October
FebruaryNeeds work
I could not believe the news that TVN will be closing shop. As usual the so-called leaders of the racing industry, whether they be at club level or on state boards, don’t know what the main industry supporters — that is the punters — want from the sport that they invest their hard-earned in.
Now, Tabcorp/Sky will have to get their telecast up to a more suitable standard than they are currently delivering to their viewers. In my view Sky’s coverage is of substandard quality, from a few of its presenters to its direct vision.
The main issues I have with Sky are as follows.
• Overexposure of templates that show more headings and writing than actual vision of the horses racing.
• With the poker-machine product that is produced, TAB/Sky must work with the three codes and clubs to maintain a more workable racing clock, allowing for mishaps and protests.
• It should also be more organised, in that what is scheduled on one channel should not to be swapped here and there to others. There is a presumption that every one can roll with these changes, but a lot of subscribers may only be able to afford the one product on Sky and may not have access to a computer to stream Sky 2.
• This point is to do with overseas racing, in particular UK racing, of which I am a big fan. Numerous times betting has closed when the race has not even jumped. On occasions they have reopened, but without enough time to get on before they jump. There is simple answer to this: tell TAB staff to pay attention to which race is which, because it’s not unusal for races not to be run on time and clashes to occur.
The ideal racing telecast package would be one channel for metro, two for provincial and country and a channel for trots and dogs.
With Sky World, instead of adding a local host, just take the overseas vision and commentary.
I understand that running a broadcast company would be no easy feat but I am sure that the problems I have outlined would not be to hard to rectify.
Hervey Bay (Qld)