Racing: This week's closure of the attheraces channel in Britain has also thrown the proposed live coverage of Irish racing into turmoil.
The start-up of a new dedicated racing channel, which would include pictures from Ireland, was provisionally set for the start of this year but was then postponed to May. Now there is fresh uncertainty about when those pictures will be available.
"Nothing is going to happen until the situation in the UK has been resolved," said Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) chief executive Brian Kavanagh yesterday. "There is no doubt but that the attheraces situation has thrown the whole thing off kilter both in the UK and here."
Kavanagh is still hopeful of live pictures of Irish racing being available to customers soon but would not tie himself down to a date.
"What we have seen with ITV Digital in relation to football and now with attheraces shows how uncertain this question can be. But I remain confident that a new channel will emerge in the UK and we will do everything to make sure we are involved in such a venture," he said.
Live pictures of Irish racing stopped being transmitted over a year ago with the closure of the old Racing Channel, and HRI have been in talks with Satellite Information Services (SIS) about including Irish racing in a proposed new package.
"The situation in the UK is in the process of being resolved but there is nothing concrete and there are a number of different proposals floating around. Our situation won't be clarified until things are sorted out there.
"Depending on what reports you read, that could take up to a month or three months, but the closure of attheraces has thrown things into turmoil," Kavanagh added.
SIS hold the rights to pictures of Irish racing and those pictures will be an element in that company's negotiations with the racecourses and other parties in Britain on the back of the uncertainty following the closure of attheraces.
HRI made live coverage of racing in Ireland a priority in their latest five-year strategic plan that was unveiled in 2003. Racing's ruling body considered setting up their own station to provide a platform for the pictures but, after prolonged talks, settled on the SIS option.
