Is TRN Back in business?

[MikeDee]

The following is a excerpt from a DRF article
http://www.drf.com/news/article/34817.html

Magna has launched a television satellite service to replace The Racing Network, which folded last year. That system is available on satellite television, according to McAlpine. He said the company intends to expand the service in coming months, and is hoping to gain access to cable providers.

"It is up and running," he said. "We're doing some aggressive marketing to try to interest people to subscribe into that system."

McAlpine said the system will be free through the end of February and will have a cost structure based on customer betting levels.

"We're aggressively pursuing cable," he said.

Does anybody know:

Is TRN now available on the Dish network like it used to be?

or

How to find out how you can subscribe?

[JimG]

Good question...if it is on tv again, I hope they consider a feed over the internet. I would be willing to pay a nominal fee for a good feed with multiple channels.


Jim

[smf]

MikeDee,

For those of us who bought TRN as a "stand alone" 6 channel system, we've been getting direct track feeds since 7/30. The signals have been inconsistent, about 5 days per week w/ no real set schedule of tracks.

The past week we've rec'd PHA, GP, TAM, and sometimes SUF, LRL, GGF, SA. Personally I prefer the present format, not what it was before 7/30.

If you had dishtv along with TRN you weren't getting the signal after 7/30.

I'll be interested to see what the new format is. If it's California racing and a mix of Stronach's minor tracks, I'm not interested. If he keeps the mid-atlantic tracks in the mix, I'm in. In the summer they showed PHA, DEL, NJ, PIM consistently.

JimG,

It's my understanding from reading between the lines in interviews w/ McAlpine that an internet "channel" was Magna's way of reaching the "mass public", and the subscription satellite service w/b for folks that want to "pay for pictures". He stated in 2 interviews that the best way to reach the public is thru the 'net. From what I gather, some members of the Cali board didn't like that line of thinking but I'd bet you'll see a Stronach internet channel of sorts soon also.

[MikeDee]

thanks guys for the reply I have a dsl and IMO a good feed over the internet will never be as good as cable TV or satellite feed.

I think the 6 channel box is diffeerent then the dish 4 channel box and the satellite dish points in a different direction, so I'll guess I will have to wait and see what is offered going forward:(

[MikeDee]

I sent a email to MEC and I got this reply - if you want TRN get out your bankroll

RTN, which we are part owner of, should have an 800 number set up later this week, or early next, to enable ordering of service and system hardware. Billing for service won't start until March 1, but it will be $99.99 per month, the hardware will also cost around $300 US. Installation will be in addition to hardware cost and typically run around $150 US.

The service will provide eight channels of live horse racing including full cards of all MEC product and other select industry products, until our own MEC multi-track channels and Greenwood Racing multi track channels are operating later this spring. Thereafter MEC will provide two multi-track racing channels and one data odds and results video channel. Of the other
five channels two will be produced by Greenwood Racing/Philly Park on the same multi-track or mixed product basis as the MEC Channels referred to above, the balance of channels (three) will be filled with turn around full card simulcasts from select tracks

[smf]

Mike Dee,

If that's the new plan, then who'll subscribe?

So, we're asked to fork over $100 a month during the spring, summer and fall for Bay Meadows, Remington, Thistledown, Great Lakes Downs, (none of which I bet) and the PHA? Get real Magna, lol.

Even if Greenwood carries Del park or LRL as their "select tracks", it sounds like no guarantee I'll get them on any given day. Unless "the plan" changes I doubt it'll fly. What people will get in return for the price isn't of value (per their email to you). Sounds like underlay city to me.

[Dave Schwartz]

Does the nearsightedness of this seem as obvious to you guys as it does me?

Of course, I am out of the loop anyway as NOTHING gets into Nevada. >>>sigh<<< Makes me think of California until a few years ago... The most progressive horse racing state in terms of the sophistication of their users, great racing and less tracks to bet than anywhere else.

Well, now that is us now (unless you want to spend your entire day in a smoke-filled casino racebook).


Regards,
Dave Schwartz

[takeout]

$100 a month? They're sure not going for volume. ;) Sounds as though they might have consulted the MJC on this one. What a hoot! Could this industry GET any more entertaining? :D

[MikeDee]

I was dumbfounded when I saw the price and since I got TRN through the 4 channel DISH service I guess my equipment is junk and I would have to buy new. You know those other channels are going to be dogs and harness which I don't give 2 hoots about anyway.

I don't know who they think their market is but it ain't me.

[MikeDee]

Here are a couple of articles on the new RTN

http://www.drf.com/news/article/34965.html
http://www.drf.com/news/article/34927.html

Lets do some math. The one article says the old TRN needed 65K to 100K subscribers to break even.
(Strange business where you can't figure out how much you need to breakeven. Somewhere between 1.6 and 2.5 mil
a month. These guys must have worked for ENRON.)

But lets pick a number in the middle say 80,000. So they needed $25 * 80K or $2mil. So to get their $2 mil in the new
company they need 20,000 customers. The article says they had 10,000 customers in the old company.

Now I don't have a masters degree in marketing, but if you could only get 10,000 customers at $25 @ month, how do you
think you will get 20,000 customers at $100 a month for the same service, not to mention that you need to buy new equipment? The racing industry's total disrespect of the racing public never ceases to amaze me.

[ranchwest]

Good Columbo work, MikeDee.

[Tom]

The problem is that Magna is a company from the automotive world, not horse racing. Franky can buy all the race horses and tracks he wants, but the bottom line is he is an automotive industry gorilla. He brings nothing to the thoroughbred world except greed, stupidity, and typical atomotive industry ethics (there are none in the automotive industry-only whores and johns). Franky will do nothing to help the game, he will only try to manipilate it so that he has an edge, just he is doing with his real Magna auto-parts business. No one in the auto industry works to improve automobliles - they work to improve their bottom lines and thier positions of power. We remain dependant on foreign oil while the Detroit-mob just ignores the problem and refurses to bring about non-fossil fuel engines. It is not that they can't do it, it is that they don't want to. these are the people that knowingly let people edie in unsafe cars if the risk ratios are acceptable. It is cheaper to pay off a few families for their silence
than to actually fix car problems caused by engineering failures in the design stage. Rush to market, pay off the survivors, rake in the cash. This is the American auto industry. This is where Franky lives. He brings a cancer to our game.

Tom
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[andicap]

Originally posted by Tom
No one in the auto industry works to improve automobliles - they work to improve their bottom lines and thier positions of power. We remain dependant on foreign oil while the Detroit-mob just ignores the problem and refurses to bring about non-fossil fuel engines. It is not that they can't do it, it is that they don't want to. these are the people that knowingly let people edie in unsafe cars if the risk ratios are acceptable. It is cheaper to pay off a few families for their silence
than to actually fix car problems caused by engineering failures in the design stage. Rush to market, pay off the survivors, rake in the cash.
Tom
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Why Tom, you sound just like a Democrat!! You think Bush wants to push non-fossil fuel engines? All he cares about is helping his oil company buddies. Hell, some people think he engineered the whole Afghan War in order to get a Unocal oil pipeline through that country which the Taliban wouldn't let through (though even I think that might be a tad far-fetched, but who knows with these crooks.)

And yes, I agree with you 100% on Stronach. He could care less about horse racing overall.

[Tom]

andicap,
I think you are converting me! ~G~
"W" is a hard man to defend or support.
I find it amazing that as his popularity goes up, my faith in him goes down.
When I think back to the great election debate last year, I wish the winner had been......CHAD!

Tom :p

[andicap]

Believe me, Tom. I was grimacing all the way when I voted for Gore. Definitely a lesser of two evils. Talk about a guy with no principles. When he sided with the Cubans on the Elian Gonzalez case, I nearly puked. And none of these guys running for president now on the D side really excite me. The usual mix of politicians -- maybe Tom Kerry, probably a bit too liberal for you, but he's more of a centrist than you'd think coming from Massachusetts. And he was a Vietnam War hero, so he's not squishy on the military. He can fight terrorism.
As usual it will come down to whoever has the most money and presents the best image, rather than the best person for the job.

To keep this on topic, I have terrible suspicions about the Stronach's ulterior motives. They will divide racing to the point where it will destroy itself. The TVG people aren't saints either. They too want to control the sport. The problem is there isn't enough business to go around for more than 1 company. It really is a niche within a niche. TVG claims they have all the patents for interactive TV which is really where the sport is headed inside of 5 years. Could be headed for a courtroom.

[superfecta]

Guys
I think Stronach is good for racing.He's nuts ,about racing for sure,maybe totally nuts.
Thats why he's sucessful,he doesn't fit with the normal.He had to adapt to survive.
He has ego as well,thats probably why he thinks he can compete with the old bluebloods in horseracing.
Who knows if his plan will work? It beats what goes on most of the time in racing.At least hes doing something,not just bitchin about it.
I may not agree with what he does,but I think I know why he does it,and that I can agree with.

[MikeDee]

Super - I have to disagree with you, at first I thought he was good for racing, but I don't any more. IMO he is just the same as all the others. He came in bought TDN made a bunch of promises on how he would improve things, then did nothing except take the money to Canada. The only tracks he owns that he is really interested in is SA and GP.

After all these months of talk about on line wagering and his TV network, He comes up with his, me to, poor excuse, for a on line wagering web site and a price gouging $100 @ month, TV network. Did he do this for the good of racing? No, he did it for the good of "ole Frank" as a last minute effort to cash in on the CA at home wagering bonanza.

Don't kid yourself he is in it for the money, and if racing benefits it only a accidental by-product.

[Tom]

For under $100 a month, I get digital cable, 500+ channels, and RoadRunner to boot. To charge $100 for just a couple of racing channels is just plain ridiculous. Sad fact is, nowadays racing is competing with a good mivie. More than once I have abandoned a card of short fields in favor of watching Silence of the Lambs or a Three Stooges festival.
$100 ??? C'mon Frank-ee, get your head out of your a@@ - go make a safe car (HeHeHe)

Tom