World Young Horse Championships Live Streaming OK for Germany, Not Yet Set For Rest of World
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Aug. 2, 2015
By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
The World Breeding Dressage Championships of Young Horses in which 23 nations from around the globe will compete this week may be viewed live only within the host nation of Germany unless the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) can complete arrangements with another provider for the rest of the world within the next few days.
Sixty eight of the 84 horses entered in the world championships for five and six-year-old horses are from the other 22 nations outside Germany, most in Europe but also Morocco, New Zealand for the first time and the United States with two horses.
This major equestrian event in Verden, Germany that begins Wednesday and runs through next Sunday is the second dressage championship this summer with issues over video coverage, the Pan American Games in Toronto being the other.
ClipMyHorse.de, the major producer of streaming video from horse shows in Germany, posted a notice on its Internet site:
“Due to FEI licensing terms we are not allowed to show the World Breeding Dressage Championships of Young Horses outside of Germany.”
The FEI said in response to questions from dressage-news.com: “The announcement made on Clip My Horse regarding the broadcast of the FEI World Breeding Championships for Young Dressage Horses is about their service. The fact that they have acquired the broadcast rights for Germany only does not mean that the FEI will not broadcast the event.
“We are finalizing the arrangements with the organizing committee and the various service suppliers and will announce them in due course.”
While the Young Horse championships are a competition, they are also a showcase of breeding that represents a major segment of the economies of Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium and other countries. Many other nations have substantial breeding industries.
At the Pan American Games in Toronto the host broadcaster, CBC, did not stream or broadcast live or archive for later viewing any dressage or eventing competitions, even inside Canada. The Pan Ams were not an FEI event. Dressage included 10 teams from throughout the Americas as well as six individuals in the continental championships held only once every four years.
The European Championships of both Dressage and Jumping, which are FEI-owned championships and being held in Aachen, Germany beginning Aug. 12, will be streamed live apparently in their entirety.
In Verden, however, live streaming of the FEI-owned event by ClipMyHorse.tv is restricted to Germany.
ClipMyHorse, privately owned, provides two levels of service–free for basic and an annual fee for an enhanced version. The service, also supported by paid commercials, is popular around the world
FEI TV, a subscription-only service, does not list the Young Horse Championships as a forthcoming event it will make available to subscribers.
Subscriptions to FEI-TV are €9.99 or US$14.99 monthly or €50.99 or US$79.99 annually. (The 35 per cent higher U.S. dollar price for monthly or 20 per cent for annual subscription fees over the rate charged for Euro-paying subscribers is what the FEI charges and not the current conversion differences of about 10 per cent).
The FEI recently signed a new five-year agreement with IMG, a global media rights and marketing company headquartered in New York, that came into effect July 1.
The FEI turned over to IMG what it described as its “entire portfolio of broadcast products across the FEI-named series and championships, including FEI TV, FEI TV On The Go and the FEI YouTube channel.”
The FEI said that IMG is “in charge of the overall coordination and liaison with the FEI’s host broadcasters on the production of live broadcast signals as well as providing the FEI with strategic consultancy in the broadcast production area.”
