I see itâs being reported that viewing figures for last weeks meet at Royal Ascot were much lower than expected and with the exception of Saturday (which saw a peak increase on the BBC figure in 2012) the other 4 days saw peak figures approximately half of that achieved by the BBC last year (the maximum figure, for Tuesday â Friday, was just 1 million whilst âThe Morning Lineâ attracted no more than 150,000 â 200,000 viewers each day). In fact its being highlighted that the Grand National apart (which saw an âexceptionalâ audience of 8.5 million tune in) Channel 4âs revamped coverage has been nothing if not disappointing in terms of audience figures and a review of their coverage since January is now planned by both producers and the station itself. Of course, to put the meet on our screens Noel Tidybeard and the old boy banker were put âin their boxâ for the week. And it canât have been missed by Channel 4 accountants that an episode of âDeal or No Dealâ costs much, much less to produce and would achieve figures up to 4 or 5 times higher than the racing in the same slot! In recent weeks Iâve started to warm to Claire Balding (especially following her savaging of the dictator, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, on 2,000 Guineas day) and Nick Luck but large parts of the rest of the team need urgently looking at in my view. I by no means saw all of Channel 4âs coverage, last week, (in fact on 2 of the days I saw none) but as usual it seemed safe, bland and in the main very, very dull. The worst of all to me were (and P45âs need filling out): (i) Graham Cunningham. Quite frankly the worst pundit on any sport on the magic tellybox. Heâs incredibly smug, arrogant and, like a former poster on here, repeatedly passes off his opinions as fact. Also, never actually answers a question he is asked preferring instead to give pre-rehearsed soundbites on almost everything. (ii) Mick Fitzgerald. Putting him in the old âJohn Francome roleâ is like replacing The Arsenal in the Premier League with Chippenham Town. May have ridden at the top level for many years but is woeful at broadcasting. (iii) Richie Persad. To quote the old boy from the Radio 4 prog âDown The Lineâ â âWhat is point??? What is point???â (iv) Gina Bryce. Iâve no idea how she got the job (quiet in the cheap seats) and what she brings to the programme could be matched by a glove puppet. (v) The Fashion feature. If you are going to do a fashion feature at the meeting (and I think you should as it is such an important part of the fixture) the first rule is to make it balanced and not simply say how wonderful everyone looks. As anyone who attended the meeting this year knows for every âEnglish Roseâ there were at least 2 dozen cases of âmutton dressed as muttonâ. Also, make sure you highlight me when Iâm dressed in my finest...shocking oversight! Do you agree??? Or am I and the viewing public wrong?!?
I didn't watch much of the festival and no Morning Line at all. I'm not surprised by the viewing figures. I don't like half the anchors. Graham Cunningham is either very rude to anyone who doesn't share his opinion or is too rigidly sticking to the shows running order. Either way I don't like him. Gina Bryce is bad and she's not helped by doing the fashion bit because she's not well dressed and doesn't seem to be that interested. I want interesting presenters. To me that means Chapman and Alistair Down.
Sir Barney I'm glad you said something about the fashion feature as I always thought everyone who moaned about it were forgetting that they were getting all those races and it was a small price to pay. But actually the bloke on the BBC for the last 4-5 years was brilliant and actually knew what he was talking about They get nobody journalists to do that job and they know nothing. He actually works in fashion, knew his stuff and wasn't afraid to point out the sheer vulgarity of some (both men and women).
Well - i'm not known around these parts as Gok Kwan .. so will not go down a critique of the fashion coverage other than to ask .. what was that Americano doing ?? .. anyway - back to the presenters : 1. Cunningham - rhubarb - can barely manage the IT kit on the set 2. Nik Luck - getting a bit better 3. Jim McGrath - knowledgeable to a fault but hardly the punters friend 4. Rishi - 'bent on' by Clare Balding 5. Clare Balding - seeing too much of the girl on the TV .. needs to cut down and focus on what she wants to do .. rugby/ boxing / swimming / Womens rights / oooh and horeseracing 6. Funniest sight of the week was - as said earlier - 'the poor mans Francombe' reporting from the weighing room with a comedy top - hat on ... Mick Fitz needs to buck up so a motley crew that juts doesn't do it for the audience it would seem .. so whats to be done : a. Bring back Alistair Down - gravitas with informed opinion b. Bring back the Cattermole / Spencer interludes .... comedy with the whiff of impropriety c. Get rid of Cunningham , Rishi , Mick and Gina and replace with - MORE factual racing coverage and some younger guns ... If they don't do something soon then the racing public could lose these programs .... so doing nothing is not an option .... Rant over ...
Thought most of the C4 coverage was dire. If you are going to go through the card, mention all of the horses please. I want to see how the horses are moving in the paddock and down to the start too. I also want to know the full result of a race, quite often C4 concentrate so much on the winner that you have no idea what placed. The 3 stooges in the box are so annoying, especially Cunningham who is coming over as a right arrogant so and so. Funny how they stopped mentioning the size of the field and the draw when Sky Lantern won from an outside draw. Before they race JM was all for reducing the size of the field because it was in their opinion unfair and the best horse could not win! The fashion pieces was pretty awful too. Gina did not seem that interested and appeared to spend most of the time eating or drinking. I wanted to shoot that "Brix" person as she had one of the most annoying and irritating voices. At least the BBC used to have someone who knew their fashion stuff and the pieces they did were reasonably interesting to the people who were watching Ascot for the fashion rather than the horses. The Beeb used to do some interviews with celebs etc who were there (some more interested in the racing than others) but I felt there was none of this on C4 - just loads of pretty awful analysis which they failed to make interesting. The first two days I had recorded so was able to fast forward most of the non racing bits. The other 3 days I had to endure - sometimes it was painful!
Awful coverage, can't stand Luck or Persad, too many features and not enough build up on the race, fashion can **** off.
Its not surprising to hear that viewing figures are down compared to the Beebs uninterrupted coverage of Royal Ascot. If we look at the grand national for example this years watchers topped 8.5 million, the year before when it was on the BBC it was 10.9 million. The BBC is renowned across the world also so there would be a greater ability to televise worldwide than Channel 4. The BBC's reputation worldwide is very good! Channel 4 racing coverage has improved in my opinion but then again it couldnt have got much worse. I still find the touch screen very annoying and unnecessary. Graham Cunningham is rather boring and he gives the impression he's a right know it all. I like Balding and Jim McGrath but Rishi Persad should go. I also like Fitzgaerald actually and he has upped his game. Emma Spencer should go in my opinion and John McCririck should be brought back! Tanya's ok but McCririck alongside worked much better and was sometimes cringeable and sometimes funny - but it kept you interested! Too many advert breaks, not enough looking at the animals in the paddock (normally due to multiple adverts as coverage to short and they try to jamm in too much). They also do not give the finishing order of the race with enough clarity. Saturday just gone being an example in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes... I had no idea where Rosdhu Queen came as would have been paid out on 4th... I had to go on line to check! Ridiculous!! Channel 4 need to improve the coverage for sure!
The Beeb are just more professional and of course it goes without saying - too many advert breaks and this really does have an impact on what they can cram in to the show.
After the 'stepping down' of John Francome and Alistair Down then Channel4 were always onto a hiding to nothing, but what has replaced them are a very poor imitations... Cunningham is just annoying, and speaks in broken bit part statements, than in flowing sentences. Plus i get the impression he thinks he knows more than anybody else there and looks down a bit on other peoples comments... Nick Luck just looks to much like the 6th form prefect that you wanted to kick his head in at school because he was a right smart arse. A bit like his dad got him the job as he owns the company, so your going to have to put up with it. He just dosn't cut the mustard for me... Tanya didnt seem to get on with the irish bloke, sorry forgot his name, and this made it bad viewing for me... Balding is one of the better sights, as mainly she plainly knows her stuff, and tries to let the people do the talking and not her when interviewing them... Rishi, well, im just seems that i am in the very long queue of people who dont like him... Probably a nice man away from telly, but again, he is just someone who you would want to smack and tell him enough is enough... And as for the Fashionista they got in... Jeezus what an annoying little twerp she was...!!! All in all, even though i thought the racing itself was good and very memorable, i would give the production and presentation of the week only a 6/10... And i think that maybe generous.. Rant over from me then...
Top irritation for me is not giving the full results ASAP and having it on screen long enough to absorb it. Many layers were going 4th, 5th and even 6th places at times, but like Jan, I had to go online to find out if I had a draw or not (Rosdhu Queen for me too) At the risk of a brick through my window, I'll admit to liking Nick Luck. He is reasonably knowledgable, and puts a point across well, but he also has some personality - witness following a feature on men's top hat, and how they should be bespokely made rather than rented, the cut back to the studio had Nick just in his waistcoat with a clearly ill-fitting topper perched on his head. Rishi - well what can I say that no one else has. He is blandness personified, but without the necessary racing knowledge to help disguise it. Take him away please. McCririck is the biggest loss, even if he had a tendency to hammer a point within an inch of it's life - at least he was entertaining, and personable. He won't be back due to the court proceedings he has initiated, but I'd like them to appoint someone equally beligerant, like a Harvey Smith or a Barney Curley!
Interesting. I didn't think the coverage was that bad. I don't like Cunningham or Mcgrath particualrly but they are bearable. Claire balding was excellent as ever and i actually don't mind mick Fitzgerald. I liked that girl doing the fashion as well but that may be for reasons other than her ability. They do need to do something about their betting ring coverage though in my opinion. Tanya is dreadful and she blatantly lies about prices - keeps saying saomething was 33s in the morning when you know for a fact it wasn't. I also would like to knoww aht possessed them to employ John parrot's Irish twin brother - he was extremely irritating. The racing was so good that in the end it didn't really matter.
I agree with most people on here, Cunningham and McGrath are terrible, because neither has one ounce of a sense of humour or a genuine smile about them. It is always too pre-prepared and rather haughty. I actually think for all he is rather smug that Cunningham gives the impression of not knowing very much about actual horses at all! I like Rishi Persad actually, and Emma Spencer has grown on me. I think the main problem is that there are too many presenters. The BBC was mainly Clare and Willie, with a few soundbites after the race from Rishi and that was about it. I feel like we spend too much time flitting from one section of the course and one presenter to another. The presenting team needs to be streamlined to contain only the valuable few pundits who actually have something decent to say AS WELL AS a good TV persona. It also seems over-produced, with too many features and not enough genuine racing, and that includes the horses in the paddock etc. It just seems very poorly put together, and I found myself switching over on Saturday between races, and that was something I would never have done with the old BBC or C4 coverage. Plus I like the old theme tune!!
Channel 4 coverage....an absolute joke! Clare Balding...all hyperbole, hands and mouth never stop moving. An oppressive, overbearing commentator. Graham Cunningham...him and his "sectional times." Last year the horse did this and that. On and on appraisals in the same, monotonous style. He should be a magistrate in the Coliseum, evaluating how many lions ate how many people. An absolute dickhead. Richie Persad...Who is this guy and where does he come from? He'd be better off doing adverts for steradent. The fashion feature...the biggest fiasco of all and the worst camera work I have ever seen. Showed hardly any female race goers in full profile. More time was spent showing the dumpy, ill-dressed presenter extolling this, that, and the other-without our being able to see anything or anyone properly. They obviously didn't have cameras sited properly. Disastrous! Racing coverage....Dire! They couldn't even name all the race runners- just one or two per screen shot as they jumped from page to page. Haphazard paddock views of only the horses Balding or Persad were interested in. After the sad demise of Thomas Chippendale, why on earth interview connections? Can't they be discreet and leave well alone in the immediate aftermath of tragedy? I'm sorry, folks, but Channel 4 Racing is just a bunch of amateurish, sensationalising jokers.
Yes, there's much to agree with here. Damn tough for an old geezer like me who was brought-up in his younger days listening to Clive Graham and Peter O'Sullevan. Must not forget Peter Bromley too on the radio Spent many hours in God knows where crouched over a shortwave set listening to him. All three were masters of their craft. Really miss them now. Even miss (when I was a nipper) dear old Raymond Glendening, shocking commentator and a right old laugh, but he did have that mysterious thing about him called 'atmosphere'. None of the current lot has that virtue. However, the actual course commentators nowadays, e.g. Simon Holt et al, are pretty damn good IMHO.
Ah, Swannie..you're giving your age away here! Not too long before we'll shake hands with the Devil together! The Scout and O'Sullevan.....different breed, different class. Those days are long gone. So you had a short wave set, eh? Bet you had Lego as well...and balsa wood kits?
I wish you'd stop with the nostalgia Swanny - makes the rubbish we have to put up with now all the more depressing. Joking apart you're spot on about the atmosphere and personality - there's nothing to match it anymore. I thought your comment about Simon holt was interesting - every aspect of C4s coverage has been slated on here apart from Simon holt so he really must be amazing! I like him though must say i use to love Aussie Jim's commentary even if he was beginning to lose it a bit.
It's inevitable that terrestrial viewing figures will continue to fall for all televised horseracing, given the existence of not one but two specialist channels. You could have Charles Bukowski and Damon Runyon presenting on CH4 but most people are still going to stick with the presenters and format they watch every day. I haven't watched Ch4 or the BBCs coverage for years. Won't have a word said against Micky Fitz though, in the saddle or out of it.
