TV coverage

I think chappers, as he is called, would be a major turn off for some.

yes some..but is it a majority?

half of the problem from what i can see is that most folk only want personalities they like a lot..you can't have that..there will always be someone you don't like...there is no way that every choice will suit everyone

its got to have banter..a good relationship between those that appear..its got to be a balance between entertaining and informative. If they don't have paddock inspection..then they might as well not bother imo..its the key element that i'd wager 90% of punters would like to see..someone assessing horses and saying..this is fit..this isn't. That is crucial info we all need..whatever your way of selecting winners..this is a crucial job of any racing coverage.

Even with the current crew..if they stuck Ken on before every race i'd guarantee viewing figures would increase. If they ignore this aspect..imo they have completely missed the boat no matter what else they do.
 
oh Clive...whats up lad?..you seem a bit in the doldrums..go and count some of your money or summat to cheer yersen up:D

aye..none of us will get what we want with it i suppose..people in charge of these things seem to lack knowledge of their audience ..can't be arsed to do the legwork. Forums like this are a reflection of what racing followers want..but generally those in the media look down upon us as plebs..make disparaging remarks about forum users etc,,the snobbery of it makes me laugh
 
Nothing wrong. But I watch far more racing live than on live on tv. I generally fast forward recordings so it doesn't matter.

Agree about out media people. Look at Robbie savage ...if you have to. A genuine repulsive uninformed whiny plank head. Absolutely no one I know can stand him and I always turn off the box if he is on. Always. But he's seen as a "personality" .

Having said that there is one instance where watching him would be entertaining

orange jumpsuit and a fcking great knife

off to sandown today. That's what it's all about for me.
 
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Does racing really need TV anymore?
Is C4 viewing figures the make or break of the sport?
ATR is hopeless. Racing UK should be free but as it charges, it will never attract any new customers.
Racing is an attendance sport and people will always go as it really represents a fantastic value family day out (when marketed right)
Courses are better off advertising their product on local TV or in local press, social media as a family day out as women are far more likely to want to take the kids to horse racing than football or cricket etc?
New customers will be youngsters who go with their families and realise what a great day it is.
What other sport lasts most of the day, has food, booze, betting, playground areas, can bring your own food, beautiful horses to look at etc etc?

Relying on TV in this satellite sport saturated age could be barking up the wrong tree?
 
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Just seen a tweet that says " ITV winning rights to broadcast UK racing could be v bad news for many Irish viewers as channel is not part of Virgin/UPC package"
 
I don't really care too much about who the people involved are so long as they make the programme really worth watching.

Channel 4 has failed miserably in that respect for long enough. I really only watch it for the races themselves. I tend to find other things to do in between while they cater for the casual viewer who might actually give a fvck what people are wearing.

We also need better camerawork during and at the end of races. The other day there was a tight finish and the front two were clear but the camera switched to the pair pulling up rather than wait for the placed horses to come home. It's as though the picture directors don't understand the sport. Same with choosing the right moments to switch to and from close-ups, especially at a finish. We need the camera to pan out to appreciate a finish and leave the closer shots for the post-race analysis.

Whether changing channels will make that difference I don't know but I still don't understand why C4's slo-mo through big race finishes is such poor quality compared with what the BBC used to do.
 
If racing wasn't on mainstream TV it would seriously damage it..out of sight out of mind.

One of the main reasons racing was popular in the 70's and 80's was the ITV 7 every saturday

look at darts in the 60's...pub game..then it started getting tv coverage in the 70's...now look at it...without TV coverage..where would it be now?..same with snooker
 
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Turned on ML this morning. Great - Lizzie Kelly, bright, articulate, opinionated, professional, multi-dimensional new face. Successfully jockey, university student.

1. Persad makes some kind of joke regarding using her whip on Fitzgerald.
2. Fitzgerald makes some convoluted comment about using her status as 'just a girl who knows nothing' to fool the other jockeys at the start.
3. Reading tweets, Persad opens with the fact that many of the correspondents are looking for dates with Ms Kelly.

They should just get Sid James and Kenneth Williams impersonators to run the thing. How the feck will this stone age mysoginy get new young viewers?
 
If racing wasn't on mainstream TV it would seriously damage it..out of sight out of mind.

One of the main reasons racing was popular in the 70's and 80's was the ITV 7 every saturday

look at darts in the 60's...pub game..then it started getting tv coverage in the 70's...now look at it...without TV coverage..where would it be now?..same with snooker

Its not that fans couldnt see racing. Not at all comparable to ITV7 days. I do wonder how many racing fans are attracted to the spectacle by whats presented to them on TV. If the morning line is on by accident at breakfast time, would those who have a passing interest, just switch off. In fact pandering to this passing audience means that the morning line is pretty much irrelevant to the racing fans (who would leave it on) and to those who have no interest anyway.
 
They should just get Sid James and Kenneth Williams impersonators to run the thing.

I've long harboured a view that a manic Sgt Bilko impersonator would do the trick! It probably says much about the level of engagement an average jockey can out across however that a Winchester University student looks like the brain of Britain :p
 
Harry, to say that coverage on a mainstreamfree-to-air television channel isn't important any more is just plain wrong, imo.

In the mid fifties, tv was seen as something new and strange, maybe a bit of a fad, and so not really something to get involved with.

But all that soon changed as a mass increase in television ownership completely altered everything.

Today, though, it's almost the other way round. The change over to social media (as an example) as a way to be made aware of sports and other entertainments will be more gradual, and I feel it will be a long time before the majority drag themselves away from free-to-air tv as their main source of exposure to sports and sporting events.

Probably in 10 or 20 years things will have changed, but meantime, broad tv exposure is absolutely vital. Just look at what's happened to cricket's profile in this country over the last few years since it's gone from free-to-air.
 
Corals go

ITV_zpsi5wuvv13.jpg
 
What a lousy book

11 runners 8/1 or less and 106% on the first three alone
 
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