BBC seeking licence to kill off its horse racing coverage
When AP McCoy faced the BBC's Rishi Pershad after Binocular had bolted up in the rescheduled Boylesports Hurdle on the Saturday before Christmas, his mind wasn't just on the horse's future plans.
In broadsiding the reporter with the unprompted observation that "the best chance you'll have of seeing him on the BBC is on Top Gear -- after that you'll be struggling," the champion jockey was reflecting the ire of multitudes within the sport appalled at the BBC's intention to dramatically cull their racing coverage in 2010.
Since then the protest has escalated. A major media campaign by the Racing Post; public outbursts by some of the sport's leading figures; parliamentary lobbying by prominent MPs and an online petition (the second-fastest growing) on the Prime Minister's official website with over 1,000 signatories have all helped represent the outrage felt at the BBC's proposal.
If the Beeb's current intention is granted then the national broadcaster's racing coverage will be reduced from 29 days to a maximum of just 14 -- down from a figure of 79 a decade ago. In the midst of the drastic cutback, jump racing is by far the most affected. The proposal would see the elimination of the likes of the Betfair Chase, Becher Chase, Welsh National and Victor Chandler and the removal of coverage from Haydock and Chepstow from terrestrial screens. It would mean Ascot would never appear as a jumps fixture and result in the three days of Aintree's Grand National meeting becoming the only jump racing to feature on Britain's state broadcaster. It gives a whole new meaning to "National Service."
There appear to be a number of factors underpinning the draconian BBC decision. Tapering viewing figures are certainly a factor (although the Welsh National on December 27 at 1.1m viewers captured over 10 per cent of the total audience at that moment). That the BBC has recently reclaimed Formula 1 is another contributor. As indeed is the desire to give greater exposure to sports featuring in the 2012 London Olympics.
However, the most underestimated factor in the slashing of coverage is that there is no one in the upper echelons of the BBC with any love of racing. Let's face it, there are an infinite number of live sports events held annually, but only a finite number of live broadcasting hours. In a world where budget is the other imperative do you think that the personal likes and dislikes of those with the purse-strings has a bearing on their choice of coverage and the extent of it?
Another barometer of the broadcaster's interest in horse racing is to witness how much of the two-hour slot for Sports' Personality of the Year in December was allocated to racing. The answer is just 51 seconds -- or 0.007 per cent of total airtime. This is one 007 definitely licenced to kill.
Viewed through the lens of the printed media, just take a look at the racing coverage offered by any of the national dailies or weeklies in Ireland and the UK and you will see a direct link between the coverage afforded to racing and the personal interest of the incumbent sports editor. Similar choices are made by companies involved in sponsorship. Infinite number of sponsorship vehicles, finite sponsorship budget. Do you think Ged Pierse is ploughing his Pierse resources into this afternoon's Pierse Hurdle purely and solely based on economic return on investment -- or could it be that his passion for the sport has some bearing on the choice? Or put another way, if Ged Pierse was a bigwig at the Beeb instead of a construction magnate, then racing coverage at the BBC would be copperfastened.
There was a further twist last week. In an unprecedented effort to persuade the BBC to retain its coverage, Jockey Club racecourses -- owner of Newmarket -- has offered the BBC 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas Day as well as Champions Day. The BBC has not covered a Guineas meeting since Sir Ivor beat Petingo back in 1968. This, of course, means stripping Flat Headquarters' three most prestigious fixtures from rival Channel 4 -- and this at a time when Channel 4 (whose broadcast contract expires in 2010) has yet to conclude its negotiations to continue its racing coverage.
Unfortunately, the passion for horse racing amongst management at Channel 4 is no greater than at the BBC.
John McCririck commented: "Channel 4 has always said it will not be cherry-picked and I think that if just the Guineas went, Channel 4 would pull out. There is no-one you can name within Channel 4 who cares about racing and it would be perfectly satisfied to dump it."
We are certainly nowhere near the end of this Broadcast Rights Roulette. It is conceivable that by the end of the stand-off we could have the blood of one or even both of the major UK terrestrial broadcasters on racing's carpet.
Still, if it all goes belly up you should at least be warmed by the prospect of gawky, towering petrolhead Jeremy Clarkson straddling the diminutive Binocular at full tilt around some Grand Prix circuit with the post-race analysis filled with novel talk of torque, oversteer and ergonomics.
Which begs another question -- eight flights of hurdles around Silverstone... Now we're talking. Broadcast rights anyone?
