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A BOY, A PASSION AND CORPORATE INFANTILES
I can
recall the excitement I felt, and the anticipation of
my heart pumping. It was Saturday morning, dad and I
would walk up to the local shop and buy the newspaper,
return home and sit on the back verandah and study the
form guide. Soon after the radio would go on to
mark down all the scratchings and the final selections
would be made after astute form perusal. Dad and I would
then jump into the car for the trip to the local TAB,
where all bets were placed for the afternoon and we
would return home again to sit out on the verandah and
listen to all the races on the radio. What great days,
listening to Eskimo Prince win the Golden Slipper, Prince
Grant win the AJC Derby, Tobin Bronze win the Cox Plate
all with my $0.25 on them.
Times
have changed, and old habits die hard. Saturday
is still the best race day of the week, and Spring and
Autumn carnival time is still filled with the anticipation
of a young boys first bet. Now we can view all the necessary
form online. We can place bets either via the telephone
or online. And we can sit in the comfort of our own
lounge chairs and fulfill our passion and love for the
racing game.
Or can
we? That may have been true, but now?
Up until
May 5, 2005, I still used to jump out of bed on a Saturday
morning eagerly to get all the chores done for
the day out of the road, so I could then get to a computer
to check all the scratchings and track conditions for
the day, followed by a final form perusal to work out
the bets for Saturday afternnon. What happened on May
5, 2005 to change all this? Sky Channel stopped
showing all Victorian and Sydney races on Austar. TVN
gained the rights to show Victorian and Sydney races
and provided their coverage to Foxtel subscribers only.
As a
regional viewer, Austar is the only pay television provider
accessible. And due to a legal contractual agreement,
Austar is compelled to have Sky Channel as it's sole
racing service provider.
What
does all that mean? That regional viewers cannot access
Victorian and Sydney racing. Regional viewers are
being discriminated against because they choose to live
outside a city or Foxtel accessible area. The negotiations
to rectify this situation between TVN & Sky
Channel have been going on for 10 months and neither
are giving any ground. Sky want access to the cream
of Australian racing, TVN insist on providing the cream
to their wiewers only. The ACCC has decided in their
infinite wisdom, that they are not entitled to involve
themselves in this situation, despite the fact of blatant
discrimination, and potential loss of business for regional
subscribers.
So what
has happened in this 10 months? TAB turnover Australia
wide has decreased by up to 15% across the board. Tabcorp,
who own Sky Channel, have added extra race meeetings,
even on a Saturday to try to redeem some of this lost
turnover. They have introduced more greyhound and trot
meetings. They have even introduced Hong Kong, South
African and more New Zealand meetings for punters to
bet on. However, to no avail as turnover is
still down. Why is this so? Because people in
the bush cannot watch Sydney and Victorian racing. I
know personally of many people who have stopped betting
on Sydney and Victorian races, and I also know of a
few who have stopped punting altogether.
The
main upshot of this loss of turnover is percentage payments
to race clubs have decreased, meaning prizemoney for
racing clubs is being reduced. Both in Victoria and
NSW, prizemoney cuts are being introduced, as well as
a reduction in the number of races per program to save
money.
Week
after week we read about another meeting between Sky
and TVN. Week after week we are told a resolution is
close, but as yet no cigar. When will these egotistical,
corporate infantiles, realise what they are doing to
racing as a industry, and get racing back on television
for all to see?
In the
meantime, I can now only dream of that feeling I used
to have on a Saturday morning, that feeling of excitement,
anticipation .............
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