Advance warning. Patsy's going to be intolerable when the 'greater Poms', aka UK, beats us in the GM count. Won't even have to extend his argument to 'Euros'. It will be a big ask but fingers crossed our cyclists can hold them off.

On it's own I'd agree Lister but when every half-decent racing forum is inundated (relatively speaking) with the same negative comment then at least some momentum is gained. Probably makes little difference in the washup but at least the alternative views are aired.

The 'social media' does go viral regularly as you say but in this specialised industry with it's local issues it would be unlikely that such a thing would occur over anything other than say drugs or animal cruelty issues - things which the average Joe/Jo could understand (or misunderstand as the case may be) and which they might be inclined to spread (remember the cats in bottles hoax a few years back, or the giant desert spiders in Iraq?). Which leaves racing journalists and forums as one of the few options left. I don't want to let the VRC and 7 off the hook but when all is said and done, if 7s carnival coverage is the biggest complaint fans have then things must be pretty sweet.

Simon,

The points you list are excellent in explaining the situation.

I agree with Mr Lister in that if you know Channel 7 are going to serve dribble don't watch it.

If you post on sites like this one, you normally have an interst in the finer parts of the racing industry and have a much more detailed knowledge of racing than the person Channel 7 is pitching to.

If all you only have free to air TV, you turn the volume down at all times other than the race call.

If you have TVN or Sky or whatever, you still turn the volume down at all times other than the races, trials and mounting yard info etc ie real racing information. All other noise is static.

I have both Sky and TVN and only watch the races and nothing else.

Gee I love racing.

Regards

Timesman

Occaisionally 7 delivers some "speshal golden moments",
Like the year Kav shortened up Donegan, i think it was when Shamoline Warrior was scratched from the Derby,Kav had just trained a winner,i think it was Shocking winning the Lexus, and Donegan was looking for tears and woe from Kav, Kav shortened him right up, it was GOLD!!!!
Donegan loves his book of "One Thousand Racing Cliches", it is sickening drivel.
I didnt hear the Lemaire question, but by god i can imagine it, skin crawling stuff.

On of the great things about the internet (and twitter - not that I follow it) is that clamour can, and has, caused intransigent mgt/companies to back down or off. Widespread venting in forums devoted to a sport is likely to get the attention of people responsible one way or another - much moreso than a quiet well-written letter/email of complaint by a handful of people for example. It's public, and when hundreds of 'punters' see fit to bother to complain then you can be sure it's the tip of the iceberg. Someone will notice - someone paid to monitor the media or, as in this case, a journalist who sees from the amount of noise that there is a story worth pursuing and questions worth asking. One thing that is obvious - if you want continuing bad service then not complaining about it is an excellent strategy.

The vast majority of complaints have nothing to do with the actual race telecast Lister, as delayed as it was.

Although I subscribe to the Sky stations and TVN I have also endured the Seven telecast like everyone else. I thought I had it solved by waiting to the last minute and then turning the TTV to Seven. Yesterday, I made a fatal mistake and turned toe early. Here was that *mbecile Lonerghan I think his name is, interviewing one of Black Caviar's owners and in this sycophantic tone saying "I know you own the horse,but,but,can we Australians just share her for one moment, it means so much"
This was enough to make one vomit. Sure it is a good horse, but is presently only beating up a bunch of second raters running for second.
Perhaps the VRC might look at he contract again before next spring. We can only hope.

I wouldn't mind if they showed the margins, winning time and final 600m sectional time. There's room for that data at the bottom of the dividend screen. That would allow a more accurate gauge on the merit (or otherwise) of the performance.

There are many good aspects to the telecast but from a punter's perspective the broadcast is third rate. If I can't see the horses parade I will often not bet. And the delay is ludicrous. Yesterday watched Lucas Cranach get off the float and listened to Richard Freedman (usually can't stand the bloke but thought he was okay yesterday in the bits I watched) and as a result put LC into my FF selections. The horse looked magnificent and very relaxed. That's the sort of telecast I'm looking for. Speaking of relaxed - Dunaden was so calm he could've been asleep behind the barriers.

I have some sympathy for the broadcasters. There is a lot of dead air in a day at the races. It gets boring when you are there even with normal time gaps between races.

I suppose when you are at the races you can occupy that time usefully by standing in line to go to the toilet or get a drink or have a bet, but think of us at home who can do all that in seconds. Like I say, lots of dead air to fill with something, anything.

Ch7 coverage of mounting yard = non existent

z grade fashionista's much more important..?

Yes, I have Pay TV Lister and like you I only turn over to watch the races.

My main gripe is I use numerous methods to make a dollar and one of those happens to be betting in-play.

This is not practical during the Flemington Carnival due to the delay on pictures putting players from home at a distinct disadvantage.

The thing that annoys me the most is 7 have gone backwards in this area (the delay has increased noticeably from last year).

What will we get next year?

Barossa Boy, you know why people whinge every year?
Its because it is not good enough you dubbo.

Have to agree there Iglesia. Always thought Lee was worth listening to as a trainer (not all of them are), and offered interesting and objective thoughts on other people's horses. Bit of a media natural. Now that he has a bit more time on his hands, let's hope we hear more from him.

LOL @ Lister

No it wasn't bettowin and the reason I know this is because I have cable at home, I tested the delay with three items, the ch 7 coverage through fox for pictures, the TVN big pond pictures in relation to them on my computer, were only 10-20 secs at most, also the betting timer countdown in the TAB was in roughly in sync with the 7 pictures.
I was punting last minute and it was pretty close.

For reference I have cable at home not satellite. Satellite customers enjoy the up and down link delay, no where near that lag on optic cable.

The final test was when I turned the radio volume up it was very close..somewhere around 15-20 secs behind ch 7. Once I established this I happily watched TVN on big pond, my daughter was able to watch her stuff, so I didn't hijack the tv from anyone.

Are you watching Channel 7 through Foxtel? If you watch it through a normal digital or analogue connection it is quite a bit ahead of the signal through Fox.

Congratulations Khaptingly!
Finally a couple of posts that I could empathise with.Keep up the good work.LOL The Pig.

Yep, you've got it in two Betto. Thankfully no Ms Freedman, now if they could drop the other half of the FBI&Ds..... Still miles better than the Ch9 dills headed by the p!sspot Stefanovic.

Why watch rubbish free to air when TVN on big pond live was only on around a 15-20 second delay..?

Missing them parade in the first gave a perfect indication of how frustrating their coverage was gunna be. I know they're broadcasting to more than just racing purists but after preventing TVN from showing them parade, they should be showing it themselves. #IhateC7

We are not living in the Dinosaur age!

If TVN and Sky can give me near enough to live pictures why cant 7?

It's not like I'm living on the other side of the world.

At least we saw the horses parading in every race. Won't be the case on Tuesday unless they were given a blast after last year's debacle. Anyone heard if they've done a deal with TVN to cover the parade ring when 7 isn't?

You're a hard man to please Betto. Francesca knows more about the GGs than most of the other presenters combined (some exceptions).

freedman, " i thought green moon was dissapointing"
"i think sepoy is coming to the end of his preperation"
thats why they pay him te big bucks he is a genius

So mugs like you can't turn down the sound and listen to the radio.

You whingers.

Plus it keeps the money in the pockets of losing punters for 10 secs longer.

Think of your generations past, they never even had TV coverage of races, or even TV at all.

There are far more important things in life than worrying about live TV. Like doing the form for the next race or sick people in hospitals. Fair dinkum !!

It keeps the one week a year punters happy enough.

If you are watching the race on TV what's the problem?