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I know that I have seen in the programmes that both Coventry and Leicester have a DJ to play the music and they take requests and birthdays by text and Twitter I think

There will be cutbacks in coverage for darts,Snooker, Rugby union ,show jumping,ten pin bowlingand imported programmes from the US. But as has has happened with Greyhounds coverage the door is never bolted shut and can be reopened if terms change.

The ad revenue last year for GP coverage and league racing was more than acceptable it is kind of a shame that it was Monster energy that decided to back the GP series and World Cup. As they don't spend their advertising budget on tv ads and prefer new media and online instead along with extensive sponsorship. If it had been Red Bull the ad revenue for Speedway coverage would have been even higher at present they just have their short 15 sec ads to remind people their are other energy drink brands than Monster. Asking around there is a number of people within Sky sports who really wanted the GP to return even certain board members but with the cutbacks and rights having to be renewed Speedway has had to be cut back along with some other sports

Sorry to hear of your bad experience Star Lady with Sky sales who I am going to be honest are only interested in signing customers up and adding products. If customers want to make their views to Sky about speedway the best way is via customer services and the higher level customer solutions who do feedback things to whole business but remember Sky sports is actually a separate company to Sky tv who deliver the service

I would think that the whole point of these tourist boards sponsoring GP rounds is for tv exposure to attract people to their city as you say speedway fans that follow every GP will go anyway it's trying to attract the armchair viewers who may go Gorzow,leszno or wherever for a holiday

Backless - Transfer day on Sky sports news got very good figures especially in the peak evening. Slot. I won't give you the costs of that day as will depress you more except that it was substantial but would pay for one elite league match. I have had a chance to look at some of the ad revenues for when GP broadcast and is good considering what it is up against on other channels. What does surprise me is the various tourist boards and development agencies that sponsor GP rounds never follow this up with rv adverts to back up their marketing campaign.

From what info I can get it is likely to be be on par with Polish league coverage with a 8-10 camera production in HD with OB facilities provided by Rekord from Czech republic What doesn't seem Clear is whether British Eurosport which we get in UK will take this coverage

I can assure that there is quite major cutbacks happening for financial year 2013-2014 which affects not only rights but other things as well like live inserts into Sky sports news. They wanted to use 29 live sat uplink trucks to cover transfer window but were told by the Bean counters this had to be cut back to 18 and meant some trucks driving between grounds. At the end of the day Sky have 4 sports channels to fill and do need lower ranking sport to help fill the schedules, in fact a deal has been done in the last week or so for Greyhounds to return to Sky after previously been cut this was done by the tracks and SIS producing the coverage themselves but will not be full glitzy coverage as before and may not even be in HD The Ice Hockey and Netball coverage is brought as a package from Televideo services who produce the programme themselves using own lower class broadcast kit hence why not in HD and they resell this onto Australian for netball and US/ Canada for ice hockey. Speedway could return if the price was right but I understand very well BSI have their price they want for it but at present that is higher than what the negotiators at Sky want to pay the problem is this team don't really know the sport they have just facts and figures no matter how much the production team and certain people give their imput the decision lays with money guys. I have put in a suggestion which I know is being looked into which would cut Sky's production costs and could make it more attractive package but would need some cooperation from some individuals and BSI, it's not for me to say more on here but as a fan I want it to return to our screens

The Eurosport you receive via your Sky or Virgin box is British Eurosport which does not feature the GP highlights not sure whether they will do the European championships. Although yes as a successful business Sky does play very hard ball in negotiations over rights but is already reorganising schedules to fill the Speedway slots for Gps with Superleague being asked for 7pm Sat games for tv broadcast. Just be realistic would be my suggestion for GP fans

Another thing that has just become clear Is that this match is now going head to head with Leicester city live on Sky sports at Derby which will affect the crowd no doubt. Even more reason for a guest for Leicester at the top end, the excuse about track time for Blackbird is poor as the team I hear are having a whole week of practice if they want

I think that the Leicester management should have a bit of a rethink on this and look to bring in an elite league heat leader to guest in place of a reserve to make it a little more even. It's clear from comments on here and Facebook already there is a. Number of fans from both clubs put off by the mismatch of riders and look back at other premier vs elite challenges the premier team always brings in a guest I believe Darcy Ward guested for Somerset last year against Swindon.

I visited Leicester a few times later in the season and must say there seemed to be a better atmosphere in the stadium with the new guy Rob he seemed to provide entertainment and got a few interviews with good questions. Unlike the guy before who used to ask same question what do you think to our track and the fans. Hopefully as Hurricanes has said both will be involved on the centre green to get best entertainment and atmosphere.

Cardiff 2011 was the 2nd largest OB that Sky did that year with over 35 cameras used along with 10 3D cameras for that coverage. It was just behind Champions league final from Wembley which was over 65 cameras for world feed and Sky coverage. If the contract for GPs with Sky does not happen I am sure Telegenic who are Sky's current OB facilities partner will be happy to do Cardiff for BSI and would suggest them for the work as excellent state of art equipment and most importantly understand the sport and what's required. Blazeaway- I presume you have been talking to Mr Arthur and all that can be said talks continue with Matchroom for coverage as it does with BSI for Speedway

Blazeaway The Fishomania event will still be going ahead but at present it's not planned to be on Sky but like the Speedway that could change

Starman2006- The World championship of Darts and most other events will continue its sone of the fringe events that will loose Sky coverage off top of my head I think it's 4 or 5 less events. ATR will continue it was not horse racing that Mentioned before its the show jumping that's been affected and 2 Snooker events

Oh you have to love the customer retention team at Sky tv I can confirm that at present no plans for Danish or Swedish league racing on Sky next year. There is however plans to show the Euro league meetings featuring British clubs the home legs will be live but the away matches may be recorded and shown a day or so later on. With regards to the Gps on Sky all I can say is door still not bolted and welded shut but the catch and clasp have been put on the door, One thing I can say is if anybody does cancel through Sky the reason for cancellation and removing sport is taken very seriously and is reported on and distributed around the business so keep stating the reason as Speedway as could make a difference and make certain people realise how many subscribers are Speedway fans . In the new year this will be looked at even closer as I have stated before there are other sports that have had contracts reduced or not renewed so no more Dogs, fishing mania,equestrian events and others with reduced events include Darts,Snooker, Tennis and Pool.

From what I heard at end of last season there may be quite a Finnish connection at Edinburgh next year

Is Lasse Bjerre riding in the meeting on Friday ? I know he is missing on Saturday and Leicester have got rider replacement facility for him. Also looks like may need two guests at reserve as hear Blackbird has broken collarbone and Makinen dislocated shoulder again

Both Barker and Bjerre have to ride in Czech Golden helmet meetings as part of their JRM works sponsorship deal where they get supplied a large amount of equipment its a shame they are both missing as could both were possible meeting winners.

Teams need to pick Leicester as not in good form especially away from home and looks like Bjerre may be out for rest of season with possible hand and wrist injury

It seems Leicester have had bad weekend with injuries shoulder damage for Jari, Back and thigh damage for Magnus and suspected broken wrist or hand for Lasse

Is the match against Leicester at the weekend going ahead ? As strong reports tonight at Beaumont park from officials and Workington rider that seems match may be cancelled

Not sure if Alex will be riding as last I heard was he was having to go to Leicester hospital to get checked out as was knocked out in crash and had been sick so possible concussion, I would suspect an overnight stay in hospital if this is correct I know the county ambulance just arrived as I left.

It was quite a good meeting and nice to see a home rider win there was a few good races with passing. I was very impressed with Jacob Thorsell he rode very well and again Mason Campton looked good. The crowd was not as good as I expected but a combination of things affected the numbers

I agree the meeting did take a while to run with no major incidents but it is not the clubs fault the referee controls the meeting and decides when to put the two mins on and informs the clerk of the source when the track grades can take place. It was always going to take a while to run anyway as with RR often had riders taking two back to back rides then not helped with 2min exclusions