Should HRV Pay to get Harness on Free-to-air TV like Netball has done?

[brent_L]

That now makes it back to back G1s flicked to sky2 both of which showed the first half of the race in a split screen with zero audio. The Bathurst gallops race that was scheduled to follow on 1 went a good 30 seconds after the G1 trot was completed. The prizemoney of the two Menangle races were 154k compared to that of a combined 41k of the Bathurst races. I'm about to launch a projectile thru my very expensive TV!!

[Amlin]

The controlling bodies obviously cannot see any issue with it as they keep signing watertight contracts with Sky.

It was a Sky contract renewal that forced the end of 31. Even a weekly highlights show on FTA TV would be better than nothing.

The industry does control who films the events after all and I imagine owns the footage too and negotiates a contract for Sky to show it.

Considering the industry is allowed to put replays on its site after each event it should be allowed to package these through a production company for commercial TV.

[Messenger]

Who will watch? Sure, there will be the harness fan like yourself Kev + the punter who bets only on trots like myself (also a fan without the punt I should mention) but I don't think that warrants a telecast on free to air, does it? Run of the mill punters wouldn't switch over cause they'd miss getting on the next at Bullamakanka and unfortunately those guys rule the roost. I love the idea and would have loved to have seen something like what 9 did (hats off to them by the way, I thought they did a good job) for the whole day but I just can't see it being feasible on non feature days/nights. Unfortunately imo we will simply be left with the sort of tripe we are being served up today.

It can be on both Brent (like the way the gallops use 7TWO), it would be for those that you said but if marketed right it would also be about introducing new people to the sport, people who do not have Sky - we need to broaden our appeal.

ps I want one of you New South Welshmen to get feedback from HRNSW on this treatment by Sky, they would have all been on track so they may not even be aware of the massacre that was occurring.

[Messenger]

It was good to get an email reply from HRV's marketing general manager Brett Boyd on this topic.
The opening of his reply is a fairly good summary of HRV's position:

Nobody can deny the added exposure and the potential new customers that FTA coverage can generate is a positive for any sport.
However the costs for such an undertaking do not come cheap. In the current environment we are not is a position to make this investment, but that is not to say it won’t continually be something considered.
We of course recognise we need to grow the sport and attract new customers and we are making steps towards this, but it needs to be done gradually, working with the funds we have at our disposal and being mindful of the other obligations we have such as prize money increases, track and venue upgrades and integrity.


I believe we simply have to prioritize a FTA presence as without it we are falling behind. To do this I believe that we need to once again become owners of at least one night slot which 'harness owns'. A night that harness owns on Sky which the gallops would not consider venturing into. This would also be the night you would double up on with a few weeks on free to air at carnival time. If we do not take ownership of one very soon, the gallops will own every night slot too and we will be fairly irrelevant if not doomed.

PS It seems to me that communication at HRV is improving

[Messenger]

As Netball's action prompted this thread, I think this story from The Age today is relevant

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/netba...27-ghasbk.html

In the paper the story had the title 'A Setback In The Ratings War'

Ratings in 2015 aren't quite as robust as match attendances, and that is where the league and its broadcasters must concentrate their creative efforts. While free-to-air ratings are up from 2014, Foxtel ratings are down on 2014.

A couple more quotes that would have to be applied to harness if we were to secure some coverage:

... the survival of the ANZ Championship beyond the current broadcast deal of 2016 is dependant on a television deal that at the very least pays its way, league bosses have to address this slide as a matter of priority.


A real key to driving the broadcast appeal of the sport is finding some clear air for matches to be played in. With the monoliths of AFL and NRL monopolising key broadcast windows, netball must think strategically about its schedule, and play its games outside those times.

As well as the AFL and NRL we probably need to avoid the gallops

I should point out that the story is not all doom and gloom as the story states that their match attendances are up and they did have an extraordinary clash with the cricket world cup by starting their season early this year

[Amlin]

Channel 7 will telecast the WA Inters for the next three years - nationally I would expect

[Messenger]

I made a whole thread about that Kyle

(see 200 days to Inter thread)

[barney]

Who will watch? Sure, there will be the harness fan like yourself Kev + the punter who bets only on trots like myself (also a fan without the punt I should mention) but I don't think that warrants a telecast on free to air, does it? Run of the mill punters wouldn't switch over cause they'd miss getting on the next at Bullamakanka and unfortunately those guys rule the roost. I love the idea and would have loved to have seen something like what 9 did (hats off to them by the way, I thought they did a good job) for the whole day but I just can't see it being feasible on non feature days/nights. Unfortunately imo we will simply be left with the sort of tripe we are being served up today.

What you said is right and free to air tele would be more time concious and as has been said on this forum before Harness is its own biggest enemy how hard is it to start a race on time 99% of the time.I concede sometimes gear breaks at last minute but how often do you see with 60seconds to go horses having last minute adjustments.These adjustments should be done at least 3 minutes before advertised starting time.Gallops are usuly on time same as greyhounds.

[Messenger]

Who will watch? Sure, there will be the harness fan like yourself Kev + the punter who bets only on trots like myself (also a fan without the punt I should mention) but I don't think that warrants a telecast on free to air, does it? Run of the mill punters wouldn't switch over cause they'd miss getting on the next at Bullamakanka and unfortunately those guys rule the roost. I love the idea and would have loved to have seen something like what 9 did (hats off to them by the way, I thought they did a good job) for the whole day but I just can't see it being feasible on non feature days/nights. Unfortunately imo we will simply be left with the sort of tripe we are being served up today.

It would appear that Racing Victoria are prepared to take this risk, favouring Ch7. Maybe they read in The Age this week that 88.4% of video viewing is still TV not phones, tablets, PCs

[squaregaiter]

I think the situation is far graver than how do we view the races short term, as mentioned in another thread it is time for the industry/s to come together and inform the State Govenement that a industry that it worth $billions to our State, together with the employment of tens of thousands of people, and giving millions $ to State in taxes in all forms, is being placed in jeopardy by a corporate that has over time eroded Victoria of its fair share of almost everything related to the industries and what are they going to do about it or at the very least what are they prepared to do about it. Could they entice DISH to come to Australia as just one example? It seems because of Sky we keep going down these tracks year after year.
In the big picture Pay TV as it is now it will lose much of its strength ( unless they do makeovers) as within a couple of years SMART TV will be in all our homes and you will not need Free to Air or Pay TV to watch “TV” as long as you have the internet in one form or another be it ADSL or Digital- so as an example you will be able to watch the trials live that are already broadcast from Melton on the TV ( as you can now do if you have a SMART TV) however what will be needed in such cases is Programming/ Content and that is vital to the entire big picture. As already mentioned, we need to introduce personalities that are not ego or home town driven when commentating but REAL personality’s that people want to talk about during the week not just on race night, when we lost Bill Collins in particular, but you must include Bert Bryant and very few other race callers, from a harness point of view, plus several of the polies that were influential in their support of our sport we lost big time, just as NSW will do when they lose John Tapp who has been the catalyst of cross media and harness work for the last decade or so.
There are NO replacements and this must be as much a part of the big picture as anything.
Short term we need oarsman not dog paddlers that will search current contracts if they have now been broken and is there is a case of Restraint of Trade just for starters.