Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Racing UK to charge viewers

Racing Channel goes back to days of old

So once again, after the mess that was Arena Leisure/Channel 4 racing channel, the new and unimproved Racing Channel is to charge a monthly subscription fee to watch er..horse racing. And at £25-30 a pop no less.

So for the average punter, that probably hits their monthly margins before they even start betting.

Maybe its just me, but of all channels that would have potential income outside of subscription and advertising - it would be betting. Or am I missing the point?

I understand what went wrong last time - but a little thought or creative thinking would put all the betting problems right, surely?

Maybe some interactive TV games in between perhaps..alternative betting revenue streams....allowing all bookies the chance to promote their prices?

Maybe not, but at the end of the day, thats a huge amount of money to pay for the pleasure of watching horses run - time to take a mosey on down to the nearest bookies instead..

posted by jo @ 3:56 PM   2 comments

2 Comments:

At 7:51 AM, Gamblog UK said...

They are just jokers - pay no attention.

The bookies got the govt to drop the 9% tax in return for the promise they'd pay more taxes via "profits".

Free is a moneymaker - makes people bet(just like the teletext service). The bookies will pay for it sooner rather than later and it will be free so these firms popping up with fee based racing feeds will ultimately fail.

 
At 7:34 PM, jo said...

But thats what already happened and failed.
We've had a 'subscription model' Racing Channel, followed by the Arena Leisure/Channel 4 free model. That didn't work because viewers were watching the free channel and instead of betting with 'attheraces', were betting elsewhere.
So the subscription model is now back in - but this time at restrictive costs.

The bookies probably won't fund a channel - its not worth their while since they run it already through their shops - and many run audio through their websites.

In essence, its just a complete mess - and someone with a bit of a brain should be able to monetise the channel without the need for subscriptions

 

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