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Welcome to
the News desk. |
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Daytime TV gambling ads ban worries ITV and threatens
its racing coverage |
16/10/2016 |
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Editor |
Value of
rights depends on bookies paying for programme slots BHA says sport
will be united in calling for an exemption for racing
The possibility of a pre-watershed ban on the adverts was
floated in The Times and, while the report was speculative and anonymously
sourced, it was enough to send a shiver through senior figures, both on the
turf and beyond.
Among those feeling anxious were the executives who
negotiated a £30m, four-year deal to televise racing on ITV from 2017.
The value of racings terrestrial rights depends almost entirely on the
huge sums that bookmakers will pay to advertise in the breaks. A ban on daytime
advertising would blow a hole in ITVs business plan as wide as Newmarket
Heath, and reduce the value of the rights in future deals almost to
zero.
The digital channel At The Races also depends heavily on bookmaker
advertising. Other sports, football in particular, could also see a drop in the
value of their TV rights, but only racing has a fundamental link to betting as
a primary revenue stream and a daytime ban would be catastrophic for the
sports finances. |
Possible changes to the
rules on gambling adverts will be added to a review of fixed odds betting
terminals (FOBTs), the controversial gaming machines that have turned what were
once betting shops into outlets for roulette and other fixed-margin games which
were once restricted to casinos. The British Horseracing Authority kept public
comment to a minimum, on the basis that the story is only a rumour at
present.
The government hasnt yet launched its review,
Will Lambe, the BHAs director of corporate affairs, said, so we
first need to await details of the consultation and any proposals arising.
However, it is likely that as part of any consultation that racing would be
united in making strong representations for an exemption for horse racing
content. These representations would be based around racings obvious
interdependence with betting compared to other sports, and the nature of its TV
coverage.
Racing will also be concerned that any compromise
proposal that imposed an early-evening cut-off point for gambling adverts would
bar bookies from advertising during terrestrial racing coverage, but leave much
of the televised Premier League and Champions League football schedule on Sky
Sports and BT Sport relatively unaffected.
Mark Johnston, a leading
trainer for 25 years and also a former director of the British Horseracing
Authority, told the Racing Post that ITV should get rid of all coverage
of betting when it takes over from Channel 4 as the sports
terrestrial broadcaster next year. If ITV fails to heed his warning, Johnston
suggested, a Top Gear-style car crash could be on the way.
Consistency is a trait any punter must admire when it comes to Mark
Johnston but not maybe his relentlessly negative view of betting. When you are
lucky enough to run a business underpinned by sovereign wealth - just over a
third of his runners are owned by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed al-Maktoum, the
son of Sheikh Mohammed and the crown prince of Dubai - it is difficult to make
an argument the rest of can understand.
ITV commits to 40 days racing
on the main ITV channel, the rest to be shown on ITV4.
The
commercial broadcaster, which takes over from Channel 4 as the sport's
exclusive terrestrial partner from New Year's Day, will show 40 days of racing
on its main channel.
Sandown's Tingle Creek meeting, the Coral Welsh
National and Cheltenham Trials Day are three of the most high-profile absentees
from the schedule and will instead be broadcast on ITV4.
ITV will not
broadcast a day of racing on its main channel between Cheltenham on New Year's
Day and the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival, almost two-and-a-half
months later.
A total of 14 days of jumps and 26 days of Flat racing
will be shown on the main channel.
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