TVG's stupid expeirment

[Vegas711]

Lastnight TVG decided to expeirment with showing a Poker championship during a live broadcast. Three racetracks where at less than 10 minutes to Post instead of seeing the horses we where being shown a bunch of nobodys playing poker. TVG told me that this was just an expeirment. TVG upper management just doesn't get it ,you would think by now that they would learn something from their past mistakes.If i want to see Poker ( Which I don't) i can see it on espn etc.I go to tvg to see the horses not some freaks playing cards.

Is it any wonder TVG losses money. When you fail to understand the needs of your customer you soon are out of business.:ThmbDown:

[Tom]

The more I watch TVG, the more I think they don't have a clule about horse racing. They wold be better off firing most of those talkingheads and keeping one guy to talk briefly - and then play some jazz the rest of the time.

Poker?
I don't even know her!:bang:

[GameTheory]

I hear they have a new show where two trainers re-decorate each other's barns -- gonna be a big hit...

[Tom]

:lol:

[Figman]

Tom,
I can't believe you said "keep one guy talking briefly...." That's the way Capital District Regional OTB has been doing it on their own television station TV-12 for many years long before TVG. And yet complaints abound!

I don't understand why your area of NY doesn't have a similar operation in home as TV-12 is available in all of Northeastern NY State. Can't your regional OTB make a deal to get Capital's television station? Nassau, Suffolk and NYC all have in home televised horse racing available on cable. Only Catskill and Western are in the stone ages.

[garyoz]

I agree, the "experiment" was stupid. I ended up watching the races I was interested in on the BrisBet Stream. Funny thing is that there was the World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel at the same time. But I guess if you like watching poker on TV you can't get enough. Maybe its no worse than having two racing channels on at the same time.

Speaking of TVG, does anyone know what happened to Rhonda Collins? With Priscilla leaving, I don't think they have any women on the air. They had another relatively new aging and balding guy on today at noon.

[kenwoodallpromos]

Is the show going to be called Queer eye for the Straightaway guy? :D

[mhrussell]

..I had not heard that. I noticed she has not been hosting lately, but thought she might just be on vacation..
Did TVG announce that she was leaving?

[Speed Figure]

..I had not heard that. I noticed she has not been hosting lately, but thought she might just be on vacation..
Did TVG announce that she was leaving?
She's at fox sports now.

[garyoz]

Priscilla has left. They made some comments about it her last day. Seems like she left on good terms, probably to another gig. While Rhonda wasn't terribly polished, she did seem to try hard. She just disappeared.

[garyoz]

She's at fox sports now.


That makes sense, because both Fox and TVG are controlled by News Corp, Rupert Murdoch's company. So it made it easier to leave on good terms.

[schweitz]

Lastnight TVG decided to expeirment with showing a Poker championship during a live broadcast. Three racetracks where at less than 10 minutes to Post instead of seeing the horses we where being shown a bunch of nobodys playing poker. TVG told me that this was just an expeirment. TVG upper management just doesn't get it ,you would think by now that they would learn something from their past mistakes.If i want to see Poker ( Which I don't) i can see it on espn etc.I go to tvg to see the horses not some freaks playing cards.

Is it any wonder TVG losses money. When you fail to understand the needs of your customer you soon are out of business.:ThmbDown:


They did this last week also; while I was trying to watch Sam Houston---It's bad enough when they do 20 min on every Los Al QH race and I don't get Sam Houston live but now it appears that they will go to poker for 20 or 30 min. at a time. :mad:

[Lasix1]

I hear they have a new show where two trainers re-decorate each other's barns -- gonna be a big hit...
I heard that recently paroled Martha Stewart has been hired on as a consultant. Seems she watched a lot of TVG while in the slammer....

[Suff]

--It's bad enough when they do 20 min on every Los Al QH race and I don't get Sam Houston live but now it appears that they will go to poker for 20 or 30 min. at a time. :mad:

They're obsession with quarter Horses will be the death of them. If they do die. Its baffling how intensely they push 1/4'r horses on us...

I cannot believe how much 1/4 horse races I see on TVG...



and I also think they should move east. Either NYRA or Churchill or Florida.

Should'nt they be where the race tracks are? and the people?

[schweitz]

Suff,
I guess its because they broadcast from Los Al most nights---why?, I don't know---be curious to know what TVG's handle is on Los Al. What ticks me off is I play Sam Houston most nights and post time for Los Al will be 8-12 min. away and they stay there the whole time---you would think they could leave long enough to show other tracks. :confused:

[kev]

Before TVG made it's start, they had a horse racing channel here in louisville ( maybe other city's I don't know ) it was based here in town I knew some of the people that worked there. It was called ODS and they were great about showing all the races, if two was going off at the same time, it was a matter of seconds till they showed the taped race. You never saw the guys face and he only said 1 min to post to CD race 2 or here's the results from AQU race 4. No BS, no poker. They (ODS) even tryed at one time to have a screen up where you could see what was going on at 4 tracks at once, and go to one screen when the race was running, but some people I guess had small tv screen's and couldnt see.

[Speed Figure]

I'm sure they handle more on Los al than Sam Houston. Los Al is not that far from TVG. I know for a fact that they get far more money bet from CAL bettors than any other state.

[Valuist]

Is there any reason for TVG (or HRTV also) to have remotes? It seems like most of us just use the channel for video feed, and really don't give a damn about the conversation.

I didn't catch this poker crap; I can only hope they did this at night when it was only quarters running. They couldn't be so stupid to interrupt a major track during the day, could they? Yeah, I'm sure they could.

[Tom]

Figman,

When I said one guy talking briefly, I meant to free up time to, uh, show post parades, show races, do anything releated to racing and that bunch of bores. They add noting and actuaklyl seem to revel in their ignorance.

Western Regional OTB.....losers to the max. Not even a webpage. They are totally lost - losing money and handing out jobs to politcal hacks and incompetent nephews.
I closed my account over the winter - had it for over 25 years. They have no incentive to do anyhting and it shows. They couldn't negotiate a fly to poop.

[Memogram]

I had read some complaints about TVG on this board a few months ago but I only recently signed up for them. After watching TVG for a few weeks now I am very surprised at how bad they really are. The poker thing last Thursday and yesterday (which I also e-mailed TVG about and received a reply saying they were trying to expand their audience) is just one of many things that are wrong with them. I hope they go broke or someone else steps in with a better horseracing channel. TVG sucks.

[schweitz]

I'm sure they handle more on Los al than Sam Houston. Los Al is not that far from TVG. I know for a fact that they get far more money bet from CAL bettors than any other state.


You may be right---but we are talking Quarter Horses!


Los Al off track for Thursday 24th 395,469

Sam Houston off track (same day) 1,194,301

Still would be interested in what TVGs handle is on these two tracks and why they think that it makes sense for them to ignore the TB tracks when Los Al is running.

[kev]

Ok guys and gals, everyone is knocking TVG on the bad things they do, what would make a great horse racing network??? :rolleyes:

[kingfin66]

Wow. I haven't been able to watch/handicap much lately. Wouldn't it be nice if TVG just showed post parades, races and results? Isn't there viewing public composed of handicappers who already know, or at least think they know, what they are doing? Who are the talking heads trying to preach to?

Someone asked about Priscilla leaving. It been about 1 1/2 months or so. She had a nice going away weekend. During the last few minutes, one of they head honchos at TVG called from across the building and told a story about Priscilla. It was supposed to be funny, but made her out to sound like a bitch.

The crew was in Kentucky covering the Derby. They all decided that they wanted a steak - the entire team. Priscilla declared that if they were going to have steak, it must be at the Outback Steakhouse. It turns out that the closest Outback is in Indiana....very far away. But, as the executive said, you have to keep the on air talent happy. So they all piled into their vans and went to this far away steakhouse to appease Priscilla. They got there and had to wait, and wait, and wait. If anybody has been to the Outback, you know how long the wait can be.

Finally, the group was seated and proceeded to order. When it was Priscilla's turn, she order...a salad! It sounds like this was an endearing story more than a prima donna story, but jeez, salad after all that. I bet at least a few people were PO'd.

[Tom]

Ok guys and gals, everyone is knocking TVG on the bad things they do, what would make a great horse racing network??? :rolleyes:

Focus on horse races - show more of them, get rid of the fluff boys and thier insane chatter. More races - at least 6-8 every hour.

[The Hawk]

Simply show the post parades and races, in their entirety, for every track you purport to cover, even if it has to be on delay. Odds scrolls. No nonsense. No more as-they-enter-the-gate picks (what's the point? Ego gratification). No suggested Pick 4 tickets. To fill time at night and the morning, show us all the replay shows of the covered tracks, not just three of them.

[BillW]

Has anyone sent their criticisms to TVG?

Bill

[Tom]

Many times. I thinl DRF handles thier customer service:bang: :rolleyes:

[PaceAdvantage]

See what happens when someone tries to screw with tradition? Folks here are clamoring for the same ol same ol (Post Parade, Race, Results...that's it!)

Suff brought up the other day that he would like to see new innovations in camera work with racing....he thinks it would make things exciting and bring in new fans.

This thread is a prime example of the reaction from most hard-core faithful horseplayers when faced with "innovation."

And forget about the poker stuff....that was just silly....I'm talking about the other TVG criticisms.

[Tom]

It would very innovative to show more races, post parades, and replays and a lot less talking.

[schweitz]

HRTV does a pretty good job---unfortunately I don't wager on many the tracks that they show.

[qhrick]

Here's a pricey alternative to TVG
If all you want are straight track feeds it's well worth a look
Just like you were at the track watching the monitor
40 channels of nothing but live track feeds
A combination of tbreds, harness, dogs, q-horses
Many but not all tbred tracks ( hey, it's a joint venture of Magna, Roberts Communications, etc )

http://www.rtn.tv/

[andicap]

You guys are unbelievable.
Ten years ago you couldn't watch a race live on TV. Now you gets dozens of tracks into your living room for 12 hours a day -- plus a bunch of replay shows -- and you're still complaining.
I went back to the Dish this week and I'm in heaven -- both HRTV and TVG. So some races are run on delays -- big deal, I'm still getting a lot more than I used to have, which was nada.
So some of the announcers are obnoxious.
So are some of you. So are some of my friends. So are some of my relatives. Big deal -- turn the sound down then. You can still see the odds.
Beside, who on TV isn't obnoxious? At least they're not Pat O'Brien, hitting on evey woman who can move and making racist remarks to people's faces.

I didn't see the poker tourney thing, but I'm led to believe by this thread that it was late at night -- when just Los Almitos and maybe one other harness track was running? Is that right? If so, who cares? How many of you bet the quarters -- and if so, did you miss any races or anything of importance? I'm just wondering since I didn't see it. Maybe they were wrong.
If TVG were to interrupt Gulfstream at 4:30 p.m. for poker, OK, that would be one thing. But TVG's mission is to make money -- to stay around so we can watch live horse racing. If TVG loses millions of dollars because not enough states have legalized telephone betting to get the network distributed into more than a dozen states then it has every right to try out things that WILL make it more money and help people save their jobs and the network stay in business.
For a bunch of capitalists you sure turn into purists when your selfish interests are at heart.

FYI, HRTV is much better than TVG in my opinion. It has more interesting features and the handicappers seem to be sharper and more sophisticated in their discussion of the races in general.
For example, last week when GP announced it was adding to the run-up distance at 9f, HRTV did a short feature about what it meant and why it was important. Very nice.
Of course I enjoy TVG as well because it shows live races (or o a short tape delay) and there is always something on TV that I can watch now (between noon and midnight there is.)

[schweitz]

Andicap,
The poker thing was during Sam Houston's races---probably doesn't bother you, but it bothers the hell out of anybody playing Sam Houston---especially when all ten races are on their schedule. Yea, we have it better than a few years ago---BUT it could be so much better. Try wagering on Sam Houston or Turfway or Oaklawn and see how frustrated you get with TVG. As for the announcers--I muted the sound except for races a long time ago. You say you are in Heaven---we will see how you feel about it after a few months of trying to watch races on TVG.

[Tom]

Andy,

We've raised the bar! :D

[andicap]

Andicap,
The poker thing was during Sam Houston's races---probably doesn't bother you, but it bothers the hell out of anybody playing Sam Houston---especially when all ten races are on their schedule. Yea, we have it better than a few years ago---BUT it could be so much better. Try wagering on Sam Houston or Turfway or Oaklawn and see how frustrated you get with TVG. As for the announcers--I muted the sound except for races a long time ago. You say you are in Heaven---we will see how you feel about it after a few months of trying to watch races on TVG.

Like I said, on the poker thing I'm just gathering information -- I don't have the facts so I'm not sure how I feel about it.
Did you miss any live races during the poker thing or did they cut in and out. Did they run the race in split screen with poker? That would be annoying.
I agree that racing, not poker, should be job one at TVG, and that they should only experiment with other areas of gambling when it does not interfere with the horse racing. (OK, except for the boring Los Alamitos quarter-horse races).
On the tape delays, they can't run ALL the races live.

[Tom]

Hey, Andy!
I love those Q-horse races.
Ken Massa wrote an article about playing them inthe newsletter a while back - works good enough to keep me playing.

[freehouse2002]

Ok, I didn't see the poker in question. However, I am surprised at how PO'd some people get because Los Al is shown late night. Doing some quick math, they show about 10 hours a day (9:00 AM to 7:00 PM pacific) of solely T-Bred racing. They show Los Al for about four hours a day, for four nights a week when there is pretty much nothing else left for the day. I think it's great as they can expose QH racing to a bigger audience.

Now, as others have stated, it seems that they showed poker instead of a live race from Sam Houston and that's a big no-no. I'm just glad I have at least TVG available to me. While not the best, its better than nothing.



freehouse2002

[tholl]

Andicap,
The poker thing was during Sam Houston's races---probably doesn't bother you, but it bothers the hell out of anybody playing Sam Houston---especially when all ten races are on their schedule. Yea, we have it better than a few years ago---BUT it could be so much better. Try wagering on Sam Houston or Turfway or Oaklawn and see how frustrated you get with TVG. As for the announcers--I muted the sound except for races a long time ago. You say you are in Heaven---we will see how you feel about it after a few months of trying to watch races on TVG.

Agree totally; except also Delta was on, although they very kindly broke away from the poker to show a replay of the stretch run now and again.
Why do some people think that its a privilege to have TVG ? Why do they think that they are doing us a favor by showing us races ? We are paying for their show, so we have a right to be disgruntled if they suck at what they do.

[Vegas711]

Here's a pricey alternative to TVG
If all you want are straight track feeds it's well worth a look
Just like you were at the track watching the monitor
40 channels of nothing but live track feeds
A combination of tbreds, harness, dogs, q-horses
Many but not all tbred tracks ( hey, it's a joint venture of Magna, Roberts Communications, etc )

http://www.rtn.tv/

I had rtn for 6 months it is great, but at $100.00 a month it gets costly . They may not be around for long though now that HRTV has moved to the dish.You will need to buy an additional dish to view it and have it installed which will cost a couple of hundred dollars. It is better than watching simulcasts at your local track atleast when you are at home you don't have someone spilling beer on you while he is shouting for the 3 horse.

[toetoe]

Dear Old Pat can say whatever he wants. Hell, he co-founded Del Mar! Del Mar to Asskiss Hollywood. How the mighty have fallen!

[schweitz]

Like I said, on the poker thing I'm just gathering information -- I don't have the facts so I'm not sure how I feel about it.
Did you miss any live races during the poker thing or did they cut in and out. Did they run the race in split screen with poker? That would be annoying.
I agree that racing, not poker, should be job one at TVG, and that they should only experiment with other areas of gambling when it does not interfere with the horse racing. (OK, except for the boring Los Alamitos quarter-horse races).
On the tape delays, they can't run ALL the races live.


Last week it was several races that they missed---with no updates or anything. I at first thought that I was on the wrong channel. What was really interesting was that normally they cut away several times an hour to do TVG promos (which is usually right before a race I'm interested in and which is pretty stupid anyway since you have to TVG to see them) but during the poker fiasco which ran betwen 45 min to an hour they never cut away once.

[schweitz]

Ok, I didn't see the poker in question. However, I am surprised at how PO'd some people get because Los Al is shown late night. Doing some quick math, they show about 10 hours a day (9:00 AM to 7:00 PM pacific) of solely T-Bred racing. They show Los Al for about four hours a day, for four nights a week when there is pretty much nothing else left for the day. I think it's great as they can expose QH racing to a bigger audience.

Now, as others have stated, it seems that they showed poker instead of a live race from Sam Houston and that's a big no-no. I'm just glad I have at least TVG available to me. While not the best, its better than nothing.



freehouse2002

I don't mind them showing Los Al---they just don't need to spend 20min. of live TV on every Los Al race when they could break away long enough to show other races live when its still 10 min to the next Los Al race.

[freehouse2002]

I don't mind them showing Los Al---they just don't need to spend 20min. of live TV on every Los Al race when they could break away long enough to show other races live when its still 10 min to the next Los Al race.
Ok, I see what you are saying. I misunderstood you. It's just that it seems a lot of people on other boards get upset that Los Al is shown. I agree with what you say....there is no need to spend 20 min from one race to another, especially if there is a race elsewhere that is about to be run.



freehouse2002

[andicap]

I don't mind the QH races -- I agree they should get some exposure.

If they are killing live races at Sam or other places for poker than that is an outrage, I agree. One day it will be little old Delta Downs, the next day it will be Aqueduct.

And to show you I'm no Pollyanna about TVG, I'll criticize them here for deceiving me. When I was interviewing their president for the article I wrote about the new Dish Network interactive channel, he said that an icon would pop up on the top right hand screen that you would press to go into interactive model.
Turns out in order to use the interactive TVG you have to go into Dish Net's interactive home on Channel 100. You can't launch it from Channel 405. Once in there you can't switch to another channel, so if you're watching TVG through the interactive gateway, you can't switch away to HRTV to catch a race there or even a basketball game you're watching. You have to exit completly out of the application -- a pain in the arse -- and then launch the application again to return. And there's no icon on the screen. You merely go into the application and use the "select" button to toggle back and forth between the full-screen TVG and the interactive app.

It's much easier for me to watch the races with Brisbet in front of me than use the interactive element. I do understand that if you are using TVG in order to bet, the interactive channel might be a good idea , or if you don't have broadband service in your home or can connect to the Internet while watching TV.

[kev]

Here's my thing with it Andy. You say years ago we didnt have anything your right. With me I had ODS ( which became TVG later ) and they did all these things that everyone is talking about they would like to see. Now they up and changed the game, trying to get new players in the game, and their going about it all wrong. Now with that said, I like TVG alot their derby works and BC work is good. The people on there don't bug me anymore, maybe more of us should be writing to TVG about what we like and what we don't.

[PaceAdvantage]

It's kind of like when MTV started with their reality programming, and cut back on their music videos....LOL

[nomadpat]

So we need a TVG2 Channel for just the races then PA? ;)

[BillW]

So we need a TVG2 Channel for just the races then PA? ;)

Or hire Jenny McCarthy as a host :cool:

[Tom]

Or Ozzie Osbourne to give the scratches! That would keep us watcing closely.:confused:

[Valuist]

I think Ozzy would fit in well at the track. I never, ever have heard anyone say "go, baby, go" during a race. But I have heard, "get moving, you f-ing 8!"

BTW, who needs Jenny McCarthy when you can have the Beulah twins instead?

[frankfig]

Where did Tvg find these guys ? Lyons was a horrible trainer and is even a worse handicapper, Todd S never saw a horse he could eleminate, Mr b picks the ml fave about 85% of the time. Ditto chris kutulak.gary seibel is always counting the minutes and looking at his watch until his shift is over. The only guy that makes sense is Carothers. As far as hrtv they are pretty good. The only guy that annoys me is Randy sper somethin. This guy goes around toutin 4/5 shots and 2 horse exacta boxes with 6/5 @ 9/5 shots. You know the guy that after an obvious 7/5 shot wins says " you cant fool the public at philly park " Hey there is an idea , i remeber when people voted on worst track announcer, what about worst talking head ?

[kingfin66]

I don't think the talking heads are as talentless as people always say. The big issue with me is that they are unnecessary. The guy with talent is Ken Rudolph. Not that he is a great horse racing guy or anything, but he has excellent ability as a studio host. I'm very surprised that he hasn't been picked up by a network or even FOX.

[toetoe]

I respect your opinion, but somebody PLEASE snatch Ken Rudolph away and take him to SCREAM-S-P-N. The whole sports announcing world is like that, but that doesn't prove it's the best it could be. One discreet, reserved professional that comes to mind is Bob Valvano. He's on the radio one or two hours per night, and he'll never make it to Anchorland in Bristol, Ct. Not that he wants or needs it, but he's not the hard-sell, trying-WAY-too-hard type of clown that the public "want."

Okay, where are they now?

1) The Fabulous Sports Babe

2) Scott Ferrall

3) Any of Marv Albert's brothers

4) Pete Franklin

[Valuist]

What I find annoying is the way they talk down to their audience. They seem to think that horse racing didn't exist before 1999. And that anyone watching doesn't know how to handicap so they're going to blindly "play along" with whatever selections the handicapper picks. I actually blew a P4 on Saturday at Aqueduct because Schrupp said a horse was a lead pipe lock and when I hear that, its time to look elsewhere.

[Memogram]

I don't quite understand if many here (as several have mentioned) have e-mailed tvg with the same complaints/feedback, why they haven't changed? I don't get it, maybe they are too arrogant to accept advice? Maybe there are people who play their handicappers specific superfectas, pick 3's and pick 4's (they probably have a way to look at the bets for those races and they can see if people are following their handicappers) and they believe having those handicappers increases their handle. Of course, when they turn on poker, their handle has to fall as many will not bet without being able to see the horses. I don't mind having a handicapper, but do find it very annoying when they constantly show their suggested tickets, even after the 1st race/leg has been run -- like we care-- and in many cases they will delay showing taped races to show their handicappers picks. I have to agree with Valuist, they do talk down to their audience, of course that is why there is a mute button, but there also is no excuse for TVG not to listen to their viewers and improve their product.

Hrtv I find a bit better since they don't emphasize handicapping but they could be better at giving odds information and payoffs (they should just copy TVG's graphics), but I cringe everytime I have to look at a certain handicapper whose toupee is glued to his head.

[breakage]

Wasn't it great on Sunday when they broke for commercials two thirds of the way through a live race at the Fairgrounds I believe? That just boggled my mind. Is somebody running this network from their basement....in their spare time?

[schweitz]

There is no doubt in my mind that the person making the decisions about air-time on TVG is not a horseplayer.

[BillW]

There is no doubt in my mind that the person making the decisions about air-time on TVG is not a horseplayer.

Their simulcasting with FSN probably impacts their scheduling also.

My guess would be that the FG thing was probably a screw-up and not a planned event.

Bill

[schweitz]

Bill,
You are probably right about that incident---but their normal way of showing races (or not showing) is just pathetic. The only resonse you ever get from them is that they are trying to develop a market for new horseplayers.

[BillW]

Bill,
You are probably right about that incident---but their normal way of showing races (or not showing) is just pathetic. The only resonse you ever get from them is that they are trying to develop a market for new horseplayers.

Yes, they don't play to the experienced player. I'm not sure how big of an audience the experienced player makes, but I hope they are right in identifying who the majority of their audience is (the new player). In any case I wish them well in nurturing the new player as we surely do need it.

BTW I send them an e-mail with a link to this thread inviting them to read this and assign a rep (ala DRF) to comment and add to the discussion. Hopefully they will do so.

Bill

[schweitz]

Let's say they attract some new players. How long before they become aware of the shortcomings of the TVG broadcast? Looks to me like they are trying to build a fan base that will end up being critical of their broadcast.