About Time! Free WiFi On Course at Poor Mobile Data Access Sites

[Chief Stipe]

Wi-fi trial bringing connectivity to holiday racing venues

Trackside.co.nz  •  January 8th, 2026 1:23 PM

https://bitofayarn.com

The Reefton race course crowd in early January. Credit: Trackside

 

A trial of a new on-course Wi-Fi solution at some of New Zealand’s most remote racecourses is showing encouraging early signs, with thousands of Kiwis connecting on track across the first part of the holiday racing circuit.

 

A 2025 review of mobile network coverage across New Zealand racecourses identified 15 thoroughbred and harness racing venues where geographic isolation meant there was limited or no access to domestic mobile networks on course.https://bitofayarn.com

 

For holiday meetings around New Zealand – most notably in Central Otago, on the West Coast or in parts of Canterbury - coverage issues have often limited the ability to place bets online via the TAB or betcha apps. Across the 2025/26 season, those 15 venues are scheduled to host 53 race meetings, accounting for around 8.5 per cent of all race meetings across the equine codes.

 

To address this, Entain Australia and New Zealand – the operators of TAB and Trackside – worked in partnership with the racing codes to launch a trial of a free customer Wi-Fi solution at race meetings in these locations throughout the 2025/26 season, using the latest technology available through Starlink.

Entain Chief Media Officer Christopher Haigh said the trial was designed to test performance in real race-day conditions across a range of different venues.

 

“These are very different racecourses, with different layouts and infrastructure challenges, and – in many cases – thousands of people converging on an area that is normally only home to a few hundred people,” Haigh said.

“Some of these courses have facilities that are spread out across a large area, while others – like the trees at Omakau where several thousand racing fans base themselves for the day – present their own problems to solve.

“At some venues, there’s the ability to service the whole track, while at other venues, the team has set up specific zones that people can use to access the wi-fi. The early results have been pleasing, particularly during peak periods when demand is highest.”

https://bitofayarn.com

At Motukarara on 29 December, the trial saw multiple Wi-Fi zones established across key public and wagering areas, with more than 400 individual devices connected simultaneously during the final race.

At Omakau on 2 January, more than 1,000 customers connected to the network during the meeting, with consistent speeds recorded through peak betting periods.

 

On the same day, more than 800 customers logged into the network at Tauherenikau races in the Wairarapa. Almost a third of the on-course turnover on the meeting was captured through people betting on digital channels like the TAB App.

 

“These results show we can meaningfully improve the on-course experience, even at our most remote tracks.”

The Wi-Fi trial is designed to complement existing on-course services, giving customers greater choice in how they bet, whether through on-course operators or via digital platforms.

https://bitofayarn.com

“We’ll use what we learn from the trial to refine the solution ahead of expanding the offering,” Haigh said.

[Chief Stipe]

I've been suggesting this type of access for a long time.  Interesting how they have used Starlink instead of piggy-backing off their Telco contract.

Next step will be cutting costs on terminal operators which is a good thing.

[curious]

Is the telco link also satellite?

[Chief Stipe]

8 minutes ago, curious said:

Is the telco link also satellite?

That's what I thought but wasn't there a requirement for Racecourses to have fibre connections?  

[curious]

4 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

That's what I thought but wasn't there a requirement for Racecourses to have fibre connections?  

I seem to remember that was an issue maybe for Foxton. But if they have fibre, they wouldn't need the satellite? This seems to be where there is poor mobile connection.

[Chief Stipe]

5 minutes ago, curious said:

I seem to remember that was an issue maybe for Foxton. But if they have fibre, they wouldn't need the satellite? This seems to be where there is poor mobile connection.

Yes but if the NZ Telco provided either a satellite link or a fibre connection then they could have leveraged off that to deliver oncourse WiFi.  Perhaps they are using their Australian based Telco to work with Starlink or Starlink direct.

[Chief Stipe]

Telstra have a partnership with Starlink to provide remote services in Australia.

[curious]

Could it be that Trackside uses a dedicated satellite uplink not easily converted to broad customer access across the courses.

[Bill]

21 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

That's what I thought but wasn't there a requirement for Racecourses to have fibre connections?  

I was at Reefton and the wifi was great for the the phone that’s for sure!

there is no fibre at Reefton racecourse, I was talking to a trackside technician and he told me the pictures were transmitted by their mobile satellite and that only main venues have a fibre connection for broadcasting.

[Bill]

5 minutes ago, Bill said:

I was at Reefton and the wifi was great for the the phone that’s for sure!

there is no fibre at Reefton racecourse, I was talking to a trackside technician and he told me the pictures were transmitted by their mobile satellite and that only main venues have a fibre connection for broadcasting.

An old article but still points to what I was saying

https://www.odt.co.nz/sport/racing/racing-getting-races-your-living-room

[sarge]

Interesting updates Bill.

A great move by Entain/the TAB although not quite a flick oi the switch.

Some background from late last year.

"TAB NZ provided some funding to Racing NZ to improve connectivity at various racing venues. Racing NZ then worked with Entain and it was agreed to provide a wifi solution at all race meetings at the 15 x Thoroughbred and Harness tracks where the domestic mobile network coverage was assessed as 'poor'. 

The solution at the 'poor' venues is an onerous and costly solution, which involves significant labour even once fixed wiring is installed...."

 

One would think that wifi will be on RCP's infrastructure checklist.

 

 

[Chief Stipe]

20 minutes ago, sarge said:

One would think that wifi will be on RCP's infrastructure checklist.

Who or what is "RCP"?

[Chief Stipe]

21 minutes ago, sarge said:

The solution at the 'poor' venues is an onerous and costly solution, which involves significant labour even once fixed wiring is installed....

I just don't get the "significant labour" requirement.  

[curious]

45 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

I just don't get the "significant labour" requirement.  

I don't get that either. Wouldn't take an hour for one person to set up the starlink hardware from scratch would it?

[curious]

50 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

Who or what is "RCP"?

The consultants appointed for the Project Stamina report now due in May.

[Chief Stipe]

40 minutes ago, curious said:

I don't get that either. Wouldn't take an hour for one person to set up the starlink hardware from scratch would it?

An Hour?  Take 10 mins.  Have preinstalled mounts - take the kit out of the box - clip it in.  Use an app on your phone to check the direction of the satellites and align dish.  Plug in a couple of WiFi repeaters.  Walk around and test.

 

[curious]

Just now, Chief Stipe said:

An Hour?  Take 10 mins.  Have preinstalled mounts - take the kit out of the box - clip it in.  Use an app on your phone to check the direction of the satellites and align dish.  Plug in a couple of WiFi repeaters.  Walk around and test.

 

I was allowing for coffee and sausage roll breaks and a bit of a yarn with the locals.

[Chief Stipe]

39 minutes ago, curious said:

The consultants appointed for the Project Stamina report now due in May.

Ok.

 

[Chief Stipe]

3 hours ago, Bill said:

there is no fibre at Reefton racecourse,

There may not be but there is down racecourse road.  In fact I doubt there are many racecourses that arent.  Of course Kumara doesnt which is another reason why they should have ditched it and kept Hokitika.

[Chief Stipe]

5 minutes ago, curious said:

I was allowing for coffee and sausage roll breaks and a bit of a yarn with the locals.

It is only a one handed job so you could eat/drink and work!

Also you could shorten the time by getting the raceday stipes to do the testing while they watched the pre-race track gallop.

[Murray Fish]

4 hours ago, Bill said:

An old article but still points to what I was saying

https://www.odt.co.nz/sport/racing/racing-getting-races-your-living-room

Sitting at home and watching the races on Trackside or TAB TV has become the option of choice for many racing fans, but there is plenty going on behind the scenes to make sure the pictures reach your living room.

Matt Smith looked at a day in the life of the Trackside crew in Otago-Southland from a very wet harness racing meeting at Oamaru on a Sunday earlier this month.

 

SATURDAY

The broadcast truck and satellite trailer arrives from Timaru, where it had been used for a thoroughbred meeting on the Friday. A ''scratch crew'' of six staff arrives in Oamaru to ensure the outside broadcast can get off the ground, even if roads are closed overnight.

SUNDAY

7am: Technical support staff leave Dunedin to arrive in Oamaru by 8.30am, including Otago-Southland manager Murray Wilson.

''The technical support crew had an hour's start on everyone else, and everyone else turned up at 9.30am when the van was plugged up and the satellite was ready. It was a good example of a team working under extreme conditions.''

9.30am: The Trackside crew - 12 for this meeting - congregates at Oamaru racecourse for a briefing with Wilson and director Jess Murphy.

''We had a few production details for that as we had a presenter [Dave McDonald] on that day.''

Included in the production requirements for the day are a list of McDonald's interviews and an ''Aussie preview'', in which McDonald outlines his selections in seven to eight minutes for each race which will be replayed on Sky Racing in Australia later that morning.

10.30am: After the satellite connection has been unpacked and set up, the engineer powers it up.

''The engineer confirms everything is running OK - on this occasion, it wasn't. So it is a bit of a heart-stopper - the satellite is your Achilles heel, as there is only one of them.''

There were some issues with the satellite which Wilson put down to the bad weather on the day, similar to the rain fade message on your Sky signal.

Only Ascot Park and Forbury Park are ''fibre'' venues with permanent links in place. These meetings don't require the satellite to establish a signal. All satellite bookings are made through a company in Washington DC in the United States.

11am: Murphy sits in the director's chair, after technical checks as all seven cameras around the course come ''online''.

She contacts the main control room at the Avalon studios in Wellington to set up the connections for the day and to run through camera checks and sound checks before linking up with the studio director at one of the New Zealand Racing Board's two suites at Avalon.

''She's chatting to [studio director] David Diehl and they're discussing a strategy of getting into the day. The clock winds down, and away we go. We get Dave [McDonald] up on camera and we're into it.''

A minute-by-minute script, produced in Wellington, gives the crew - and the studio crew - an idea of their requirements for the day, although the nature of live racing means delays can happen.

11.37am, race 1 and onwards: Murphy has seven cameras to use throughout the day, and cuts cameras through the race, calling the camera number to advise which camera shot she will be coming to next.

 

The two side-on cameras placed high in the grandstand are the main cameras used throughout a race.

One is used for close-ups and trailing back through the field when Murphy uses the split-screen when the field is in the back straight, far from the camera.

''At least three to four of those cameras are doubling up and covering the stipendiary stewards' requirements,'' Wilson says.

The ''stipes'' can have four angles recorded simultaneously throughout the race and provided to them on a four-way split-screen in their room, in order for them to check for interference during the race or to use the footage during an inquiry.

5.10pm, 1hr after the last race: Oamaru has more permanent cables in place than many other tracks in Otago or Southland, so the crew's packing-up process is simpler than elsewhere.

The broadcast truck and the crew then head back to Dunedin or Invercargill, depending on their home base.

Wilson estimates the crew is now covering three to four meetings a week which can end up being 12-hour days with travel included.

 

The pluses of the job include being in the great outdoors on ''good days'', and also the chance for progression within Trackside.

Some school leavers pick up jobs at Trackside and work up to other jobs within Trackside or in the television industry.

''They can graduate and move on career-wise''.

• Note: Matt Smith worked at Trackside from May 2008 to December 2012 as a daily producer and the harness racing producer on Trackside and TAB TV.

 

 

---

Trackside
At a glance

 

ROLES OF THE CREW

• Director: Runs the whole broadcast, co-ordinating the cameras, sound and video replays, along with being in constant contact with the studios in Wellington to update any information.

• Colour correction unit (CCU) operator: Tweaks with the raw feeds from cameras to ensure the camera exposures are constant when they leave the track.

''On a very bright day, we need to be filtering it back so it reaches you in a picture at home which has nice exposure. On a very dull day, we need to increase the intensity of the camera.''

• Sound operator: Puts the right audio source on line at the right time - be it commentator or presenter at the appropriate level, and the right amount of sound effects during a race.

• VT (videotape) operator: Cues up footage of races to use as replays following a race. Also can record interviews to be played out later in the day.

• Camera operator: Provides pictures back to the truck to be used in live coverage

---

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Trackside, the broadcasting arm of the New Zealand Racing Board, provides outside broadcasts of all official totalisator meetings in New Zealand and takes in coverage from, and sends to, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, the United States, France and South Africa.

• Trackside delivers the broadcast of 1056 meetings in New Zealand every year.

• 120 staff are employed by Trackside in operational roles across the Wellington head office and five regions.

• Trackside broadcasts 55,000 races a year - domestic and international. On Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, there is usually more than 18 hours of continuous live broadcasting in a day.

[Murray Fish]

1 minute ago, Murray Fish said:

4 hours ago, Bill said:

An old article but still points to what I was saying

https://www.odt.co.nz/sport/racing/racing-getting-races-your-living-room

Sitting at home and watching the races on Trackside or TAB TV has become the option of choice for many racing fans, but there is plenty going on behind the scenes to make sure the pictures reach your living room.

If you run that article through A.I.   "Here is a article from 2013 about how horse race broadcasting is done in NZ at that time. WHat has changed since this article?"

gets this reply (i hope if formats well)

Since the 2013 article was written, horse race broadcasting in New Zealand has transformed significantly. The most notable changes are the widespread use of real-time GPS tracking for viewers, a major shift in how the broadcast is delivered and organized, and an upcoming change in what content is broadcast due to a planned ban on greyhound racing.

Here is a comparison of the key changes across different aspects of the broadcast:

| Aspect of Broadcast | **As Described in 2013 Article** | **Key Changes Since 2013** |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| **📺 Broadcast Technology & Content** | • Reliant on manual camera feeds & satellite trucks.<br>• Basic video replays and standard graphics.<br>• Covered all three racing codes: thoroughbred, harness, and greyhound. | • **Real-time GPS tracking** deployed across 30+ tracks. Viewers see live position, speed, and advanced race graphics.<br>• **Greyhound racing to end** by 1 August 2026 due to a government bill, which will change broadcast content. |
| **📡 Distribution & Platforms** | • Mixed **analogue (UHF)** and digital (Freeview, Sky) delivery.<br>• One main TV channel (Trackside) and a second (TAB TV).<br>• Dedicated radio network (TAB Trackside Radio). | • **Fully digital** (Freeview, Sky, streaming).<br>• Two renamed TV channels: **Trackside 1 & Trackside 2**.<br>• **Radio network sold and bought back**; frequencies now shared with a sports talk network. |
| **🏢 Organization & Partnerships** | • Operated by the New Zealand Racing Board's broadcasting arm.<br>• Focus on domestic coverage and basic international feeds. | • Operated by **TAB New Zealand**, with **Entain** as the commercial partner.<br>• **Global partnership with 1/ST** (US) creating "Golden Ticket" international race pathways. |

### 🔍 Areas with Less Clear Information
The search results don't provide specific details on changes to:
*   **On-site production crew size and workflow**: It's unclear if the use of large outside broadcast trucks and crews described in 2013 is still the standard at most tracks.
*   **Integration of fiber vs. satellite links**: While fiber was used at two venues in 2013, the extent of fiber network expansion is not detailed in the results.

### 💎 In Summary
The core experience of watching live racing remains, but it is now enhanced by real-time data and graphics, delivered through modern digital platforms, and is part of a more globally connected racing industry. A major shift in broadcast content is also on the horizon with the end of greyhound racing.

I hope this comparison helps you see how much the landscape has evolved. If you're interested in a specific change, such as the GPS technology or the international partnerships, I can try to find more detailed information for you.

 

[Chief Stipe]

I hate AI.  Actually AI is an oxymoron.  Artificial - yes.  Intelligence - no.  Actually @Murray Fish can you ask AI what intelligence is?

[curious]

When I asked AI about the transmission, it didn't actually mention satellite links.

Central Production & Viewer Delivery

• Live feeds from OB vans are sent via broadcast-grade links (often fiber or microwave) to the production centre and then distributed to:
  • TV channels (Sky, Freeview)
  • Online streams via the Trackside website and TAB app.

Edited 3 hours ago by curious

[Chief Stipe]

37 minutes ago, curious said:

When I asked AI about the transmission, it didn't actually mention satellite links.

Central Production & Viewer Delivery

• Live feeds from OB vans are sent via broadcast-grade links (often fiber or microwave) to the production centre and then distributed to:
  • TV channels (Sky, Freeview)
  • Online streams via the Trackside website and TAB app.

FFS microwave transmission was last used in the '80s