TVG's 10TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL (1999-2009)

Horse racing channel, TVG celebrated its first ten years in July of 2009 with a look back at some of the network’s most memorable moments. Technically as a company TVG has been around longer, but it was the launch of their television platform ten years ago that brought TVG into the consciousness of the horse racing and media worlds.

To understand the significance of this anniversary, one needs to understand what took place the first two years at TVG. For those who experienced those first two years, this day seemed an impossibility. One thing was very clear when TVG debuted on this day back in 1999, the racing media hated it. For the first six months, at least twice a week, there were opinion columns with titles like, "New Racing Channel A Real Loser", "TVG, Homerun Ball Drifting Foul," or "Bet On Tuning Out TVG's Horseplay".

Each scathing review hurt, because the TVG team was closeknit and excited about being a part of something new and innovative. Negative reviews are one thing, and in a lot of ways it brought the employees closer together and made them more determined. However, it would be a political punch a little more than one year after TVG's launch that would surprise everyone and nearly end the dream before it even began. In the Fall of 2000 the legislation allowing advance deposit wagering (ADW) in California was vetoed at the eleventh hour. Nobody in the company's organizational chart saw this coming, but everyone knew what it meant. TVG would be unable to fully launch its betting platform and open up a crucial revenue stream to make itself financially viable. Cuts would have to be made.

Under this dark cloud a company wide meeting was called. On that day there were two conference rooms, one for exit interviews, another where you still had a job, but at a reduced salary. By the time the day was done, nearly half of the TVG team was no longer there. If it truly is, "Darkest before the Dawn", then most of the next year was black as night with so much uncertainty surrounding the company. Later that Fall, the ADW bill became law and TVG was back on its way to realizing its original vision of an Interactive Media Platform taking horse racing to the largest audience in its history on a daily basis.

So how did TVG get to a 10th Anniversary? There is one factor, one common denominator that stands out above everything else - the TVG Community made this day possible. Whether you are a professional gambler or a weekend horseplayer, a track executive or a track employee, a jockey or a exercise rider, a trainer or a groom, a breeder or a student of pedigree, a owner or dreamer (or both), the list goes on and on....TVG has always been about taking people into the fascinating world of the equine athlete, and telling the stories of the people who take care of these magnificent animals or care about them.

Please take the time to watch TVG's 10th Anniversary Special, it will give you – the viewer, first-hand accounts of the highs and lows the company has experienced with a look back at the network’s most memorable moments and at the same time looking forward to creating even more great memories!


(83 Minutes)