Conference noted::equitation

    The scoop also found on rec.equestrian:
    
Article 34818 of rec.equestrian:
From: [email protected] (Neal Lavon)
Subject: TV question
Date: Fri, 01 Apr 1994 22:01:52
Lines: 44

On 3/25/94, kathleen.m.wilber was overheard saying to  All

  	I did read in one of this month's horse publications
  kr> that someone is trying to start a horse-only cable channel.  Anyone
  kr> know anything about this?
  
I saw telephone numbers for people connected with what is known as the Premier
Horse Network, so I called them up and talked to one Art Zohn for awhile as to
what they plan to do.

It will be, I believe, a 24-hour broadcast service aimed at the equestrian
community.  At first, it will be available to those who have a satellite dish.
 They plan to move in that direction in a month or two.  Then, they will start
the process of trying to get the channel on the nation's cable television
systems.  If you have been reading the newspapers about the battles between
cable and over the air-TV, along with the new regulations, that is not going
to be as easy as it used to be.  Here in Montgomery County, Maryland, where
there are numerous horse people and stables, the cable tv company has been
cutting back on channels, dropping a broadcast one for a home shopping channel
in Virginia that it says it "has to carry".  Hmmmmm...

The Premier Horse Network's programming will consist of training shows,
technical features, programs devoted to specific breeds and more.  They said
they are committed to carry "The Horse Show", a program that I've never seen,
but which I've seen mentioned in the back of horse magazines.

They will run either ads or try to get stories in the major horse magazines in
the next month or two, so watch for them.  It will be a commercial service,
Art said, almost apologetically.

It seems to me a service whose time is due.  I did not get a sense if they
were going to try and fight ESPN, SportsChannel America, the Prime Network,
the Nashville Network and others for the rights to carry the major horse shows
and rodeos.  But I got the feeling that they are getting their ducks in a row
and are eager to serve their audience.

As they say in the broadcast biz, stay tuned.  BTW, the numbers previously
posted  here for the network are: Art Zohn, 303/ 987-8502; Kelly Miller, 303/
799-8325.

--Neal Lavon

As a follow-up to earlier discussions, I called Premier Horse Network at 
the number listed for Art Zohn. Art and I played telephone tag but he left
me a new number for PHN: (303)935-1816. I called that number and talked to 
Pat Larson at length about their plans, etc.

She said the current plan is for Premier Horse Network to be available to 
satellite dish owners around Labor Day. For the first 3 months, the service 
will be free to dish owners. Thereafter, they will become a subscription 
service. Satellite subscriptions will be about $5 per month.

They are also trying to get the PHN service added to cable company offerings.
They hope to get it added to the basic package of channels but said that 
some cable companies may offer PHN as an add-on service with a charge $1 
to $2 per month. This may change as they haven't got firm commitments yet.

It will be a 24-hour a day, 365-day a year horse channel. She said they 
have been *overwhelmed* with programming offers. European shows/events want 
to expand their coverage. Vet schools offering 1/2 hour educational shows.
Breed organizations offering promotional films. Etc, etc, etc...

Although they will offer a lot of competition coverage, most of the content
will be educational/informative. They have already scheduled programs on
health, training, nutrition, breeding, youth programs, breed specials, etc. 
She said they will also show informational programs about various horse 
activities to introduce people to them. 

They are planning on spending a minute or two every hour announcing what
horse related events are taking place around the country. They will also 
carry horse related "infomercials" on whatever topic the buyer wants to 
discuss whether its feed products or magnetic therapy devices or foaling 
products.

I asked how we would find out what's on. She said that, at first, they will
promote their service by producing schedules as magazine inserts. You know
what I mean? Those little cards that are stuck between the pages of 
magazines. Sometimes they're stapled in. (I hate that kind! They keep you 
from flipping pages to see what's in the magazine!). These schedules will
be inserted into various horse magazines.

They will provide their schedule to the companies that publish the various
local and satellite TV listings. 

I asked if they were planning to provide a monthly schedule for their 
subscribers so we wouldn't have to look through the *entire* TV schedule to 
find shows we might be interested in seeing. She said they hadn't thought 
of that but said that it was a good idea. She gets little newsletters from 
some of her cable channels. She said they'd consider providing a quarterly 
schedule to subscribers. She also said that many of their shows would be
repeated in several times slots to accomodate time zones and the fact that
horse people spend so much time away from their TV's.

John

    Well, I hadn't heard anymore about Premier Horse Network's debut. I had
    been told that they would be available on satelitte around Labor Day
    and that they would begin advertising a couple months before hand. Snce
    I hadn't seen any of that I called the number I gave in the previous
    note. 
    
    Guess what? It's a good thing I didn't say *which* Labor Day! Their
    plans have changed dramatically. First of all, the base of operations
    has shifted to California. Two gnarly dudes from L.A. bought a
    controlling interest in the network and shifted the location and the
    focus.
    
    I called the L.A. office and talked to the honcho. He said that the
    plans and ambitions from March have been expanded *enormously*. They
    are now planning to hit the satellite dish and cable markets at the
    same time. They think the market is *HUGE*. He said that over
    27,000,000 people in the U.S. rode horses last year and that over
    6,000,000 of them own horses which they say translates into a big market...
    (I question the validity of that assumption. I played basketball once
    last year but definitely wouldn't subscribe to a basketball channel!)
    
    They are talking about even more competition coverage than the Colorado 
    folks were considering. They are still planning lots of informative and
    educational things too. They've also added racing to the list of
    things they want to cover. They're talking to the TRA(association of TB
    racetracks), the USET(for coverage of major trials etc), and so on. The 
    guy rattled off stuff faster than I could write...
    
    The problem is that that means a delay in availability. They're now
    talking Fall/Winter of 1995 as the target and Spring/Summer of 1996 as
    the latest date. These dates sound much more realistic for the scope 
    of what they want to do. If it had gone up as quickly as originally 
    planned, the dude said it would have been ho-hum and may have been a flop
    if they couldn't get enough paying subscribers.
    
    He said they haven't really decided on the subscription rate because
    that will depend on what they actually succeed in getting. He bounced a
    rate of $7.50 a month off me to get my reaction. I thought it was
    outrageuosly high *unless* they got all the horse programs I wanted to 
    watch on their network. If they get NY racing, CA racing, and lots of
    good live competitions with more 3-Day and dressage than I get now,
    $7.50 a month would save me money because I could drop all the sports
    networks I get now. I only subscribe to them for the  horse stuff.

    I recently discovered that the Premier Horse Network has a World Wide
    Web site. The URL address is:
    http://WWW.CyberGate.COM/horsenet/
    
    So, I went there and looked around. The bad news is that it's gonna be
    later and pricyer(sp?) than the last time I checked with them. Their 
    current estimate is that PHN will become available to the cable and 
    satellite markets in the US in February 1996. The cost will be $7.95 
    a month.
    
    Now for the good news. They've purchased broadcast rights to several
    major equestrian video librarys from England and Europe. That gives
    them thousands of hours of programming including both instructional
    videos and competition coverage videos.
    
    They're also talking about lots of coverage within the US for just
    about anything involving horses...
    
    Go to their WWW site and check it out!
    

    
    thanks for the info John, I just checked it out.  Great stuff in there.
    
    L

Cross-posted from rec.equestrian:

From: [email protected] (PrHorseNet)
Newsgroups: rec.equestrian
Subject: Re: I want my HTV!!  (Horse TV)
Date: 3 Jul 1996 22:16:25 -0400

Premier Horse Network is alive and well in Burbank, CA.  Hey...it is very
hard to launch a television network about horses!  It takes millions of
dollars, lots of dedication and great support from the horse people of
this country.

Look for us to launch anywhere from December 1, 1996  to April 1, 1997.
We have to launch simultaneously on cable, DBS, C-Band and on the Internet
all at the same time!  We've been spending the last two years obtaining
broadcast rights to many major horse events and competitions around the
world and have not been idle!  Just be patient, everybody!  And, we have
some surprises in store for everybody regarding that great big horse show
being held in Atlanta this summer :)   :)    :)

If you want to learn more, we'll be in full force at Equitana USA in
Louisville in July!  

    
    If we don't have PHN can we call our cable company and ask for it?
    
    

    In 1875.6, I quoted a PHN rep as saying:
    "Look for us to launch anywhere from December 1, 1996  to April 1, 1997."
    
    SInce that time frame has come and gone without any ads announcing PHN
    as available, I checked out their web site. (They don't answer email so
    don't bother sending any.) It now says "Fall 1997" which means it will
    be at least 3 full years later than it was originally expected.
    
    John