TVG will be the death of horse racing

[bdw0617]

it won't be today.


it won't be tomorrow

it won't be next month

it wont' be next year


but it will be the coup de grace to the sport.


I like TVG. This isn't a TVG sucks thread. I enjoy TVG and I enjoy the track feeds and the programming.
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The problem with tVG is that they have a deal with directv and they are mutually exclusive. You can't get TVG outside of anything other than directtv from what i understand


Which, for serious horse players isn't a problem


But now that TVG has bought HRTV and transferred all the good tracks to TVG and left HRTV with all the shitty tracks (no offense), now you have to have dish


1. The most innovative thing HRTV ever did was to broadcast their feed online. HRTV.com i've been using that site since 2010. I generally watch it when I'm at the gym on the treadmill, I've been out of town and fired up my laptop and watched it on the road. At least..3-4 times I've recommended getting into horse racing into friend and i've talked someone into plopping 10 dollars into a 1 month subscription to hrtv to give it a try. It's 10 bucks. Now there's no point.

HRTV also is included in just about every cable sports package I've ever seen. Comcast has it. They don't have TVG

Even more so right now I'm about to move to New York and I'm not about to sign a year long contract for directv for one channel, I'll just get RTN and deal with it until I move.


2. You will win the battle but eventually lose the war. You have pretty much, no way of connecting with new viewers. What's gonna happen when all the old horse players die off? People my age, I'm basically a cord cutter. The last 2 months I've watched only college basketball and HRTV on live TV if not for that, I could happily live off netflix and hulu as that's where 90% of my entertainment comes from. So how are you gonna reach these people to help bring in new players without actually getting to them?


And the causal fans you have that are still meh on horse racing aren't gonna bother to go out and get a new satalliate provider if they were watching through dish or online. They are gonna say it's not worth it and find a new hobby


TVG is gonna be the death of horse racing

[mightyhijames]

are you saying Comcast doesn't offer TVG because I get both HRTV and TVG in my Comcast sports package. I hope it doesn't change.

[geowarrior]

bdw, I don't think things are as simple as you are suggesting.

I have Comcast like mightyhijames, but unlike him I get TVG but not HRTV. TVG has stated that they want to go to a "ESPN1, ESPN2 model" but that only works if a significant proportion of customers get both channels. The actual situation seems to vary both with carrier and location.