October
JuneNo pain, no gain
I hope Racing Victoria’s stakeholders — the VRC, MRC, MVRC and Country Racing Victoria — hold their nerve against Sky Channel’s ultimatum of another racing blackout.
Whilst everyone loses with another blackout, Sky has much more to lose than Victorian racing, so it must be a bluff.
Even if it isn’t a bluff, go ahead with free-to-air coverage on the Seven network. That will showcase the sport to many more people than Sky or TVN ever did, thereby growing the pie.
Sure it will cost money in the short-to-medium term, but sponsors and many more punters will be the result.
Victoria will keep control of its valuable product while showcasing it to the whole country — not just punters and pay TV subscribers.
Eventually the returns will far outweigh the $30 million a year on offer from Sky.
Gold Coast (Qld)