What a week! On Wednesday, a South African horseracing broadcasting disaster was averted at the last minute. In reality it was as close as literally a matter of minutes, if rumours are correct.
On the one hand, we the faithful must be grateful that our TV’s were not plunged into darkness.
On the other hand, these blokes are happy to play chicken with the kids in the back.
And for what?
Tony Mincione writes in the Sporting Post Mailbag that when we found out that Tellytrack was going to be allowed to dissolve as the clock ran out, we also came to learn that no plans in the year prior to February 2022 had been made to ensure we, the owners, breeders, punters and all manner of enthusiasts (known as customers), were to have a continued and complete service as we had become used to in the previous quarter century.
It was not clear what the strategy could be.
4Racing was taking unilateral action to change the default arrangements, leaving Gold Circle suddenly with no share in the new idea (other than to be a paying customer instead of an earner with their former partner) with no say whatsoever, other than to accept rules as offered.
Gold Circle found out that their partner had quietly renewed with the satellite carrier all on their own, blocking the KZN operator to that option. Let’s just say the divorce was about to get messy.
To reconstitute sparse press releases (which only made sense if you noted what was purposely omitted) with Whatsapp and other speculations that were frantically circulated, it became clear that we were in some kind of staring competition to see who would blink first.
Everyone, probably including the participants, were wondering how close each side would go to risk the whole game.
Given that 4Racing started this, you have to say righteousness was on the side of Gold Circle – because what choice did they have with the strongmen holding the actual switch?
4Racing had secured Dstv channel 240 behind the KZN operator’s back. You had to fancy 4Racing to get whatever they wanted – and they wanted something, otherwise why the back channelling?
There was no new information since the debut press release from 4Racing in December.
Negotiations looked like washing the same washing over and over again. The line was 28 February, the end of the Tellytrack partnership.
Even though the error message popped up on DSTV on 1 March, racing had one more day because 1 March was a Channel 240 day which meant the first non-broadcast black-out day was 2 March – a KZN racemeeting from Hollywoodbets Greyville.
Rumours had it that 4Racing wanted to be paid for broadcasting.
Gold Circle said they were happy to supply racing (for free) to what would otherwise be a blank day. A third option might be that Gold Circle would want to be paid for their ‘intellectual property’. Who knows?
What I do know is that patients prefer to be under an anesthetic during an operation. I sincerely hope this lot can sort the next stage out without us having to be awake during the surgery.
It’s clear this is about control. If it were about money then maybe the ‘for profit’ 4Racing should have tested the not-for-profit Gold Circle much, much, much earlier, rather than risk ‘Two-Decoder-Day’.
It’s unbelievable that people who say they put racing first, absolutely didn’t put racing first!
In response to the demise of Tellytrack, and with Dstv blocked for them, Gold Circle took a path to a FTA (Free-to-air), which operates on the decoder box that the government sponsored for low income earners.
After receiving a box (or buying one for R500) and connecting to a dish, programmes, including Gallop TV are free forever.
Perhaps this is the way for horseracing to go as it will be the default common digital connection of the nation going forward.
4Racing is funded by a benefactor, apparently with instructions to go forth and do good. They proclaimed transparency as their code.
But so far everything has been ‘our way or the highway’. Or am I missing something?
