Does racing still need terrestrial television? And, if that brings an unequivocal affirmative, should the sport still be subsidising television companies in order to maintain its privileged breadth of coverage? Such questions seemed pertinent at York last week but they will come into ever sharper focus in the coming months.
Existing contracts, with Channel 4 and the BBC, all expire during 2009. Negotiations are quietly under way, primarily to sell the elite meetings but also, by extension, to explore the appetite for lesser pickings. By this time next year, the landscape of racing on television could look very different.
Not for the first time, Channel 4 is exhibiting an edginess about its future in the sport. If the BBC, which has lost all football and could not even raise a bid for Test cricket, roused itself to claim the crown jewels of the Flat - packaged as the Sovereign Series - Channel 4 could conceivably pull out.
That, of course, might mean that meetings such as the Ebor Festival were confined to satellite television. It is a fortunate sport that has two dedicated channels showing everything that moves and those of us with access to both might scarcely miss terrestrial coverage. But bookmakers would protest about a fall in turnover and sponsors about a lack of projection.
It is not an easy sacrifice to make, especially as Channel 4 has been innovative and sensitive in its broadcasting over a long period, attracting a floating audience that would never naturally migrate to the satellite channels. There is, though, a sense of unease about the concessions racing has made to retain the partnership and, for some in authority, this came to a head at York last week.
Amid the hectic discussions that surrounded the abandonment of all four days, the possibility was mooted of restaging the meeting this week. It never left the grid for the simple reason that Channel 4 could not cover it at such short notice. If this was understandable, what happened next was not.
During the hours on Wednesday when the sport was coming together in rare harmony to rescue almost all of the keynote races, one sour note intruded. Channel 4 made it known that it would only relocate its cameras to Newmarket and Newbury on Friday if the Ebor itself was part of the package.
Totesport, sponsors of the race, believed it would lose its relevance away from its spiritual home and a statement was prepared to that effect. It was never released though, as it became increasingly clear that the efforts of many were now being compromised unless the strident demands of television were met. The result was a pseudo-Ebor at Newbury. Just another handicap, really, but it held the fragile peace.
It is purely a matter of opinion whether the Ebor, a singularly Yorkshire event, was worth relocating 200 miles south. Personally, I think not. But it is surely beyond debate that racing must not be held to ransom over such an issue, especially by a broadcaster that is effectively being paid by the sport.
Start times and race orders are already a matter for television preference. Football and cricket must genuflect in similar fashion but those sports are receiving many millions from television - and satellite television at that. Channel 4, if its own publicity is to be believed, might have dropped racing long ago but for receiving sponsorship and subsidies generated by the industry itself.
The first, ironically, was provided by the Tote. This year, the coverage is underpinned by £879,000 out of Levy Board funds. Not an inconsequential sum to be devoting when prize-money was so stretched - and, arguably, a demeaning message for racing to be presenting to the world.
At the recent, speculative launch of the Sovereign Series - a shell of a scheme with no finance secured - Simon Bazalgette, in his role as executive chairman of Racing UK, spoke bullishly about selling the rights to the best of British racing to a terrestrial partner. Next week, Bazalgette becomes chief executive of the Jockey Club, chairing its powerful racecourse group. In his new guise, he may encounter growing resistance to doing any further deals which portray racing as prostrating itself for its coverage.
(Source: Timesonline.co.uk)
