Racing.com

Television Seven Network
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Discussion of

Digital LCN 78 metro plus regional Queensland and 68 regional.

###Racing.com Signs Hong Kong Racing Coverage

HAPPY WELCOME TO HONG KONG COVERAGE

Racing.com, the home of Victorian thoroughbred racing, will gain a hugely significant addition to its coverage from June 1 with the free-to-air broadcast of the Happy Valley meeting from Hong Kong.

Hong Kong has long been considered a world leading racing jurisdiction and houses huge wagering pools across a variety of bet types offered by the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC).

A staggering HK$107.9 billion (A$19.24 billion) was wagered across 83 race meetings in Hong Kong during the 2014/15 racing season, which operates from September to July each year. The final
meeting of the current season is at Sha Tin on July 10.

Racing in Hong Kong is staged at two venues – Sha Tin, which races on turf and all-weather tracks, and Happy Valley, which is a turf course.

Racing.com will broadcast the final eleven race meetings of the 2015/16 Hong Kong season before showcasing all 83 race meetings of the upcoming 2016/17 season that commences in September, including the world famous Longines Hong Kong International Races in December, in a multiyear agreement.

Some of the biggest names in world racing call Hong Kong home, including superstar Brazilian jockey Joao Moreira, 13-time champion Douglas Whyte, and expatriate Australian riders Zac Purton, Nash Rawiller, Brett Prebble and Chad Schofield.

The addition of Hong Kong will complement the premium suite of Victorian coverage available on Racing.com.

Mr. David Moodie, Chairman of Racing Victoria and Racing.com, is excited by the opportunities ahead through the agreement.

“The launch of the free-to-air Racing.com channel has been a significant success story for the Victorian thoroughbred racing industry as we have been able to make our sport accessible to more people in more places than ever before,” said Mr Moodie.

"Our free-to-air coverage reaches 96% of the Australian population which gives racing a massive opportunity.

"We have come a long way in a short period of time since the launch of Racing.com as joint venture with Seven West Media in August, 2015.

"It is a privilege for racing.com to be afforded the honour to showcase such high quality content and that is why this partnership with the Hong Kong Jockey Club is the perfect fit.

“With Hong Kong racing being staged in the late afternoon and evenings alongside Victorian racing, this will suit our audience’s viewing and wagering habits, along with many links through Australian trainers, jockeys and horses competing every week.”

Mr. Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Hong Kong Jockey Club Chief Executive Officer, believes that the increased coverage through Racing.com will boost the Club’s wagering opportunities.

“This development is a win for the overseas distribution of Hong Kong racing and will enable the growth of our commingling business,” said Mr. Engelbrecht-Bresges.

“Australians will know on which channel they can find Hong Kong’s exciting racing.

“The amount of coverage Racing.com will provide offers customers more information and expert opinions, especially in the crucial minutes before a race.”

Aside from showcasing live Hong Kong racing, Racing.com will also include preview programming to assist punters in finding winners.

For every night meeting, a preview program will commence an hour before the first race in Hong Kong, involving Shane Anderson, Clint Hutchison and Brent Zerafa from Racing.com, and Matthew Campbell from CrownBet.

The HKJC produced ‘Racing To Win’ will also be available on the Racing.com digital platform the day before a meeting and also included on the broadcast.

Coverage of Hong Kong racing will be available to Australian viewers on Racing.com free-to-air channel 68 (regional), channel 78 (metropolitan), Racing.com digital platform, 7live.com.au and Plus 7 digital platforms.

Hong Kong racing will not be accessed on Racing.com Foxtel channel 529 due to a contractual arrangement between Foxtel and a third party.

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So Foxtel have to blackout the feed when a Hong Kong race is on? Very annoying.

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Hong Kong races are already on Sky Racing available through Foxtel, obviously both parties do not want a simulcast.

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In the Seven West Media annual report:

racing.com, our joint venture with
Racing Victoria has performed
strongly and recently acquired the
rights to broadcast world quality
horse racing from Hong Kong
adding even more coverage;

If it’s going so well, why doesn’t Seven include it in the published ratings?

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Noticed a graphics refresh for this channel for last weekend, wonder if

(a) anyone else got a screenshot because I didn’t, and
(b) would said graphics refresh be reflective of Channel 7’s overall sport package in the future OR is it just reflective of Racing Victoria?

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The video is fine but I cannot see an option to tune the audio separately. I am using a Topfield PVR

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The Hong Kong racing season is well under way but Seven misses a golden opportunity to promote its free, live broadcast on racing.com to Chinese Australians by not placing advertisements in local Chinese-language newspapers. Instead I have seen advertisements from HK broadcaster TVB promoting live coverage on Channel 88 (with Cantonese commentary) on its streaming service TVB Anywhere, which requires a monthly subscription.

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Greg Miles this morning announced he would retire by June next year. He has called a record 36 Melbourne Cups! Congratulations on a magnificent career. He will stay with racing.com on other projects and be part of a panel to pick his successor. Racing Victoria will also name a scholarship after Greg to nurture young racecalling talent.

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Racing.com appoints new CEO

Racing.com – the media joint venture between Seven West Media (SWM) and Racing Victoria (RV) – today announced that Andrew Catterall has been appointed to the role of Chief Executive Officer.

Catterall, who was formerly employed as the Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer at RV, returns to racing on a full-time basis after leading a global sports entertainment technology services and consultancy firm.

Lewis Martin, a Director of Racing.com and Managing Director of Seven Melbourne, said, “We are very pleased to have Andrew on board. We are delighted with the development of Racing.com over the past 12 months.

“It is now very well-placed to build on its success and realise its potential. Andrew has the skills, background and passion to drive the venture’s development.”

Greg Nichols, a Director of Racing.com and RV, said, “The Racing.com Board is of the firm view that Andrew has the best mix of skills and the knowledge of broadcasting and racing needed to be able to take Racing.com to the next level.
“Andrew was held in high regard for his strategic contribution when he previously worked at Racing Victoria and was instrumental in a number of industry initiatives, including the establishment of Racing.com as a dedicated online racing service prior to its expansion into a free-to-air television broadcaster.”

Catterall, who will officially commence duties in January 2017, said, “The media and wagering space is very dynamic at the moment, so it is an exciting opportunity to be chosen to lead the team at Racing.com and work with all our partners in showcasing the sport.”

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Greg Miles will call his last race meeting at Caulfield on Saturday April 15. He says he chooses the date not only because Easter Saturday is a significant feature meeting of the Victorian racing season, but also he called his first race at Caulfield, for the ABC on Boxing Day 1979.

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This channel is finally getting some more races, with five days Brisbane Racing Club winter carnival to be broadcast.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/superracing/qld-racing/brisbane-racing-club-secures-freetoair-deal-for-winter-carnival-features/news-story/4523c6289427b0597bc48872c777f0ed?nk=f64a6f493ff074ee6ec2c4f84ef035b2-1494114970

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It will be interesting to see if this coverage is extended to regular Saturday racing at Eagle Farm/Doomben and night racing at Toowoomba.

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Doubtful given the interest in Qld Racing outside of the carnival days.

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The Australian Financial Review reports the channel has won the rights to South Australian racing and will reveal Sportsbet and Bet365 will join CrownBet in multi-million deals to sponsor Racing.com coverage spread among race meets and days of the week. Sportsbet will be the main sponsor of Thursday and Friday racing, Bet365 will sponsor Sunday to Thursday, while CrownBet will sponsor Saturday races.

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###South Australian thoroughbred racing is coming to Racing.com.

TRSA AND RACING.COM SIGN SEVEN-YEAR MEDIA RIGHTS DEAL

A seven-year media rights agreement has been signed between Thoroughbred Racing South Australia (TRSA) and Racing.com that will cover domestic and international rights.

Racing.com is a joint venture between Seven West Media and Racing Victoria and has been broadcasting Victorian racing since August, 2015.

South Australian thoroughbred racing will now sit alongside Victorian racing, being broadcast on Racing.com free-to-air channels 78 (metropolitan) and 68 (regional), Foxtel 529 and digital platform, as well as Seven West Media digital assets.

Racing.com has been able to sublicense South Australian thoroughbred rights to Sky Racing, ensuring that all South Australian thoroughbred racing will remain on the Sky Racing 1 wall-to-wall racing channel.

Racing.com will also sublicense live streaming of South Australian thoroughbred racing to the digital platforms of wagering operators.

The media rights deal commences from August 1, 2017.

Racing.com will work with partners the Melbourne Racing Club (MRC) and Victorian industry owned Thoroughbred Racing Productions (TRP) to showcase South Australian racing.

TRP will bring best in class outside broadcasting capability to ensure Racing.com will broadcast live and in high quality from all SA race tracks.

At the expiry of the current international rights agreement in March 2018, the MRC will distribute South Australian racing to punters around the world.

Racing.com will also work with TRSA on a broader promotional strategy for South Australian thoroughbred racing, including editorial, fields and form for coverage on Racing.com digital, television and social media assets.

Frances Nelson QC, TRSA Chair, said the new media rights agreement represented the best possible outcome for the industry.

“The agreement reached with Racing.com and their sublicense to Sky Racing ensures that South Australian racing will not only continue to be screened on the channels provided by Sky, but also make our racing available via the free-to-air platforms that Seven West Media and Racing.com can provide,” Nelson said.

“It will allow our industry to be more thoroughly showcased via the Racing.com programs, which provides great exposure for all clubs and participants.

“It will allow us to promote our industry at a level that would not be possible without the involvement of Seven West Media and the access to the free-to-air channels that this agreement provides.”

Jim Watters, TRSA CEO, said that the new deal would bring financial benefits to the South Australian industry.

“The value this delivers will enable TRSA to further support the local racing industry through investment in track and training facilities as well as infrastructure upgrades for patrons,”
Watters said.

“In addition, it also gives us the ability to achieve further prizemoney increases as we continue to build the momentum around South Australian racing’s profile, and to provide increased returns to participants, which in turn encourages further investment.

“All of which sustains and grows employment in South Australia.“The injection of State Government money into the current Festival of Racing at Morphettville and the creation of our first million dollar races have provided outstanding impetus.

“Now, we believe this agreement with Racing.com will ensure we can continue to capitalise on SA’s re- emergence on the national stage.”

Announcements will be made in the coming weeks regarding South Australian-based hosting and form talent, along with content integration into current and planned programming.

Andrew Catterall, Racing.com CEO, welcomes the partnership with South Australian racing and the opportunities it brings.

“We are pleased that Thoroughbred Racing South Australia has chosen to partner with Racing.com to 2024,” Catterall said.

“The addition of 180 South Australian thoroughbred racing meetings to our existing calendar of 520 Victorian and 88 Hong Kong meetings greatly enhances our viewer experience.

“Our shared objective is to use this philosophy of every screen, every phone, every connected device to grow nationwide audience and interest in SA thoroughbred racing and, in turn, help grow wagering turnover and revenues for the local industry.

“We look forward to showcasing all South Australian races from the bush, to Oakbank and the big carnival days at Morphettville to a national audience by telling the stories of South Australian race clubs, jockeys,

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Of the 5 mainland states that race SA would probably be in the bottom 2 with Qld in terms of interest and quality. There’s really only about 3-4 meetings in the state that are even worth a mention, and one of those (Great Eastern Steeplechase at Oakbank) could well be moved with the crowd on Easter Monday in major decline. The others are probably Adelaide Cup Day, Goodwood Day and there’s one other Group 1 day before the Goodwood that pique any interest.

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To me trying to basically copy what Sky Channel is will be a flawed strategy. Racing.com and the predecessor TVN was initially created to focus on Victorian (and in the case of TVN, Sydney) racing without the wall to wall coverage that Sky was/is.

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Racing.com has moved into the Mike Sheahan Media Centre at Melbourne’s AFL House (next door to Etihad Stadium) in time for the start of South Australian race coverage tomorrow. The race broadcast will most be hosted from the Melbourne studio rather than on the course, although there will still be a camera to cover the mounting yard and a reporter will still be stationed there to interview trainers and jockeys.

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The new studio based coverage is absolutely terrible

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Trainers, jockeys and horse owners have criticised Racing.com’s South Australian race coverage since it began on August 1. According to today’s Herald Sun, clashes with SA races mean post-race interviews in Victoria don’t always happen, and jockeys are being asked to come back 10 minutes after the race to give their thoughts. The outrage from the racing industry is so big that a crisis meeting has been called for the next few days.