Nations Cup Webcast Failure

“Your presence was missed… by thousands,” read the text message I received after the event that said it all. “Unfortunately we had the deal and then we didn’t,” said Bernard Uechtritz, Chairman of HorseTV in Dallas, Texas.

Following last weekend’s hugely successful broadcast of the $75,000 Grand Prix sponsored by CN, we were disappointed that HorseTV was blindsided at the 11th hour, as certain forces conspired against us. We were forced to sit on the sidelines, out of being able to host broadcast the Cup and provide the viewing public, competing nations and everyone’s sponsors, families and fans the certainty of being able to view the event live with a trouble free experience.

We were even shut out of being able to provide a co-host broadcast and back up alternative. Believe me when I say we made every effort to plead our case, and we are extremely sad for everyone in the equestrian community, the public and the governing bodies involved. We had proved our excellent capabilities to Wellington the week prior with the successful broadcast of last Saturday’s $75,000 Grand Prix event enjoyed by thousands in HD, free, worldwide, and we have enjoyed the overwhelming congratulatory response to prove it, including from ESP themselves.

In contrast, we have now received a constant stream of communications overnight from frustrated and angry viewers, who were lead to believe they could enjoy the same quality broadcast for the Nations Cup on Horse TV.

Unfortunately we are paralyzed to assist, unless and until we receive a clear line of communication and collaborative fix. Even before this failure, we had launched our own full investigation into the chain of events that circumvented and usurped our opportunity to serve the public and equestrian world.

It is a fact of life, especially in the media world, that both the success and the failure of an event such as this, reflects on everyone involved; even when we were NOT involved, we at Horse TV have been impacted greatly by this whole debacle, which was unquestionably, and totally avoidable!

Believe me, this is not over. I have already reached out today to all those involved in the decision making and I am going to reoffer our assistance and collaborative effort to not only provide an instant rebroadcast of last night’s event, but to also show on the Horse TV platform, the programming and other upcoming events, that were promised to the public in the Equestrian Sport Productions press release of Saturday February 21st. There is no good reason why this cannot happen.

I am going to withhold any further comment until later today, until I get a chance to again communicate and collaborate with the organizers, the Equestrian Sports Productions team as well as the governing bodies involved. As they mentioned in their follow up release this Thursday, ESP will be “evaluating other opportunity’s to work together in the future.” Let’s hope the authorities and forces that guide us realize that the future is now, and allow us to collaborate without further interference.

It is my sincere hope that I will be able to report very shortly that there will be a positive outcome to this unfortunate situation.