> Fox Sports, who paid NASCAR huge money to broadcast their
> events, bought Speedvision from its founder late last year for $100
> million, moved the offices to Charlotte NC from Stamford CT, will
> rename it Speed Channel (you can see the ads now on
> Speedvision and during the Super Bowl..here's a hint, you don't
> see any F1 in them) and will eventually be all NASCAR. You
> may have noticed that a couple Fox Sports NASCAR shows are
> already running on Speedvision.
Actually, that is untrue. The new Speedchannel ads in fact do have quite a
bit of F1 coverage in them, especially the one featuring the ochestrated
music. They show the F1 startline crash from Belgium a few years ago in it
and a few other select crashes from other races. I have noticed that some
special interest programs have increased, such as seeing Formula Cadet
(serious kids karting). Vintage "Archive Ads" have been playing too... and
featuring a lot of British stuff (Austin Metro, BMC 1100/1300 and Triumph
TR7 I have all seen over the weekend).
Yes, the NASCAR stuff has increased. Will it dominate? Probably, will we
still get F1, Le Mans, and SCCA RunOff events? Yes. It isn't like I would
watch half the things on speedvision in the past anyway. The boating shows
were pretty lame, except Ship Shape which was only interesting if you wanted
to learn to do fiberglass repairs (which I did). The airplane shows weren't
that good either. They accounted for at least 2-3 hours of time each day on
Speedvision... typically morning through midafternoon.
I don't think Speed Channel will get rid of their core motorsport programs
like F1. I found it pretty interesting that people were emailing Bob Varsha
at the Barrett Jackson auction asking whether F1 will be broadcast! And if
Speed Channel does eliminate F1 and Le Mans, well I'll get rid of the
DirecTV too (also bought solely for F1) and find alternative satelite means
of viewing Formula1.
Don't worry until Feb 11... or until they announce that Bernie Ecclestone
gave the F1 TV Rights for America to ABC!!!!!!!!!! (I refuse to watch F1 on
ABC!)
Cheers,
Kai
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