'You'll choose your own camera angle' - the TV racing of the future

For some of us, watching TV is a process that, wherever possible, involves simply sitting on the sofa and ingesting whatever is flung our way by those in charge of programming. The experience was at its most relaxing back in the early 1970s when there were only three channels to choose from, colour was an optional extra and nobody ever lost the remote control because, like test tube babies and the SodaStream, they hadn't been invented.

Imagine our bewilderment, then, when presented with multiple 'zappers', all of which look capable of sending William Shatner into space but seem determined never to work unless operated by somebody under the age of 12 with an advanced sense of disdain for their elders.

Well, I can tell you now, it's going to get a lot worse, not least if you're a racing fan. I know this because John Bozza (fourth generation British-Italian, in case you were wondering), CEO of RaceTech – the company in charge of broadcasting from all 59 British racecourses – told me so, although he presented it very much as a positive, capable of reaching out to a younger, wider audience.