HRV Chairman Dale Monteith interview on RSN

http://www.harness.org.au/news-artic...?news_id=29776

It runs for 22mins and while quite reassuring that we have a professional in charge there was nothing discussed that people on here would not have already known. In point form

• Skills based board essential - to get Confidence back (repeated message)
• 70+% of our revenue from TAB and the growth in Fixed Odds betting has hurt us as we did not negotiate a good deal for this in the past
• 44% of our races have an Odds On fave so we need to even up fields to grow wagering turnover (new tiered system). Explanation that we need to try things, make changes, see what works (repeated theme)
• He too was amazed that the French bet more on harness than gallops, catering for this pays off as a program which includes 4 trots races will see French turnover of $1.3M, far in excess of local turnover of $0.3M. Vic is the trotting capital of Australia. This is an important additional revenue stream
• Bumping to Sky 2 when it is not part of Foxtel Basic package is a concern but the suggestion that it becomes part of basic would appear unlikely unless $3m is stumped up as that is what Foxtel supposedly make from Sky 2 subs
• Tabcorp has HRV vision rights until 2022 but he is negotiating for free to air showcasing of premium races eg Hunter Cup (now to be a four Gp1 program)
• Is aware of differing opinions on the demise of standing starts and views on sprint lanes but while (repeatedly) saying that industry must come first he also (repeatedly) said that everything is always up for review
• Integrity measures have been shocking in the past but it is now number 1 in order to grow confidence for participants and punters