AFTER 15 years on At The Races, live Irish racing moves to a new channel on January 1st.
The news caused shockwaves when it was announced last February. We learned then that SIS, the company which pays Irish racing about €5,500 per race for exclusive broadcasting rights, had fallen out with At The Races and had decided to sell its ‘direct to home’ rights to Racing UK.
The viewing public, having enjoyed ‘free’ Irish racing on ATR for so many years, looked to put the blame on Horse Racing Ireland for letting this situation happen. The truth is that no other sport shows all of its events free-to-air and we were spoiled by At The Races, our free pictures effectively subsidised by generous betting industry payments to racecourses.
The broadcasting world is a rapidly-changing one. Television shows, movies. matches and even horseraces are viewed on all sorts of packages and devices nowadays. Both At The Races and Racing UK have had to reinvent themselves and this week we saw exactly what each of them has to offer.
So, let’s see how they measure up.
RACING TV
Q: How many racecourses has it signed up?
A: A total of 61, including all 26 Irish tracks. They’ve got all the premier British tracks except for Ascot and Doncaster. They say they will have over 70% of racing in Britain and Ireland and nearly 90% of British and Irish group and graded races. They have ditched almost all international racing, save for Dubai and some major stand-alone races.
Q: What’s the cost?
A: The full price will be €31 per month but you can expect some special offers in the coming weeks. On Black Friday the channel promoted a €12 monthly deal. It will be free-to-view for live racing in Ireland “on a regular basis during January” and a free one-month trial will also be offered in the new year.
Q: On what platforms is it available?
A: In Ireland, Racing TV is available on Sky 426, Virgin 411 and Apple TV app. They say a Vodafone deal has pretty much been done and they are in discussions about getting it on Eir. However, if you have good broadband or WiFi you should strongly consider subscribing directly via the Racing UK app on your device and ‘casting’ the pictures to your television. They are also launching in-built TV apps for Sony, Samsung and LG Smart TVs. This will make it easier for you to watch uninterrupted coverage from individual tracks.
Q: So, will each track have its own channel?
A: Yes. They say you can watch the pictures from Ballinrobe all day long if that’s what you want on Racing TV Extra, but you will need to either use your computer, tablet or smart TV to avail of this facility.
Q: Will all racing be shown live on the ‘main’ channel?
A: That will prove impossible on at least 15 busy days, probably more. Unfortunately for Racing TV, January 1st is one of those days. They say they will endeavour to show every race live, failing that the closing stages, and failing that the replay. Apparently, common sense will dictate the output. All races and interviews will be replayed on loop in the evenings.
Q: Who are the presenters and how many meetings will they be at?
A: The core Irish presenting team consists of Gary O’Brien, Kevin O’Ryan, Donn McClean, Ruby Walsh and Kate Harrington. A presenter will be on track at 170 Irish meetings. Racing TV bosses say there will be a presenter at every Dundalk Friday fixture.
Q: Who are the channel’s British presenters and pundits?
A: Nick Luck, Lydia Hislop, Nick Lightfoot, Niall Hannity, Tom Stanley, Gordon Brown, Angus McNae, Rishi Persad and Alex Steedman.
Q: What do we know about their programmes?
A: Saturday racing will be presented in an ‘around the grounds’ style with the studio-based host calling in reports from racecourses. Evening all-weather racing will be a standard feature, with Kempton on Wednesdays, Chelmsford on Thursdays and Dundalk (free-to-air) on Fridays.
Nick Luck’s popular Sunday morning chat show will continue and it’s expected that This Racing Life will be extended to include behind-the-scenes features with Irish racing personalities.
OTHER POINTS OF INTEREST
SKY SPORTS RACING
Q: How many racecourses has it signed up?
In 2019 it has the rights to 700 fixtures from 24 British tracks, including new additions Ascot, Chester and Bangor. In addition they will be showing racing from France (200 fixtures!), Australia, America and Hong Kong.
Q: What’s the cost?
A: It’s free if you already have a basic television package that currently includes At The Races. They say there are no plans to make it a subscription channel.
Q: On what platforms is it available?
Anyone who can currently get At The Races can watch Sky Sports Racing. In Ireland viewers can access the channel via Sky, Virgin Media Ireland, Vodafone Ireland or Eir. Sky Sports Racing will replace At The Races on Sky channel 415 and Virgin channel 535. It will be available via Sky Go to Sky customers at no extra cost (from Tuesday, January 8th) and via NOW TV to anyone taking out a Sky Sports day, week or month pass.
Q: Who are the presenters?
Alex Hammond will be the full-time lead presenter, backed up by Freddy Tylicki, Josh Apiafi, Jamie Lynch (who is leaving Timeform), Gina Bryce, Kevin Blake, Matt Chapman, Mick Fitzgerald, Luke Harvey, Hayley Moore and Jason Weaver. Mike Cattermole, Sean Boyce, John Hunt, Zoey Bird, Simon Mapletoft, Anthony Ennis, Darrell Williams and John Blance will also be part of the team. Barry Geraghty and Hollie Doyle will make appearances.
Q: How will Sky Sports Racing be different to At The Races?
A: It will be available in high definition for the first time. They say they will have a presenter on-course at every British fixture it covers and at least 50 French meetings.
Q: What changes will there be to the programming and schedule?
A: The core daily schedule will remain the same with hourly news bulletins from 9am until the start of Raceday Live which will include a full preview of the day’s racing.
There will be a new Racing Round Up programme at the end of each day covering results and all the big talking points.
Monday Night Racing will be a new show hosted by Alex Hammond with Jamie Lynch, plus other regular guests. Borrowing the Monday Night Football format from Sky Sports, it will look back at the weekend’s action alongside live evening racing.
The Racing Debate will replace Sunday Forum and will also be rolled out across other days when the schedule allows whilst the Friday night programme Get In will continue with Luke Harvey and Jason Weaver, but without Dundalk!
As international racing is going to become increasingly prominent on the new channel, a number of preview and review programmes are being lined up to help viewers become more familiar with the content.
OTHER POINTS OF INTEREST
'If you are keen on racing, you will want to watch Racing TV'