THE RACESPOT FAIRNESS CHARTER

WE BELIEVE IN OFFERING EXCEPTIONAL BROADCAST AND LIVE SERVICES FOR A FAIR PRICE, DRIVEN BY INTEGRITY TO PARTNERS AROUND THE GLOBE.

 

INTRODUCTION

It is very easy to take your money, and put on a broadcast that is at best, sub-standard. It leaves you with a sour taste in the mouth, and frankly, makes us look bad in more ways than one. As we keep an archive of all broadcasts on our YouTube channel, anyone can view any broadcast we’ve ever done. We tell our crew that a big shiny sponsor will often look at broadcasts outside of the ‘Blue chip’ events we produce, as this is where you see consistency in quality from event to event.

Each of the founders of RaceSpot TV and RaceSpot Live Events have been in situations where we’ve been forced to deal with broken promises, embarrassment, and being either forced to scramble to find replacement services at the last minute, or having to disappoint our own partners, drivers and sponsors at the last minute. Remembering those emotions makes us remember just how important our services are to others, and how much our services are relied upon to meet other needs and commitments beyond ‘another Sim Racing broadcast’.

With this in mind, we have chosen to be very clear in the way that we discuss, offer, and provide our services to you. Some of this may seem brash or controversial at points, but we do what we do with the best intentions. A good quality project requires people to work collaboratively, and whilst people may have different perspectives and viewpoints, every partnership and project must be rooted in mutual trust and equality.

PRE-BROADCAST AGREEMENT PLEDGES

We promise not to take on your series unless we feel that we can deliver it with the passion and quality it deserves. Some of these reasons pertain directly to us, and others relate more to the series you are asking us to broadcast. For example:

  • If your event is in a timezone that we cannot reasonably cover, we will be up front and say so. In some cases, we may in fact refer you to another broadcaster who is better placed to broadcast your series in the timezone you require.
  • If we already have multiple events on a given day / time slot, we will let you know in advance, and where possible, discuss alternative time-slot arrangements. Whilst we have multiple producers (And backup producers), we want to both ensure you have access to our best quality equipment, AND a broadcast window where as many eyeballs are on you, rather than elsewhere.
  • If there is a chance that your series / broadcast may be in contravention of any specific Sim Racing company terms of service, we will let you know., This can include the use of minors as participants in certain jurisdictions, as well as the use of any car company / racetrack / series name in your series branding. This can also include logos / images, and use of social media.
  • We have a firm rule of not providing broadcasts of less than 15 participants, unless for a charity / other unique event where there is a specific need to have less participants. Broadcasts with less than 15 participants often get boring very quickly in terms of production and broadcast, and not every race with a small field can be like the 2013 Freedom 100.
  • We don’t accept broadcast requests from minors. We have no security that Mom’s credit card won’t initiate a chargeback, and we know from experience that there is a level of maturity needed to run a Sim Racing event successfully. Whilst we can (And have) run events solely participated by minors, there needs to be a responsible adult to do all the paperwork.
  • We do check out every series online before we even think about writing a quote. We are not just a broadcast provider, but also a broadcast partner, and therefore we need to be certain that your series won’t bring us negative publicity. We stay out of politics and religion, but have a firm line against sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia. Politics and religion are banned from all our series; we just are not interested (And before someone mentions it, the ability to live free of persecution from how one lives is a human right, not a political / religious right!).
  • And finally, we always offer our professional advice as if it is our money. You can choose to ignore our advice, and ask us to continue, and we will then write it down and ask you to sign that we’ve provided our professional opinion if needed. We don’t like saying a point blank NO, but we’ve been doing this a long time, and know a thing or two about what may and may not work!

CONFIDENTIALITY

We understand that there are some things that need to be discussed with us in a confidential manner. This can be as small as a new sponsor coming into a series, or as large as partnering to announce a new car, track, event or series. It could be working with a new client, driver or team, or simply wanting to respect the privacy of your client when negotiating a new series. At RaceSpot, we have worked with clients on both sides of the spectrum here, and everything in between.

We have a management structure in place that when it comes to confidentiality, only the people who need to know to plan an event will know, and in some cases, we can restrict this even further, so only named individuals will be told about the details of a plan. We respect the need for confidential negotiations, and are more than happy to sign company wide / individual NDAs with partners as is necessary. Likewise, we ask that you respect the confidentiality of our other clients, and note that there may be some things that we are not able to share with you due to data protection / confidentiality reasons. In these cases, no amount of money will get us to part with our principles; sorry!

Where there is a need to record communication via voice / video, this must be agreed upon BEFORE RECORDING, and no copies of this should be shared with third parties without explicit consent of ALL Parties. Likewise, all documentation shared from us to you should be treated as confidential, unless specifically stated. This includes broadcast agreements, contracts, and documentation to operationalise a series (Such as rulebooks, schedules, briefings etc).

COMMUNICATING WITH YOU / YOUR REPRESENTATIVES

Where possible, we will communicate with you in a format that works for you, though we prefer the use of the following where possible:

  • Email – All communications, both confidential and non confidential: It is the responsibility of the sending party to ensure data is transmitted securely where needed.
  • Discord – Voice / Video, Text Series level discussion: Non confidential information unless agreed..
  • Whatsapp – General communication: Non confidential / Time sensitive information unless agreed.
  • MS Teams – Voice / Video: Non confidential information (Due to multiple domain policies).
  • Zoom – Voice / Video: Non confidential information.
  • Teamspeak: Voice Communication only: Non confidential information unless agreed.
  • WeTransfer: Secure document transfer.
  • Dropbox: Secure document transfer (However links shared with third parties would not be secure).
  • Google Drive: Live, Dynamic data only. Non Secure and potentially open to third party viewing.

We ask that when communicating with us for the first time, you let us know which method of communication suits you best, and we will do our best to communicate. If we raise any objections, these will be purely from a data protection / protocol basis (For example having to install software which is not signed / tested / secure. In the event that other services are used for meetings, communications, or sending of data, it is the clients responsibility to ensure that communications are secure and in line with their and our data protection policies.

FAIRNESS AND EQUALITY

As previously mentioned, we have a firm line against sexism, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia. In addition, Politics and religion are banned from all our series. RaceSpot TV and RaceSpot Live Events will do all in their power to ensure that those contracted / employed by either company are aware of this policy, and do not publicly / semi-privately (For example, on a private Discord hosted by RaceSpot) air views or demonstrate behaviours which go against the above. In addition, we will refuse to work with individuals whom have demonstrated such behaviour in a public channel, especially where they have not attempted to distance themselves from their past behaviours. Any contracted / employed member of RaceSpot TV / Racespot Live events demonstrating any behaviours / views contrary to the above may be removed from broadcasting / directing positions, and / or have any contract, partnership or employment cancelled by the respective company, in line with local laws for employment.

We are a pro-disability broadcaster, and recognise that everyone has the right to be seen how they are, and understand that some people have specific physical and non physical needs when working with us. We will try to support them both on online and live event broadcasts to the best of our abilities, which includes providing providing talent with time off from broadcasts / events if they need for any physical / non physical reason, including if this occurs in the middle of a broadcast / event. RaceSpot TV and RaceSpot Live Events will serve to protect the physical and non physical needs of all their contractors and employees, and will push to ensure that any needs to participate in online or live events are met.

We do not object to drivers / individuals related to the series mentioning the name of god, or other religious personas they believe in. We ask however that this is done in the context of conversation, and interviews / other segments are not used to promote a religion to others. We respectfully decline to broadcast any prayer on our broadcasts, and ask that if this is to be included in a series, this is conducted in a manner that does not interfere with the broadcast. For example, some series provide invocations or messages of prayer on a shared TeamSpeak / Discord server alongside other briefings that will not appear on a broadcast.

We will not tolerate any abuse to any religion, nationality, denomination, sect, or creed, and do not tolerate any language used that may offend someone / a group based on their race, gender, sexuality, or other firmly held beliefs. In the event that this appears in our broadcasts (For example during an interview), we will cancel that interview at the earliest possible opportunity. Whilst we have no right to exclude any driver from a series, we will discuss any incidents with our contacts, and may request that said driver / individual does not appear in future segments until such a time when we can be certain that there will not be a repeat of such an incident. If there is something on a car livery which has the potential to offend / contravene these policies, we will either aim to avoid showing the car at offending angles, or remove the paint from our repository, and re-load paints as soon as practically possible.

We understand that some things may be outside of the control of a series administrator / partner, and therefore we will always aim to use discretion, calm and reason. We will, where possible provide professional advice to all partners to help them identify and reduce the potential of contraventions to these policies without their direct knowledge. An example of this is our commitment not to use Trading Paints for iRacing broadcast, and instead provide our own service, as well as offering partners the option to pre-approve paint liveries, to avoid any logos appearing on cars without their / our knowledge.