The Kennel Club, Crufts and the BBC: The Whole Story
Published on December 15, 2008 by Ryan O'Meara · No CommentsWell, the dust is beginning to settle and dog lovers of all persuasions are digesting the fact that for the first time in four decades there will be no Crufts dog show on BBC television in 2009.
So what happened behind the scenes?
What were the key sticking points that lead to this breakdown?
And could there have been a different outcome?
K9 Magazine has learned from a BBC insider that discussions took place about the possibility of Crufts 2009 being broadcast if the Kennel Club’s ‘at risk’ breeds would not be featured in the showring but they COULD have been featured in the TV broadcast provided a critical, unbiased commentary was given referring to the health of the breeds in question along with a similar proviso for the two ‘Pedigree Dogs Exposed breeds’ the Rhodesian Ridgeback and Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
As we now know, the Kennel Club rejected the BBC’s terms and the show will now not appear on terristrial TV in 09.
Furthermore, the Kennel Club’s claim that the BBC had failed to “take into account” measures the club had put in place to improve the health of pedigree dogs has been knocked back. Our BBC contact assures us that the health plans were taken in to account but that it would be inappropriate to cite the breed plans as a reason to air Crufts given they have not yet been given the time to be evaluated in terms of their effectiveness.
K9 Magazine understands that discussions are ongoing between the Kennel Club and the BBC about the terms of the broadcast contract in relation to the suspension.
The BBC retains the rights to broadcast Crufts until 2010. It will be reviewing the progress of breed health over the coming year before making a decision on whether Crufts will return to our screens in the future.
In a further clarification the Rottweiler is NOT – as had been previously reported on some sites – on the ‘at risk’ list and was not a breed being disputed.
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Tags: Animal Welfare, kennel club
Brilliant idea, why not put it onto another channel where you may have to pay before you can view it! At least the BBC was a terrestrial channel where it was available to all even though you have to pay the licence fee in general? QVC might be a good commercial opportunity, they could sell things in between classes?
It will be interesting to see what happens – I would suspect that the BBC have broken the contract, whether damages will be pursued or paid, should be interesting !
As for broadcast, there are other broadcasters – it has a very large audience – Why not pursue those ? – and for the long term, the BBC had their chance.
Sometimes it seems like the KC are apologists – Crufts is a great product, with another channel all kinds of commercial opportunities exist.
Thanks for the excellent reporting
This is ridiculous. The RR has less health problems than most breeds out there, but for some reason they're being picked on (Bulldogs anyone?). The BBC is stupid to do this, it's not their place. These documentaries have not explained the numbers behind these health problems. Dermoid Sinus occurs in 10% of RRs and can be prevented with folate supplements… and the ridgeless thing, well, it affects 1 in 20 RRs. Americans don't have a problem with breeding the occasional ridgeless if it has awesome other points. Culling ridgeless with sterilization is not cruel or bad for the breed in any way if it is chosen to be done. And adding ridgeless dogs back into the breeding population will not really increase any genetic health or reduce the amount of DS, since DS occurs in the ridgeless dogs too.
Stupid stupid stupid. The BBC is being dumb about this and are the victims of breed hysteria.
what right does the BBC which is a public broadcasting company paid for by you and me to tell us what we can watch. It still chooses to broadcast program's like Pedigree Dogs exposed which was the most bias programme I have seem for a long time. It gave no credence to the enormous amount of time any money spent of the research of genetic conditions in various breeds of dogs. Research has been going on for years trying to eliminate many of these conditions which are often found in humans too and much of this research can and will help find cures for human conditions as well. I have kept and breed ridgebacks for over 40yrs and my dogs are very healthy. Demoid sinus can be detected at birth and the percentage of puppies born with demoid sinus in the u.k ridgebacks is far less than 10% probably around 2%.in many cases it is possible to remove the sinus and the puppy will go one to have a normal healthy life although it must never be bred from & Puppies born without ridges still make lovely pets but are sold by most responsible breeders on the conditions that they are not bred from and lets face it, in the present climate unless you have at least 10 people looking for a ridgeback puppy( average litter size is around 10 puppies) why would you want to breed any way.
Crufts is a great day out and it is not a showcase full of crippled dogs, If you like many other people love watching all the doggie activities complain to the BBC and tell them they have no right to pick on this one event. If they ARE going to take the moral high ground then ther is a lot of other things they had better stop showoing. I don't like horse racing and I think the grand national is cruel but many people seem to enjoy it and the BBC seems to think its o.k. to film these events. At least we don't have dogs breaking their necks at crufts.