Aaron posted this yesterday on his Facebook page:

This all sucks on so many levels. :(

The first thing that popped into my mind when I heard of the buyout was, crap, this will probably go as bad as when Sirius bought out XM. XM was by far a better outlet then Sirius ever thought about being. They had better programming, on air announcers, better stock price, and certainly better music. You would think that after borrowing over 500 million for the purchase that Sirius would have tried to fix something that wasn't really working. No, they eliminated most of the on air talent, dropped good programming for bad, (currently there are 12 Spanish channels). They kept doing what had made them an also ran in the first place. Their market share has trended downward since 2002. I have an XM receiver so I get all of Steve's show but Down the stretch is cut off mid show or earlier to hear Gameday which is broadcast on at least a dozen other channels. I know for a while if you had a Sirius receiver you only got an hour of ATR. Every other month Sirius will activate all inactive radios for a couple of weeks trying to get people to come back to the same bad product that they probably left for in the first place.
Now we are seeing the same thing in the TVG buyout of HRTV. On air talent was far superior on HRTV. Shows like Pursuit of the Crown/ Cup and On The Horizon were invaluable to many of us who closely follow the sport. On The Edge, First Call(while it lasted) and Players gave out excellent handicapping info. It was always nice to get historical views of long ago races and interviews with ex jocks, trainers, and owners. TVG has never had anything to offer. Their KD pre show doesn't take place until a day or 2 before the derby and even then they don't really tell you anything. Then there are the days when you have 1 announcer trying to fill in 15 or 20 minutes between races. There is nothing but incessant babbling, and talking to e mailers. The list of differences goes on and on.
It was kinda sad Saturday when I heard Scott H and Christina tell listeners if they wanted to see the big races they had to turn to TVG. Then the announcers at TVG had already stolen the catch phrase "The great race place" when speaking of Santa Anita. I know some of the better on air talent have gotten jobs on TVG and will probably be in the regular line-up and that some of the younger guys from TVG have been moved to the smaller track coverage at HRTV and that is fine. I think it is the likes of Siegel, Free, Hoover, Mandela, and others I have left out who will be missed the most. Certainly the lead up shows to the big events will be missed.
As I reluctantly turned the channel to TVG Saturday (I am a Dish subscriber) to watch the big races I was at least happy that I didn't hear Matt "where's my mirror" Carruthers and Todd "the human boat anchor" Chump with their dog and pony show. In my opinion they are pretty hard to put up with. Carruthers is as at least knowledgable on the game but there is just something about him that as a listener rubs me the wrong way. Todd Chump just doesn't know much at all. I could mute the tv but since I am out of the room a lot I have to know when the horses are loading so I am forced to leave the volume up. At least we are blessed that Ken Rudolph resigned a year or so ago. That would be impossible.
Maybe in the future TVG will bring back some of the good shows that HRTV provided but I am not going to hold my breath. To me the bottom line is that TVG is only interested in getting you to bet on their website. I don't see them trying to improve on their already bad product, which now is the only product in town. Johnny D, it's time for Express Bet to start a channel.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are mine and only mine. If you agree, fine; if you disagree, fine. If you don't care, fine. If you are offended you might see if your Dr. can prescribe some skin thickening cream. I personally just don't see where this can be good for racing. Oh yes, as far as most of the International racing they show late at night, I really don't care to watch horses running the wrong direction!

Jeff Siegal just posted on Twitter that he and Aaron are looking at a few options but will reappear together in the horse racing industry.

I liked Aaron and Jeff together. I think it was a brilliant pairing by Amy Zimmerman. Aaron was younger and more energetic, but had good creds in the business (went to RTIP). Jeff has a long history in the biz. Both are good handicappers in different ways. Salt and Pepper. You could see over the years they actually came to really like each other and they really complimented each other.

My friend in Pittsburgh is beside himself since he pays for HRTV and can't get TVG. I do pay for HRTV and am not the happiest, but get TVG for free.

I told him that I think Stronach Group has become maybe the best advocate of racing in the US. When you compare their venues to CD and NYRA, they've made many capital improvements and investments. HRTV was a good showcase of that and a quality product to the fans and players of horse racing. I can't see them just backing off on that commitment, look at what they've done at Calder.

I don't know what I don't know. I just think there has to be more to this story than what we are seeing now. It doesn't make much sense as we look at it. Maybe they'll turn around and buy TVG after they start bottoming out. Who knows ?

Thank God! I assume she knows how to operate a shovel on the backstretch?

www.google.com for your questions

web.archive.org for dead links.

There's a history on the web for both companies. Look at financials and whatnot.

Good luck. Breathe.

Forgetting that Zoe is terrific ( for a second )...what kind of person celebrates people losing their jobs?

and it looks as though both channels will not show the cheltnham festival..drop the ball again..as a side the biggest bookies in racing william hill,and betright and others were almost put out of biz when willie mullins looked to win 4 in a row. the last one well clear..but he stumbled..saving the bacon of the books.

read through these 3 pages

http://live.racingpost.com/Event/Che...Tuesday?Page=0


Betfred escape multi-million pound payout
Betfred were counting their lucky stars after narrowly escaping a multi-million pound payout when Annie Power came down in the OLBG Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham The Warrington-based firm were running for cover after victories for Douvan, Un de Sceaux and Faugheen had set up a colossal liability on Annie Power thanks to many thousands of multiple bets on the Mullins hotpots. Betfred spokesman Andrew Griffiths said: “The doomsday scenario almost came true and we’re breathing a huge sigh of relief. Annie Power was the final piece of the jigsaw for punters and we were staring down the barrel of a multi-million pound payout. It’s still been a bad day at the office thanks to Douvan and co. but we’ll happily take that.”
by David Jennings 11:43 AM yesterday ↑0

Scott Hazelton just tweeted that Pursuit of the Crown will air tonight on TVG at 8pm.

News emerges that Kurt Hoover has signed on with 'HRTVG' starting in April.

good, maybe, carruthers and shrupp will migrate somewhere else, making tvg watchable.

Wishful thinking, indeed..........

I have had to watch TVG more this weekend.

I HATE IT!

I'm thought maybe it might have improved a bit.....NO!

Well back to Twin Spires TV; man, I miss the ol' HRTV.

:tro:

With NYRA unable to show their regular feed today, I am reduced to watching TVG. They have a tool named Mike Joyce who has terrible schtick with Britney Eurton on right now.

I don't understand how they think that this approach is useful. They really should listen to what the listeners felt about each format and adopt the HRTV model. I feel really bad that Britney has to deal with this idiot's poor attempt at humor.

They really need to lock down Caton Breader, she is good.

Agreed. But it doesn't appear that they want to lock down the best talent. If that clown was not enough, then you get stuck with Clown Todd Schrupp.

http://www.calracing.com/live-video/

for cali free video

Loduca
 

For me it is that Paul Laduca guy , and correct me if I spelled his name wrong. Dude never seems to shut up, I assume he gets paid by the word.
I could be wrong though possibly he gets paid by the hour because he is on about 10 hours a day.