left Thommo out of my list to be booted as he makes me laugh as well and I always feel with Thommo that he's putting in the effort and he knows a lot more than many people give him credit for.
 
Aragorn said:
First thing someone said to me when I got back to work was "Terrible all those horses dying at Cheltenham". Thats all the general public get, which is a crying shame. The reports should have been celebrating a great win for McCoy in the GC, Anthony Knott and Hunt Ball or an homage to the king of NH that is Kauto star. Instead we get "5 horses die - Shock horror."

Depressing - Not one of these people have probably ever been to a racing stable...
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But... it was terrible?
 
Balding is freelance, she can go where she likes.
Far too many adverts and it affects the race goers views too. CH4 dictating that the winning jockey is interviewed out on the course delays the entry into the winning enclosure, which delays the presentation, which means horses for the next race are not in the paddock long enough for everyone to have a good look and are confined to the two-thirds behind the 'winners enclosure'. Only 5 or 6 horses were in the paddock for the GC when the bell rang for jockeys to mount.
 
this is good news

clare balding in, the god awful lesley graham out i say

did you see the lesley graham gem on wednesday?

bobs worth had just won the rsa and graham asks the owner

"is this your first winner at the festival":rolleyes:
 
Gareth Flynn said:
But... it was terrible?
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It was very sad and very unfortunate, but it wasn't - or shouldn't have been - the defining moment of those four days at Cheltenham.

The problem is ultimately the same as the whip issue: there is too much appeasement (particularly of people who still wouldn't come racing even if the horses cantered round on beds of cotton wool with six-year-old girls in Tinkerbell costumes on their backs) and not enough education.

It's right that deaths are acknowledged rather than brushed under the carpet and the in-house media and racing's administrators need to be alive to the threat posed by Animal Aid and their ilk, but equally it needs to be kept in context. There are far worse fates for a horse than to live in luxury (in equine terms) with every need catered for and to die a quick and comparatively painless death, than to suffer prolonged neglect or mis-treatment, either through cruelty or misguided kindness - obesity is a huge problem (no pun intended) in leisure and show horses, leading to all kinds of medical problems - or to linger on in ill-health because the owner "loves it too much" to let it go. The problem is, as a society we're all so sanitised and protected that we've become terrified of death, so we assume horses must be terrified of it too.

How many of the general public commenting on the "cruelty" of racing have dogs who are overfed and don't get enough exercise, cats who never get wormed or vaccinated...you get the picture.

There are welfare issues in racing for sure, but deaths on the track and the whip aren't two of them.
 
Cruella said:
It was very sad and very unfortunate, but it wasn't - or shouldn't have been - the defining moment of those four days at Cheltenham.
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How many horses would need to die at any given Festival for you to agree that that it should be the defining story of the week?
 
Well I am not a regulator, but just fail to see how they are any fulfilling any 'public service' duties with the advertising.

That said, bookies are allowed to advertise these days so by the letter of the law I'm sure channel 4 would argue what they're doing is perfectly just. It's a shame this is the only way to keep racing coverage on the telle, but that seems the way.
 
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From Wikipedia, C4's public service remit involves:

...the provision of a broad range of high quality and diverse programming which, in particular:

demonstrates innovation, experiment and creativity in the form and content of programmes;

appeals to the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society;

makes a significant contribution to meeting the need for the licensed public service channels to include programmes of an educational nature and other programmes of educative value;

exhibits a distinctive character.

The remit also involves an obligation to provide programming for schools, and a substantial amount of programming produced outside of Greater London.
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I'm sure they can try and shoehorn their racing coverage into 2 or 3 of those.
 
And not one person in all the above posts has mentioned the sponsors!! John Smiths and Investec are happy with the GN and Derby neing moved to C4. It will allow them to advertise during racing and augment the marketing delivered by simply sponsoring the races. I'd say they'd be happier getting the adevertising opportunity than just having 8 million viewers but no direct advertising opportunity.

I hope C4 take the opportunity to take the best of their coverage and the best of the BBC coverage and blend it to come up with a superb broadcasting product. Balding, Luck, whoever. It doesn't really matter as long as the product improves. Time for Graham to go. That Bobs Worth blunder was a shocker.
 
Thats a good post Cruella. Even if im unsure whether i agree with every word, you need not add any more
 
Yeah I thought that as well Gareth when I saw it. They're definately are appealing to a specific and somewhat unique audience with horse racing which is a good thing. As I say, it's specifically the gaming advertisements, moreover 2 solid hours of them on a Saturday afternoon that seems somewhat questionable.
 
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Occasionally on YouTube I have come across Julian Wilson doing post race analysis for the BBC-different times.
 
C4 needs to freshen up their presenting team.....Lesley McGrath needs to go, Alice needs to go to name but 2
 
Whos Lesley mcGrath? Hes not ....errrr.... got a new identity now has he?

Might be a bit of a choke on cornflakes to turn on morning line to see him in a big wig and high heels
 
Lesley Graham is a terrible presenter, and doesnt appear to know anything about racing. Alice is well liked by all in racing so will be kept on. Get rid of big mac and lesley graham - that will be a good start. I dont think they need Claire Balding as Nick Luck is the best Racing presenter in the country.
 
Claire Balding has outgrown her role as a presenter of only racing. Presumably she will be one of the anchors of the Olympics coverage.
 
Agree with OTB. Lesley Graham completely gets on my nerves and her head should be sawn off live on the Morning Line.

Ive grown to like Alice Plunkett.
 
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