Very droll Humans...I thought the sight of anyones wife was a sufficient catalyst for that old horny dog!
The report that I read said that if ITV were successful with their ‘2016 bid’ then they would put all the races on ITV4. Just like they have been doing with all the snooker and darts rights they have been acquiring of late. When they had the Europa League I seem to recall they put the ‘run of the mill’ matches on ITV4 and the ‘jewels’ on ITV1. I would have thought this was more likely and the likes of Royal Ascot and the Grand National would be switched to their main channel. Unless, of course, they are determined to build up and market ITV4 as some sort of sports channel.
This coming Saturday afternoon is going to see quite a TV battle for the old sporting viewer. Flicking through the TV listings I see BBC on Saturday afternoon has sport on 3 channels – The Davis Cup Final on BBC1, the UK Snooker Championships on Beeb 2 and Final Score on the Red button. ITV (albeit on 4) power in with Darts. Channel 4, of course, go for the Hennessy meet across the County line. Then, of course, we have Sky and BT with their myriad of action. Going to be interesting to see the respective viewing figures for next sat afternoon, methinks.
this Saturday is almost like being back in the good old days of sport on every channel! enjoy it while you can I fear because the BBC look likely to lose more sport. I think all snooker will end up on ITV4 sadly in the not too distant future. as far as racing is concerned then the ITV possible bid is worrying for the sport. I don't think that ITV will want to cover each Saturday like channel 4 do currently. the report I read was that ITV were interested in bidding for the main events only. For that they could pay more than channel 4 do for their entire coverage. But what events would they show. Could it be just the Derby, The Grand National, Royal Ascot, and Cheltenham? if so then that would be a disaster for racing in this country. It is already a minority sport, such a change would come close to killing it off.
All very interesting, especially enjoyed the advanced psychological study from Cyclonic111. However, surely the answer at this very moment is just to watch the actual races (after all, the commentators are pretty damn good, Simon Holt, et al?), and skip all the other stuff if the viewer finds this all so dreadful. In the in-between periods one could stick on the 'mute' button, or watch a bit of, say (ahem), a mind-numbing bit of a ghastly Carry On film, or whatever? The old BBC coverage will always be difficult to emulate?
I tend to watch the race and then flick back to the football coverage, rugby match, athletics torunament, 3 card brag championship or whatever else is on at the time....
Get Matt Chapman on their asking some interesting questions.... and generally getting people excited about racing. Also i dont agree with chopping around between meetings - the coverage needs build up, short analysis, interviews with trainers / jockeys. Monday nights at windsor when its the only racing on (no Irish tosh) and Chappers is the man on course is my favourite racing programme.
Obviously, the problem lies with the man at the top, whoever that is. He's the man responsible for employment and retention of the right people for the right jobs. Clearly he is clueless.
Rainy Monday nights at Roscommon are the highlight of my week Don,how dare dee mock such a picturesque and world famous course!
The commentators are in some cases pretty dire. I've heard too many Simon Holt races where he has barely mentioned the winner until it was passed the line and in too many races you would think there were only 1 or 2 horses running in a 30 strong field. I can't stick some of the presenters - top of my list to get rid of would be Cunningham and Emma - both too full of their own importance. I can't see the point of Nick Luck My main bugbear is all the ads though (especially the bookie ones)
Who else are they going to get to advertise while racing is on other than the bookies? They need to cram in as many adverts as they can because other than their Dubai sponsorship, Channel 4 have no other revenue except for a small amount of license fee money.
I do realise they have to do it, but its so annoying when they start to show horses in the paddock and then go to ads
The whole programme is complete ****e let's be honest. How many people honestly think it's going to attract any new fans in its current guise? It simply won't. Surely someone with some sense and understanding on how to promote sport could revolutionise the racing on tv so easily. One very simple example - why has no one analysed and compared how long from take off to landing our top hurdlers are on average. Or even better 10 yards before a hurdle to 10 yards after it? We say xyz is a good jumper because they look slick but live it often looks different. Just have some timing devices, lets the numbers tell us what the commentators mis inform us!
