The "DEATH" of Speed Channel
While all regular readers of the forum are well aware of the emergence of "Fox Sports 1" logo on the upper right of the Speed Channel screen, and the midsummer replacement of Speed - today during the rebroadcast of V8 SuperCars from COTA I saw the first "teaser" ad for the new channel - suprise !!! NASCAR. I was hoping (and still hope) that there would be "branded" shows [i.e. Speed's "Speedcenter" - "WindTunnel" etc. Sebring 12, etc. ] so I did some admittely surface reseach and came up with the following:
From "Variety" -- (and confirmed more in depth with a "FOX Sports" news story)
"Among the live-event programming highlights for FS1 will be:
– MLB regular-season games on 26 Saturdays beginning in 2014, along with select playoff games that will have the dual benefit of drawing viewers to the sports network while easing the scheduling burden on big Fox’s primetime sked. (Fox enabled this in October with its extension of its MLB rights deal through 2021.)
– Primetime college basketball games on Mondays and Thursdays, as well as weekend coverage of Big 12, Pac 12 and Conference USA action.
– Primetime college football from those three conferences on Thursdays and Saturdays, the latter the climax of triple- or even quadruple-headers, along with conference championship games in the Big 10 and Pac 12 and marquee interconference games including Notre Dame at Stanford.
– Select NASCAR events including Sprint Cup series races as soon as 2015.
– Soccer games including weekday afternoon coverage of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League and CONCACAF Champions League, as well as FIFA Women’s World Cup coverage in 2015 and 2019 and FIFA Men’s World Cup in 2018 and 2022. (Popular sportscaster Gus Johnson will become the voice of Fox’s World Cup coverage.)
– UFC events featured on Wednesdays, as well as one the night of FS1’s launch (which comes on a Saturday)."
From Fox Sports web page ............
MLB – Beginning in 2014, select League Championship Series and Division Series games; regular-season games over 26 Saturdays; live game-in-progress look-in show.
NASCAR – Select NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races as soon as 2015; NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races; NASCAR Sprint All-Star race; all SpeedWeeks events leading up to the Daytona 500 including: Daytona 500 Qualifying, Sprint Unlimited at Daytona (2014, 2017-22) and the Budweiser Duel, now in prime time; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NCWTS Practice and Qualifying sessions; NASCAR RaceDay, providing pre- and post-race coverage; NASCAR Victory Lane, a weekly wrap-up show; and Race Hub, a daily mid-day studio show with the latest from drivers, owners and garages.
SOCCER – Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday afternoon coverage of the world’s most prolific club soccer competitions, the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, and CONCACAF Champions League featuring many of the world’s greatest and most successful clubs; the world’s oldest soccer competition, the FA Cup; CONCACAF Gold Cup; CONCACAF Qualifiers, FIFA Women’s World Cup coverage in 2015 and 2019; FIFA Men’s World Cup coverage in 2018 and 2022; delayed matches in prime time; weekly magazine and highlights shows.
UFC – Featured on Wednesday nights; live FIGHT NIGHTS through 2014, the first is scheduled for launch night, Saturday, Aug. 17; FOX event preliminary cards; UFC Tonight, the weekly authority for UFC news and information; 14 Saturday pay-per-view preliminary cards; hundreds of hours of library programs and events."
Further per an industry "insider" (and using a modified version of the current Speed set) .....
"In addition to live events and studio programs, FS1 introduces FOX SPORTS LIVE, a 24/7 news franchise providing around-the-clock coverage through regularly scheduled programs, hourly updates and an information-rich ticker that provides a network agnostic sports event television schedule. Thousands of hours of news programming are expected annually from newly minted sets including a nightly program at 11 p.m. ET or immediately following events. A morning newscast is expected to launch in January 2014 in conjunction with FSMG’s expansive coverage of Super Bowl XLVIII."
So ..................
OK NBCSports - you got Indy Car, F1 - so grab "Varsha" -"Speedcenter", "WindTunnel" Sebring, LeMans, V8 SuperCar, Daytona 24 and you move right to the top of the "Fav" Channel button on the remotes of hundreds of thousands of viewiers - ... with Velocity just below
So enjoy the next 90 days .... final insult - they launch FS1 on my birthday UGH !