Racing

Irish racing hoping to find a wider TV audience on return

Negotiations will take place with a number of broadcasters, including terrestrial channels

A view of TV cameras in operation at Thurles Racecourse in March. Photo: Ryan Byrne/Inpho

Mon May 18 2020 - 16:36

Ireland’s racing authorities aim to broadcast coverage of the sport as widely as possible when it resumes behind closed doors next month.

On June 8th racing will be the first major competitive sport back in action here after the government included it in phase two of its Roadmap to Recovery plan due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The absence of other sports on the back of the coronavirus emergency gives racing an opportunity for exposure among a wider public starved of sporting action over the last couple of months.

Horse Racing Ireland’s chief executive said on Monday that everyone in the sector has a duty to try and explain the sport better to a wider audience.

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Brian Kavanagh also indicated that negotiations with a number of broadcasters, including terrestrial channels, will take place on the run up to racing’s restart.

“We will look at various options on that. There are various different media channels around and we will look at a number of them. It is a question of broadcasting it as widely as possible,” the HRI boss said on Monday.

“There is an opportunity to explain racing. There is a shortage of other sports. We would like to see those other sports as quickly as possible. But obviously there are different dynamics there in terms of the contact aspect of it.

“The primary driver for this (resumption) was to ensure that the industry behind the sport could get going again.

“(But) if after June 8th it provides some sporting entertainment for the country that’s good and I think there is a duty on all of us to explain racing to a new audience that might be watching it,” Kavanagh added.

RTÉ broadcasts terrestrial coverage of Irish racing’s biggest fixtures. However day to day action has been on the subscription channel, Racing TV, since the start of last year.

RTV is part of the Racecourse Media Group that handles media rights for British tracks which are currently held by ITV. Those pictures are available to view in Ireland on the Virgin Media channel.

Last month a RTV spokesman ruled out any extensive free-to-air coverage of Irish racing when it resumes, citing “contractual reasons” as to why free-to-air transmission is restricted to a limited timeframe.

On Monday Kavanagh rejected suggestions the RTV contract represented a lost opportunity to market the sport.

“I wouldn’t get hung up on a different channel. The way sport is consumed now is multi-channel. There are dozens of different way of broadcasting, whether it is streaming, pay per view, a terrestrial channel, radio, Youtube, all those sort of things.

“I know Paul Dermody (HRI Marketing Director) and the team are looking at all those issues now. I don’t think it is a lost opportunity at all,” he said.

Naas will host the first meeting back on Monday, June 8th, with the first classics of the season, the Irish 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas, held the following weekend (June 12th and 13th).

Kavanagh said the option of returning with a flourish and staging the Guineas races on the first day back was examined but rejected.

“We want to get some experience under our belt and run a number of meetings.

“It’s two months since we’ve had these behind closed doors events and it’s a new and stricter set of protocols. Naas ran a meeting before the shutdown. That was the logic in selecting Naas as a venue.

“The objective is not to make a splash. It’s to ensure everything is done properly, safely and within the required protocols. That’s the priority,” he said.