# Horse & Country TV has gone bankrupt



## qwertyuiop (19 October 2010)

According to the business section of the Telegraph. B o l l ox as I was looking forward to watching the highlights of this season's eventing over the winter.


----------



## kerilli (19 October 2010)

Oh no, that's a huge shame.


----------



## TallyHo123 (19 October 2010)

kerilli said:



			Oh no, that's a huge shame.
		
Click to expand...

Ditto.


----------



## helencharlie (19 October 2010)

I hope than be saved, it is the only channel that I watch!!


----------



## MissySmythe (19 October 2010)

The Telegraph article has been removed from the online edition. The rumours are being denied. Litigation abounds. They'll be pleased to hear the channel has viewers but for future posters, I'd watch out guys!


----------



## Bertthefrog (19 October 2010)

Gutted. Vets on Call is priceless....


----------



## trick123 (19 October 2010)

i was told last year that they owed somebody a lot of money alledgedly!! shame as you say it is a good concept, more interesting programmes than the norm


----------



## Stablevice (19 October 2010)

Going into administration at this time seems a little convenient doesn't it??

I think there may be a point here:

http://www.digitalspy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1371403

just a thought..


----------



## foraday (19 October 2010)

Horse and Country started off ok but then as someone on the digital forum states the constant repeats of NH etc are just getting silly!

I did like looking at the SJ and of course the XC but again sometimes the programmes on during the day and I don't have sky+ and haven't got a clue how to program the vcr without its remote which lost itself years ago!


----------



## Over2You (20 October 2010)

foraday said:



			Horse and Country started off ok but then as someone on the digital forum states the constant repeats of NH etc are just getting silly!

I did like looking at the SJ and of course the XC but again sometimes the programmes on during the day and I don't have sky+ and haven't got a clue how to program the vcr without its remote which lost itself years ago!
		
Click to expand...

I actually thought H&C started abysmally and had only gotten better over the past year. At first, the listings were an absolute mess. You would add programmes to your Sky planner as reminders/recordings, only for them to disappear. The reason was that schedules would chop and change every single day. I contacted them loads of times and never received a reply. Technical difficulties were also a major issue. It took them forever to get things sorted. At least now, it is run a lot more smoothly and competently. They had greatly improved their output too until Rural TV came along. 

Rural TV's departure as a stand alone channel was of no surprise at all. Like H&C, it had gigantic problems in the scheduling and technical departments. Unlike H&C, it NEVER did a thing about them. I wrote to them countless times and got a number replies saying they were "working hard" to resolve the problems, but it was all lies.  

I will be mortified If H&C does go. I suppose Sky might pick-up/reacquire some of its eventing/SJ programmes, but not the more general equine series' and documentaries. If you can, you should check out Driving Back to Holker. It was really interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The FEI Pony European Championships have been great too.


----------



## Charlieanna (20 October 2010)

I just heard from someone involved that the new owner of H&H screwed the guy who came up with the idea and he took her to court.  The court case was on Monday and the new owner who is worth $90,000,000 made the company go bankrupt on Friday night rather than risk paying out to the old owner in court.  My dad says the new owner will then buy the old company back for a £1 and start again but we won't even know there has been any changes.  Doesn't seem fair but I guess that is why the owner has so much money.


----------



## Maesfen (20 October 2010)

I just hope it improves if it comes back; constant repeats are a load of rubbish.


----------



## Charlieanna (20 October 2010)

I have heard they are selling off the company assetts, including the website, the Sky channel number and all the office stuff and equipment.


----------



## Sagittarius (20 October 2010)

"Horse & Country TV has gone bankrupt "

No it hasn't - at least, not yet. 

The company has called in an *Administrator*, to look at restructuring the company to keep it viable. There may very well be a disposal of assets to do so.

If the company had been declared bankrupt, then a *Receiver *would have been appointed.


----------



## BobMM (20 October 2010)

Charlieanna said:



			I just heard from someone involved that the new owner of H&H screwed the guy who came up with the idea and he took her to court.  The court case was on Monday and the new owner who is worth $90,000,000 made the company go bankrupt on Friday night rather than risk paying out to the old owner in court.  My dad says the new owner will then buy the old company back for a £1 and start again but we won't even know there has been any changes.  Doesn't seem fair but I guess that is why the owner has so much money.
		
Click to expand...

Well if thats what really happened then they deserve to go bust!! Same sort of behaviour as all those city bankers in the city who got the country into such a mess in the first place. Lets get some proper people running these things for a change who arn't just in it for themself. Good Riddance to the lot of them!!


----------



## Thisbe (20 October 2010)

How do people know all of this.....there are alot of facts and figures being thrown around i am curious to know where it all comes from ?????


----------



## Stablevice (20 October 2010)

Thisbe said:



			How do people know all of this.....there are alot of facts and figures being thrown around i am curious to know where it all comes from ?????
		
Click to expand...

Well I can't see so many figures - but the facts appear to be that H&C (or rather the "chairperson" of H&C) is pulling a fast one by putting the company into administration to be able re-emerge from the ashes litigation-free - I hope that the channel can be refreshed and reinvigorated for the benefit of all of us - and I think a good start would be to see the back of this sort of lack of integrity.


----------



## xloopylozzax (20 October 2010)

I used to watch it all the time, but got sick of endless repeats and chuffing parelli/NH nonsense.

hope it doesnt dissappear completely, and sorts out the programmes!


----------



## Charlieanna (21 October 2010)

It's confirmed - the administrator is:

Robert Palmer - Administrator
For and on behalf of
Horse & Country TV Limited

but it has been bought by the same people so there won't be any changes - is this good or bad?

The owner didn't want to lose a court case so went in to administration instead to screw the previous owner and all the founding share holders, including the equestrian groups; BSJA, British Eventing and British Dressage.

There are bad people in this world!  But very lonely sad people too, so maybe it is best this way as this is all she has.

Maybe she'll do something good and make the channel a great channel as it should be.


----------



## This and that (22 October 2010)

By the sounds of it the owner of Horse and Country doesn't deserve to run what was a decent refreshing channel. Also sounds like they don't deserve to be worth that much if thats how they do business. How can they call in administrators and then buy the company back. Is that allowed?

I used to love Horse & Country when it first launched but then after about 2 years all it showed was repeats, repeats, repeats. I've given up watching it. 

RURAL TV was ok but it was all American stuff. Duh! We're in England!


----------



## applecart14 (22 October 2010)

Over2You said:



			I actually thought H&C started abysmally and had only gotten better over the past year. At first, the listings were an absolute mess. You would add programmes to your Sky planner as reminders/recordings, only for them to disappear. The reason was that schedules would chop and change every single day. I contacted them loads of times and never received a reply. Technical difficulties were also a major issue. It took them forever to get things sorted. At least now, it is run a lot more smoothly and competently. They had greatly improved their output too until Rural TV came along.
		
Click to expand...

Gosh I had the same problem when I tried to contact them. On their website at one time they were requesting suggestions from viewers.  I must have emailed them at least twice with suggestions, and then various telephone calls and further emails but to no avail.  I never had the decency of a reply and this made me really angry.  I probably made at least five differing phone calls about whether they were going to be filming the futurity last year at Solihull Riding Club as they had filmed the year before and my friends horse had scored a premium in 2008.  Last year, 2009, he was loose jumping as a three year old and we were eager to record it, should it be filmed.  I never had correct  response about that either.  Eventually after many phone calls and having to try every department in the building courtesy of their stupid phone messaging system "if you want to speak to *** press 1, if you require *** press 2, etc, etc" I finally got through to 'programming' who didn't have a clue if they were filming there or not!!!  

As for the suggestions for future programmes they must have had some stick off people other than myself about not replying to people as they have this on their website now :  "Please note we can only accept programme ideas for our channel from TV production companies, as we don't have an in-house TV production unit at H&C."

Their lack of people skills, communication and their evident lack of sticking to the programmes they posted on their schedule have stopped me watching them.


----------



## Rouletterose (22 October 2010)

It was absolute rubbish anyway!!! as someone above says, they never ever listened to what the horsey public wanted, I can honestly say that when it came on our TV's it was a huge disappointment, to me and quite a few friends.


----------



## rosie fronfelen (22 October 2010)

It was on last night!


----------



## Ranyhyn (22 October 2010)

H and C is the only reason I'd _get_ Sky lol


----------



## Faberge (22 October 2010)

I've heard they are restructuring but that nothing will change for us in terms of the TV channel or the website - that's also what it says in H&H: "The company is being restructured, but will continue to run uninterrupted and our TV channel will continue to broadcast."


----------



## BuBbleMooJim (22 October 2010)

It was the only reason I got sky, and now I hardly ever watch it, I have, NCIS, Bones, Chuck, True Blood and countless other great stuff, why waste my time watching repeats of repeats, Carl Ester dressage demo from a 3 year old your horse live was on there the other day, I hadn't seen it before, but I bet the rest of you were groaning at the TV and reaching for the remote!


----------



## This and that (22 October 2010)

Just seen the article in this weeks H&H. Why would they put it into administration just to restructure? Couldn't they have restructured the company anyway? And surely the disciplines won't re-invest after already investing in a failed channel? 

Yeah seen Carl Hester thousands of times! Its all repeats. Apart from Bob Nudd boring fishing! :-(


----------



## Over2You (22 October 2010)

BuBbleMooJim said:



			It was the only reason I got sky, and now I hardly ever watch it, I have, NCIS, Bones, Chuck, True Blood and countless other great stuff, why waste my time watching repeats of repeats, Carl Ester dressage demo from a 3 year old your horse live was on there the other day, I hadn't seen it before, but I bet the rest of you were groaning at the TV and reaching for the remote!
		
Click to expand...

I had Sky quite a bit before H&C, but when it came on-air, I got all excited and really wanted to see lots of great horsey programmes. Wasn't long, though before it had me wanting to throw the remote at the TV. 

See that you like NCIS, Bones and Chuck. Have you been watching the new seasons? Chuck was absolutely hilarious last night. Especially when they re-recruited Jeff and Lester.  Can't wait for brand new NCIS tonight.  They'd better not kill off Gibbs' Dad!!


----------



## Over2You (22 October 2010)

applecart14 said:



			Gosh I had the same problem when I tried to contact them. On their website at one time they were requesting suggestions from viewers.  I must have emailed them at least twice with suggestions, and then various telephone calls and further emails but to no avail.  I never had the decency of a reply and this made me really angry.  I probably made at least five differing phone calls about whether they were going to be filming the futurity last year at Solihull Riding Club as they had filmed the year before and my friends horse had scored a premium in 2008.  Last year, 2009, he was loose jumping as a three year old and we were eager to record it, should it be filmed.  I never had correct  response about that either.  Eventually after many phone calls and having to try every department in the building courtesy of their stupid phone messaging system "if you want to speak to *** press 1, if you require *** press 2, etc, etc" I finally got through to 'programming' who didn't have a clue if they were filming there or not!!!  

As for the suggestions for future programmes they must have had some stick off people other than myself about not replying to people as they have this on their website now :  "Please note we can only accept programme ideas for our channel from TV production companies, as we don't have an in-house TV production unit at H&C."

Their lack of people skills, communication and their evident lack of sticking to the programmes they posted on their schedule have stopped me watching them.


Click to expand...

You are very lucky to have made contact. Think I tried about a dozen times, but I didn't try phoning them. Probably would have lost my temper if I did get to speak to somebody. The most extreme I got was sending a recorded letter, but NOTHING!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I'm pretty sure I did see a BEF futurity programme last year. Was it the same one as your friend's horse was competing in? Hope it was as it would have been a shame for him not to have been on TV.


----------



## disillusioned s.j. (23 October 2010)

Why did British Showjumping give such a huge amount of money to Horse and Country TV?   Who is accountable for taking this immense  risk with funding that could have been used to support members activities or train the top level?  This in climate of deficit reduction and restraint. 

The arrogance of not responding to HandH calls shows yet again an organisation that is out of touch with reality, come on BS we deserve an immediate response that explains how this appalling waste of money came about.


----------

