THE news of the transfer of Irish racing coverage from ATR to Racing UK broke last Friday on the eve of the Dublin Racing Festival, an event that was at the time, grabbing most of the media coverage. Perfect timing?

The news seemed to come out of the blue, with hardly anyone in racing knowing it was coming.

It was greeted with widespread criticism. That HRI had previously given to SIS the right to sell pictures to whoever they liked was not a positive thing for Irish racing.

The negatives are having to pay €32 a month to see Irish racing which was free on a basic satellite package. And, even if we cough up, no one is sure how much we will see, and how extensive the before and after race coverage will be.

Full replays will not be readily available as they are on ATR. We’re going to need to do a lot of recording even if we subscribe. There is also the loss of some very entertaining, knowledgeable presenters.

The initial advantages seem to be just better high definition pictures on Racing UK, though the channel is sure to try its best to offer an attractive package.

There is little more to be done now other than wait and see what is offered.

No section appears to have made any significant extra money by switching sides.

The questions go back to when the media rights were sold on to SIS. Was it not known then this scenario was in the distance? And what is further down the road?

It is fair to mention that we have been spoiled by having what is considered a quality free channel for all our sport’s needs for so long. Soccer fans had to pay extra for Sky Sports and/or BT Sports. Big boxing events are pay-per-view.

Sky Sports Racing when it comes, will more than likely involve a charge, reducing some of the difference with the RUK package. Will more people go racing when it is is not so freely available on TV?

ITV Racing also received much criticism in the beginning but the package is superior to the Channel 4 one now.

Irish coverage on At The Races will be very much missed. At the beginning, it was joking called All the Rubbish by some of those working for other channels but it came to recognise that one man’s rubbish is another’s pride and joy.

The channel produced hugely entertaining coverage of some of the lesser meetings with excellent studio and discussion programmes and has done a lot to create more interest in Irish racing.

It did its best to make racing, at all levels fun.

It offers a lighter element very much lacking from Racing UK at the moment.

It’s hard to imagine the Barney Curley incident, interrupting an interview to tell Luke Harvey what an underachiever he was, occurring on Racing UK. Racing UK offer superior post-race analysis but it can be dull and a lot of the one-to-one human element in interviews is missing, generally due to lack of time as racing takes place.

At the moment, it’s still difficult to find any positives in the move.