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Just been thinking. There are 2 glaring examples of what impact taking your sport off free TV can have. Firstly, does anyone remember when Trackside started and there was no TV coverage of South Island racing on a Friday? Do you remember how the South Island clubs used to kick up a stink because they said it wasn't fair that their meetings weren't televised and they couldn't get decent turnover? I remember those meetings that had win pools of $8,000 to $10,000. So even then it was common knowledge that TV coverage increases turnover. Secondly, does anyone remember when Cricket Onedayers were played live on TV1 or TV3. Do you remember going to school and talking about the games with your mates because everyone was watching it? Kids nowadays can't do that because not all kids see the games because of no Sky in their household. Do you remember how many people used to go to onedayers at Eden Park, Lancaster Park ... The Basin Reserve? I remember 30-40,000 at Eden Park quite regularly. Now, did you see how many people were at Eden Park for the West Indies game a couple of weeks back? Cricket has almost fallen off the map in this country as a spectator sport ... and it can be traced back to one event ... when Cricket NZ decided to throw their lot in with Sky Sport and pay TV. I dare say, numbers of people playing the game has dropped off too (pure speculation on my part based on the current ability of our team).

Ok, seeing as how I think I'm a Mr Know-it-all here's my 2 cents worth on this topic. I'm looking at this from a long term and economic point of view. It won't affect me too much apart from the inconvenience when I'm somewhere that doesn't have sky. Those that say things like 'It's only $18.75, pay up and don't be a scrooge' are missing the point. There's a whole economic consideration to do with promotion and betting. 1) Punters have x amount of dollars to spend on punting. If they are having to pay out $18.75 per month for trackside, that is $18.75 less of income in which to punt with. So at least part of the extra $18.75 per customer will be lost straight off. And more will be spent in paying Sky for the subs collection and the platform. 2) In the long term, it may be difficult to attract new punters. I know people who have been attracted to punting on the horses through watching it on television. If it's only going to be on sky, and on a lesser watched platform, there's a danger of it becoming an 'out of sight, out of mind' situation. At first, I think, there won't be much difference, because current punters have already tasted the excitement of it. It's the future that is the worry in the face of an ever decreasing customer base through less promotion of the sport. 3) Some current punters will not continue. A lady I know, who doesn't have sky, likes to have a little punt on a saturday afternoon and watch the races. I get the impression that she can either take it or leave it, so it might be a leave, once she has to start paying. On top of that, because she won't have it on on a saturday any more, anyone that visits her will not see the racing as well, and opportunity for them to catch the horse racing bug will be lost. 4) Australia is different (so don't say, well Aussie does it that way, it must be good) because the way I understand it, they have extensive coverage of major meetings on free to air channels. NZ coverage on free to air, outside trackside, is abyssmal. And lets face it, channels here will only give it coverage if it is not too expensive, and it rates. 5) If TV trackside is to not continue free to air, then Radio Trackside needs to smarten its act up a bit. I find it quite difficult when each presenter has a different style and gives you different information. Often interviews go straight up to race start time and the pre race divvies are not read out. This is frustrating, to me at least. Radio trackside could be turned into a totally punting dominated format, perhaps with 2 presenters discussing the form and chances in upcoming races. Use it to drive turnover. 6) I'm worried that NZ Racing is being screwed by Sky with promises of things that are much more beneficial to them than ultimately to racing. This decision worries me. Although, I'm sure that much economic impact and so on has gone into it and by people far more knowledgeable than I. Let's hope it works out for the best long term.

Nien, nyet, arnie,no!no!no!.....

Transferred 320 into your bank acc. You should see it in their tomorrow. When you do the draw can i please NOT have the weekend of the 8th/9th Feb as will be on holiday. Thanks and wise decision about the wedding mate Richard

Barryb, instead of making uncalled comments to Mrzim how about commenting on this earlier post by Mrs Ed. "So as Australia, with Horse Racing and Wagering ALREADY a big part of it's culture moves to have Racing available Free To Air; NZ with it's dying generation of Punters/Racing Enthusiasts and a new generation who's culture doesn't embrace it, moves to limit Racing & Wagering's exposure by going PAY TV. *bravo folks* NOT Sydney Morning Herald 06 Oct 2013: Racing Television channel TVN plans to move from Foxtel to the free-to-air digital spectrum to take the sport to the biggest possible audience. * TVN to take a place on free-to-air as part of the roll out with the new digital spectrum in 2015. * Could reap big returns for the industry in terms of exposure * Grow the product by featuring Victoria and NSW Racing to the biggest audience, which will help develop wagering and returns to the industry" NZ are going one way and Australia the other. Which one is right?

Up yours TAB, I don't know why you have to assume that everyone that watches Trackside can afford to have Sky tv installed!! I enjoy watching horse racing and was pleased to see when I went digital that I was able to watch it. This is a CRAP DECISION that you have made, arseholes!!!!!!!

Do you still share the same optimism Aqua?

Hacko, you had better say good bye racing in Australia too. I bet that hurts! Those of you who could get "line of sight" when the signal was UHF, don't know how lucky you were. For years I couldn't see Trackside at all other than going down to the local Pub or TAB. Then when digital TV came in I was able to get it through SKY, but of course I have always had to pay. As I say, you don't know how lucky you are or should I say, how luck you have been. If a person can't afford $18/19 a month for the service one sure as hell can't afford to bet either. My prediction is that all those on here protesting that they are out of racing wont amount to more than 5% who actually do get out. I say that because if you have the time and inclination to participate in Race Café you are as sure as hell are committed to Racing and wont just walk away. Do come back on in 6 months time and tell me that I am wrong! P.S. Sherriff, I tried to include Hacko's quote but it didn't work. Have you got an update on the problem for me and the others?

At Avondale yesterday bets $100 and above got a 10% top up on collect and you took a losing ticket to Secs office for !0% refund on a loser. Is this new, a one off or what?

Certainly a great night of harness racing at Cambridge last night, but I felt Aaron's calling was below par, certainly on the first few races. He seemed to put an overemphasis on the winner, to the detriment of the others. Admittedly, I was travelling home so heard races 2-4 on the radio. Having pre-invested, I tuned in. It seemed like an eternity to get to the placegetters in Lancewood Lizzie's race, with lots of description about the step up and having to dodge tiring runners etc. Then in the Guineas, he spent so long speculating about the closeness of the finish, he almost forgot the others. In fact, he called RTS in third, when in fact it was Cyclone Prince. I had investments on 3rd in both races so was OK, but felt for punters away from the TV screen as it appeared a lottery. Consistency in calling is they key - that is why Mark Mac is clearly the best in the business. The ability to call what is in front of you, without getting caught up in descriptive detail is surely what the punters want.

I would have no issue with the decision if the "cost cutting" went across the board and was done as part of an overall strategy to reduce costs and subsequently reduce takeout rates from betting pools so returns to punters could be increased. This would lead to increased turnover and follow through to increased returns to owners. Unfortunately based on recent evidence, any broadcasting costs they save will likely be used to fund another couple of management positions they create or pay for some large overseas junket that will do nothing to improve returns to punters or owners.

http://www.horseracing.com.au/news/mcdonald-to-be-added-to-darley-riding-ranks/ James gets his name added to the list. Was also mentioned somewhere that Snowden will take over a lot of O'Shea's team when the time comes.

Hang on a minute guys...its all a meter of how you structure the whole offering. If you looked at the software industry and said that the first thing you need to do is put a lite version on offer, so that you got the gist of/ familiarity with the program/ service, you'd agree to this strategy. If you really wanted to receive the bells and whistles version, then you should pay. So take the triple trio introduction and the advent of HD cameras/ pictures that are about to arrive on our door step (our thanks to the newbies), and know that there needs to be a specialised enhanced broadcast offering, then would that not be the opportunity of the lite version of racing's broadcast offering?. Such an offering could be made available for broadcast on the main channels and could be a bridge to the current non punting population to be come interested in racing. I'm not that enamoured with the Triple Trio as a general population punting product as the odds are stacked in favour to those that have some insider info and ultimately the general population will probably become disillusioned with the results unless a regular populous of non big punting people win big prizes.....but if you considered it an opportunity to garner interest, then it's positive stuff. There are a lot of big punters who will play if the value is there. Rebates and discounting can achieve the price competitiveness of this product. So its just a matter of strategy. If you had a fantastic 3 race presentation with enhanced broadcasting on free to air TV and the three races were all within 10-15 minutes of each other, that would be interesting.....wonder whether they will do it?

I just find the lack of communication quite incredible for such a small industry... You'd think these people in administration would consult with those that actually keep the sport running. ( mainly trainers, but punters and owners are just as important ). We have these people sitting behind a computer screen making decisions that affect the industry greatly, without actually bothering to see what the majority of people involved in the industry think of it. What good has Jim Leach done for the industry in the last 2-3 years? He had no idea if the 10% stake increase included staying race's... He STRONGLY denied having any knowledge of the Mcinerney / Flipp positives a week before they were released. When they finally got put onto the JCA website ( the same day ) I asked him when he notified about the swabs and he said " what swabs " I then told him they were on the JCA website today and he replied " Oh you mean the positive swabs to the 2 trainers, they were released 2 days ago " so I asked him when HE found out, and he said " 2 days ago ". He wanted nothing to do with the Wanganui debacle regarding Finn McMissile and seemed to think there wasn't any injustice involved. After all he is the general manager but I guess clubs can do whatever they want with this current administration. If the administration doesn't change, nothing ever will.

indeed. where's our money gone?

We already pay thru exuberant takeout rate's.

Rubbish. What makes you think there is any correlation between having Sky and disposable income. Judging by the number of sattelite dishes that adorn houses in lower valued areas the reverse is more likely to be true.

Well as long as the computer option is still available I,m up to speed with that...(don,t think I,ll bother with Sky deal) But yeah, people visiting or socialising with others without sky, will not be subjected / promoted racing...as before. (Saturday arvo) Just for a laugh I thought I,d phone an old punting mate to get his comment for you... He said Sky can go and get f*****,... That,ll have alot of people jumping up and down.

So as Australia, with Horse Racing and Wagering ALREADY a big part of it's culture moves to have Racing available Free To Air; NZ with it's dying generation of Punters/Racing Enthusiasts and a new generation who's culture doesn't embrace it, moves to limit Racing & Wagering's exposure by going PAY TV. *bravo folks* NOT Sydney Morning Herald 06 Oct 2013: Racing Television channel TVN plans to move from Foxtel to the free-to-air digital spectrum to take the sport to the biggest possible audience. * TVN to take a place on free-to-air as part of the roll out with the new digital spectrum in 2015. * Could reap big returns for the industry in terms of exposure * Grow the product by featuring Victoria and NSW Racing to the biggest audience, which will help develop wagering and returns to the industry Full article: smh.com.au/sport/horseracing/racing-channel-to-swap-pay-tv-for-mainstream-20131006-2v1z2.html

Col - I agree with your thoughts BUT I cannot understand how the TAB can launch a new product like triple trio and expect new people to invest on this yet they cannot see the live results free of charge.

Terra Keroma is flying!

I know there's NZ gallops now but I still think the Palmy dog races are too far apart. There is a lot of rubbish Australian meetings(half of the places I've never heard of and my geography is good). With Daryl Anderson in the chair on TAB TV it's tempting to nod off anyway but it was much better when we had the 18 minute gaps throughout the meeting in my opinion.

Totally agree Hacko. Racing is about to be corporatised.

So for $18.70 per month I get two racing chanels plus the Freeview channels. They can go and get stuffed. I'll listen to the radio or watch the occasional race on the computer. My betting will be way down. I enjoy spending a saturday afternoon watching the races but won't bother once this comes in. Call me a tight ar.e if you wish but I won't be paying to watch racing on TV. Good bye racing in NZ.

The Argentinian National Champs (which are the defacto South American champs since the best dogs in Chile often travel there) are over ~315m. A few of Denmark's biggest races (eg. the Danish Derby) are shorter than 400m too. So GRNZ aren't even being world leaders as Mike sarcastically suggested. They're just emulating second-level (that's being polite) racing nations instead of trying to copy the best (Australia).

I'm in the 'under 25' category and yeah I agree their are quite a few that do in fact have sky, but I'm guessing the majority (75%+) wouldn't have it. Mainly because of what you can access on the Internet these days. You can either pay $100+ a month for sky sports / movies etc or you can pay $100 for unlimited Internet and watch / stream whatever TV series / movies / sport you feel like without having to put up with the same repeated movie's sky continuosly show etc.

I would have thought quite a few of the under 25's would have Sky for a number of reasons Reilly. They are tech savvy however and there are plenty of ways of viewing online content without having Sky. Agree with you though, if they are not into Racing early on, can't see this helping changing attitudes of any generation.

To be fair - I am not up with the play at the moment. The pick 6 is gone - and this week is the begining of the triple trio. TT will be run on Saturdays - so I am assuming there will not be any for harness racing. The quaddie will be the largest organized multiple bet for harness?? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

What a bunch of whingers!! So anybody that do not have sky..and I would say they are mostly the tight arses that just watch and don't even bet.....can get a free sky dish and Trackside and other channels for free until Dec 2014?? And then it costs $18 per month? Hell, how much are some of you punting if 18 bucks per month is going to make a difference?? It will not worry me as I have sky in 2 rooms, I think with all of the sport and racing recently it is great value for what I pay. I know many, many punters, and I do not know anyone that does not have sky??? And if you don't want it, and you have 50c in your TAB account, just watch the races on the TAB site for free, simple. User Pays. Remember, just because you want to bet on the boxing, league, all blacks or whatever....You hardly ever get live sport on TV, unless you pay for it. And as others have said, you can watch a lot on the internet. Think of a positive, what about all of those people in areas that you could get no signal unless you wanted to purchase sky...now you can hook up for free until Xmas!! Good On The TAB.

Australia doesn't have racing on free to air channels. You have to get Foxtel to watch racing, and there are 4 channels of racing. It hasn't done the Oz racing industry any harm. What NZ urgently needs is an end to the monopoly of the TAB so that there can be some competition for the punter dollar.

Not saying I agree with the move, but given it has been fairly clear for some time that Freeview was not going to continue, I think the price is reasonable. The thing I find absolutely incredible is that they announce this in the very week that they are launching the Triple Trio which I thought was trying to attract non-racing punters to invest. I would have thought that ensuring everyone could view the racing would have been key to this strategy, but obviously not.....

How not to grow your market - incredible

I'm a dog punter but watch the trots a little between races. Mark is good, amazing in close finishes but gets fixated on certain things especially after the finish line which can be distracting. Aaron is as boring as hell but quite an accurate caller. Like George Simon you can tell when he's backed a horse quite often and it does cause him to lose his way. Jason has started really well and not a bad presenter also. Dave McDonald has been solid for years, old fashioned but that's not a bad thing.

i reckon name and shame the fools that put this in, who are these oh mighty wise ones

Still no answer to the question Mike. I can take it the search on the world wide web has come up negative for Grp1's around the 300 mtr mark. Out of all the Greyhound world only here is stupid enough to run races at Grp 1 level for the defects of the breed

I was lucky enough to hit it yesterday. My key legs were anchors Heza Carlos in the 3rd leg & Jay Cee Hurt (which is why the payout was so large) in the 5th leg. $5 for 31% or $300.20 payout in the end. I wasn't lucky enough to get a leg or two with more than one runner. Leg 1: 2. Holland Badger 8. Cawbourne Henry Leg 2: 2. Spitfire Osti 6. Just Jordana Leg 3: 3. Heza Carlos Leg 4: 7. Jannik 8. Code Nine Leg 5: 2. Jay Cee Hurt Leg 6: 1. Fortis Flier 6. Beale Street

Congrats Richie, way too good.

spot on - firstly that Mark M is the best going round in NZ and secondly that the commentators job is to call the race - not indulge in getting carried away on the horses they have backed, or the drivers they like etc etc. Aaron is often guilty of this - if i hear how brilliant Zac Butcher is again I will throw something....