TVG - Why? - Horse Racing Forum - PaceAdvantage.Com

PaceAdvantage · 02-09-2007, 01:04 PM

They are covering three tracks right now....AQU, BEU and TAM....AQU's 2nd race was about 7 MTP, TAM's 2nd race was about to go OFF (0 MTP) and BEU's 1st race was a good 20 minutes away.....so what do they do?

They decide to NOT show the TAM race LIVE, and instead they devote the time it would have taken to SHOW the TAM 2nd live to TALKING about their AQU PICK 4 tickets...WHY?

I don't get it and do not normally resort to negative reporting when it comes to TVG, but why, oh why, when you only have three tracks to cover, and NONE OF THE THREE have ANY post time conflicts, do you NOT show a race LIVE as it happens?

It just doesn't make any sense at all. I KNOW for a fact there are TVG folks reading this board, so perhaps they can send me a private message in case they don't want to answer publicly.

46zilzal · 02-09-2007, 01:06 PM

I watched, or rather suffered through, a three day stint as an observer of TVG last Summer visiting my relatives in California. Without a doubt some of the worst coverage I have evern seen.

ranchwest · 02-09-2007, 01:35 PM

Yeah, they seem to always have one primary track and they treat it as if all the other tracks are irritants in the background.

I'm sure a lot of folks are really driven crazy when they do this with Los Alamitos, where they mostly run quarterhorses.

Why not just put the picks up on TVG Interactive? There is always only a very small percentage of people who will interact with the media and I bet those folks are wanting to see those announcer picks. I suspect most people are bored silly by the picks, especially considering they're mostly P4 and P6. I suspect that the people who play those bets are a very small percentage of all bettors, but they may be a high percentage of people contacting TVG.

It seems like TVG will do almost anything to put the talking heads in the forefront. Hello, we don't watch horse racing to watch talking heads. Keep the horses on the screen at all times. If you absolutely must show something else, do a split screen. Announcers talking is like musicians playing -- sometimes less is more.

levinmpa · 02-09-2007, 01:37 PM

You would think they would listen to the folks that actually view their channel. I have yet to read a positive post regarding TVG. What a joke that channel is. HRTV is a superior product in my opinion.

ranchwest · 02-09-2007, 01:42 PM

Yeah, on HRTV you get to see Joann Jones, that's a big upgrade from TVG right off the bat.

speedking · 02-09-2007, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage

They are covering three tracks right now....AQU, BEU and TAM....AQU's 2nd race was about 7 MTP, TAM's 2nd race was about to go OFF (0 MTP) and BEU's 1st race was a good 20 minutes away.....so what do they do?

They decide to NOT show the TAM race LIVE, and instead they devote the time it would have taken to SHOW the TAM 2nd live to TALKING about their AQU PICK 4 tickets...WHY?

I don't get it and do not normally resort to negative reporting when it comes to TVG, but why, oh why, when you only have three tracks to cover, and NONE OF THE THREE have ANY post time conflicts, do you NOT show a race LIVE as it happens?

It just doesn't make any sense at all. I KNOW for a fact there are TVG folks reading this board, so perhaps they can send me a private message in case they don't want to answer publicly.

I know exactly what you mean, PA....I was steaming and turned to YouBet to view the race. Before muting the volume as I'm supposed to do immediately after switching to TVG, I had it on low and had to endure the post race comments by that clown with the dark hair, Greg something or other. He kept asking his partner if he thought the 8 got up at the wire, then 30 seconds later after watching the replay, said that he meant the 7..."do you think the 7 caught the 4 at the wire, Simon?" The whole time he was watching the 1 horse and could not identify the saddlecloth

And no, she did not get up in time

speedking

john del riccio · 02-09-2007, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage

They are covering three tracks right now....AQU, BEU and TAM....AQU's 2nd race was about 7 MTP, TAM's 2nd race was about to go OFF (0 MTP) and BEU's 1st race was a good 20 minutes away.....so what do they do?

They decide to NOT show the TAM race LIVE, and instead they devote the time it would have taken to SHOW the TAM 2nd live to TALKING about their AQU PICK 4 tickets...WHY?

I don't get it and do not normally resort to negative reporting when it comes to TVG, but why, oh why, when you only have three tracks to cover, and NONE OF THE THREE have ANY post time conflicts, do you NOT show a race LIVE as it happens?

It just doesn't make any sense at all. I KNOW for a fact there are TVG folks reading this board, so perhaps they can send me a private message in case they don't want to answer publicly.

Don't get me going, I can't tell you how many times I wanted to see the horses warm up in the flesh (Joe Takach would be proud) only to hear Todd Shut-up yacking about something thats not going to help me
determine if my choice looks the part.

I woul dlove to kno whow many players here have a better ROI when they are at the track live looking at the horses as opposed to via simulcast or TV. For me, its obsurd how much better I do when I can see them on the track.

Amen,
John

BIG RED · 02-09-2007, 02:07 PM

Everytime I drop by my dads, who has TVG, I check it out. I love the idea of having live racing on a big screen tv. That's the only thing I like. I can't watch them at all, usually end up talking with him between races, with mute on. He has soured on it too. Never mind no Gulf or SA, different story entirely!

speedking · 02-09-2007, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BIG RED

Never mind no Gulf or SA, different story entirely!

speedking

rrbauer · 02-09-2007, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ranchwest

Yeah, on HRTV you get to see Joann Jones, that's a big upgrade from TVG right off the bat.

LOL Let me up for air....I can't stand it.

And, today they have been showing Gulfstream on tape while they give live coverage to Dubai and Laurel....

garyoz · 02-09-2007, 02:46 PM

Duh!! TVG is a business. Their only revenue stream is a percentage of the handle or advertising. They want to encourage viewers to wager--otherwise you have no value to them--certainly not on a CPM advertising basis (I don't think the viewership numbers or demographics of horseplayers are particularly compelling). Thus, they hype their serial bets. Whether races should be preempted is a different issue. But, they ain't Public Broadcasting. TVG would probably not be viable if not for the deep pockets of News Corp (Fox).

We all like to complain about TVG and HRTV, but it was only 10 years ago you had a local replay show if you were lucky. In the not too distant future Internet/TV convergence will put both TVG and HRTV out of business.

Fwizard · 02-09-2007, 02:50 PM

My biggest complaint about TVG lately is the fact that at night , if we don't bet harness or quarterhorses we are screwed ---Every once in a while we see Delta Downs --but we used to see Sam Houston, Delta. MTNR, and others....but now ..nothing like Meadowlands harness is now the king of tracks.

Ron · 02-09-2007, 03:11 PM

Can they not show some tracks live? I think the OTB channel is like that.

speedking · 02-09-2007, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by garyoz

Duh!! TVG is a business. Their only revenue stream is a percentage of the handle or advertising. They want to encourage viewers to wager--otherwise you have no value to them--certainly not on a CPM advertising basis (I don't think the viewership numbers or demographics of horseplayers are particularly compelling). Thus, they hype their serial bets. Whether races should be preempted is a different issue. But, they ain't Public Broadcasting. TVG would probably not be viable if not for the deep pockets of News Corp (Fox).

We all like to complain about TVG and HRTV, but it was only 10 years ago you had a local replay show if you were lucky. In the not too distant future Internet/TV convergence will put both TVG and HRTV out of business.

For me, receiving DirectTv, TVG is part of an otherwise useless premium package which costs about $12 a month. I would happily pay 5 times that for a premium product, but this is my only option.

10 years ago I had a pair of 10' satellite dishes and chips that allowed me access to nearly all track feeds. Those were the good old days

speedking

BIG49010 · 02-09-2007, 05:57 PM

I was stuck watching both TVG and HRTV last weekend, my satellite was out for track feeds and my bigest problem with both is they fail to show the post parades.

It doesn't seem to matter who is showing California racing (currently HRTV), but they talk about it all the time and screw the rest of the tracks.

They all talk way tooooooooooooooo much.