Any Questions for Stephen Burn Head of TVG

[Canarsie]

I wrote him a letter stating what I liked and disliked about his network and much to my surprise he responded asking for my phone number. Why he would want to talk to an "idiot" like me is beyond my comprehension but it's supposed to happen tomorrow sometime.

I asked him if he wouldn't mind taking questions from the best horse racing site on the web and he said it wouldn't be a problem. Now please don't single out hosts maybe just maybe there is a chance they will look favorably on our issues. Stuff like acting like a clown, singing, huge tickets, track coverage, wagering fees, and stuff like that would be right on target.

I'm going to cut and paste most of them and email it to him before we talk. Hope we understand each other a Brooklyn boy and an Englishmen j/k.

After the talk I'll be reporting back.

[eastie]

why is everything always multi race tickets ? why don't they try to hit a tri or super some time ? also, the bobblehead thing with the loop of the announcer next to the pick 4 tickets...WTF is that all about ? also why not show classic races during down time. like all the preps for the derby in 72, then another year the next day

[mannyberrios]

The fees to make a bet, and watch videos has to go. Tell him that people are looking for rebates, and not the other way around

[horses4courses]

Hi Canarsie,

Thanks for relaying the following question to Stephen Burn:

Do you know if Betfair intends to explore other avenues within the US market?
I ask this with regard to William Hill's recent acquisition of 2 satellite sports wagering companies in Nevada.

Many thanks!

[jelly]

With the decline of Cal.racing does TVG see them moving their operation to the east coast soon?

[Vinman]

Michelle Yu should be allowed to sing : ) No one else.

[Tom]

Tell him that there are race tracks out there running races.
They should really cover some of them. sometimes they go for a whole hour with only two races shown.

Less babble among the babbleheads would be great. theyh did not fire near enough people last month. Not close. One person on the air at a time. When you get 2-3 of them, the discussions degenerate into pure stupidity.

The most intelligent thing I hear dthis week was Ken Rudolph - he said when he was a Emerald Downs, n one asked him who he like and he thought that was very respectful of the people there, to leave him alone.

I thought it was very smart of them!

[Alc]

Hard for me to believe that with all the moaning and groaning about takeout rates, that anyone uses a wagering company that charges a wagering fee.

[jelly]

I think most people watch on TV(bigger screen) and bet through an adw like Twinspires.

[andymays]

I want to know the cost of a bet next year if they get approved in California. I could be wrong but right now the cost of a winning bet ranges from 3.5 to 5%. Will they bone the California Players with a 12% charge?

[Sandysix]

If California horsemen owners approve bet exchanges in May 2012 will TVG be handling it or will Betfair create a separate company to handle it?And what differences he thinks there will be between the one they have now(Betfair exchange) and the one they will be implementing. Thanks!

[MickJ26]

It's easy.
More races, less talking.

[GatetoWire]

I watch TVG regularly because I have DirecTV and as a result TVG is the only horse network I have access to. I do not use their ADW to bet because of the fees involved. Twin Spires and Xpressbet offer the same product for free. Nuff said.

I generally like the TV presentation but a few things really bug me. I will try not to be too on air talent focused but in many cases the production and the talent, are the areas they could improve on the most.

1. The lack of focus on the upcoming race. Too much talk about non-racing issues leading up to the start of a race. They should focus on the horses on the track instead of the mindless babble. This has been covered to death…but just focus on the race!!!

2. I generally like the on air talent, but one thing that brings down the quality of the talent is the Hosts (not analysts) thinking that they can handicap. There is a difference between host (screen left) and analyst (screen right)

It is insane to have Rudulph and others try to handicap along side people who have spent their careers in Racing.
I know some people think that the analysts are all dumb but several of the on air talent are solid players. The issue is that they are forced to play every race at multiple tracks and so they get hammered for making poor plays. If you watch a lot and listen you can get excellent angles from Matt Carothers, Frank Lyons, Ron Ellis, Simon Bray and Tom Amoss.
Just today (Easter Sunday) Matt nearly hit a $900 Pick 4 at Woodbine (lost a bob in the last leg) probably because he was able to spend time on it with only 2 tracks racing. You can’t play every race and expect to win consistently. They are forced to put selections up on every race and this waters down the winning but I am sure increases the churn for TVG betting.

All of this good knowledge gets lost because I have to listen to Rudulph babble on about the horse he likes even though he knows nothing and I mean nothing about racing. If he stuck to being a host and stopped trying to play an Analyst the network would improve 100%. Some of the things that come out of his mouth shock me at his lack of overall knowledge. This would not fly if he worked for another sports network. They need to treat the on air talent like every other sport does with Play by Play/Host doing the set up and the Color/Expert Analyst filling in the expert details. Stop blurring the lines and you will have a better product.
Rudulph is the worst offender but the rest of the team would benefit if the roles were more defined. I would like to see TVG act more like the way MLB Network, NFL Network and NHL Network operate for mainstream sports. This approach would lead to increased betting on it’s own.

3. Not really focusing on the true stake races. Yesterday was a perfect example. The Jerome at Aqueduct got next to zero coverage. This has quite a bit to do with Keeneland being an exclusive track. I know they have contracts with some of these sites but it makes the network look stupid. The Jerome was the best race of the day but because it was in NY it was all but ignored. At least they didn’t show it on tape delay!!!
Another example of this approach was last Saturday night for the Charles Town Classic. The race got tons of airplay buildup on TVG during the week, all during the day, and during the under card. When it came time for the race (10:30 PM) guess what? Los Al had just started at 10:00 and TVG barely showed the Post Parade of a $1 million dollar race. The Charles Town under card got way more coverage than the CT Classic got because of the Los Al conflict.
TVG seems to think that their viewers would rather see a $5,000 claimer at one of their exclusive tracks that they are on site at rather than a stakes event at another track that they don't have exclusivity or are on site to cover. You might want to remind them that in sports the fan/bettor will always prefer world class level play (races) to bad overnights at your "preferred" tracks. The major leagues are the major leagues. MLB Network doesn’t show Newark Independent league baseball over the Yankees because their studios are in NJ.
TVG as a whole spends way too much time away from being a Sports Network that covers horse racing. They prefer trying to be a Betting site that has a TV network. They need to adjust their priorities toward the races and the betting will follow.

4. Lack of a workout specialist or a pedigree specialist on the set.
This does not bother me because I have spent hours and hours studying pedigree and the learning curve is immense but I continually hear the on air hosts (other than Simon Bray who is really good in this area) botch the pedigree angle. Just yesterday at Hollywood they were talking about some horses going to Synthetic for the first time and also going a route for the first time. On several occasions they claimed this was a plus move. This was totally contrary to the data I was looking at. One horse was a sprinter on both sides and they claimed that an added distance would be suite this horse. It actually made me double check the data I use because it was so opposite what I was reading.
This does not really affect me but if we are cultivating new players then we need to help educate them. Pedigree is very difficult to figure out without giving newer players the wrong information. Let’s cultivate new winning players.

5. On education, they could really use their platform to do similar programs to the NTRA Night School type videos that are taking place now to help educate. They already have the talent on staff plus the studios and could create 30 min to 60 min seminars to help educate the novice player. Friends of mine who know nothing about racing quickly get turned off when they tune in due to TVG’s go, go, go format pushing exotic wagers and not always focusing on helping newer players. If they want to attract new players they need to help educate them once they tune in.

6. Do more Late Double type shows. I know the hardcore regulars hate this show but it does target younger, newer players, helps with education and overall it’s fun to watch.


Bottom line: Act like a Horse Racing sports network that also has a betting site not a betting site that happens to have a TV network. This along with improving the coverage of the Stakes races, tweaking the On Air Talent and adding some educational programs would make it a much better product overall

[CBedo]

How about:

How does the industry do a better job of attracting (and retaining new players), and what strategies and marketing is TVG putting in place to help attain that goal?

[Spiderman]

Ask him if his exclusive with NYRA has anything to do with NJBets not receiving a live feed of NYRA races. Thanks