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 !

While the demise of Speed TV is a certainty, what hasn't got much play is the fate of the highly informative Speedtv.com website?

Not the same or even close as the TV.....IMO

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Originally Posted by gfastr

While the demise of Speed TV is a certainty, what hasn't got much play is the fate of the highly informative Speedtv.com website?

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You would think NBC sports would take speed and put all the racing stuff on it. and put all the baseball and the other games none of us watch on NBC sports

But right at present NBC Sports is a premium channel for most cable providers.:thumbsdown:

Speed is slowly becoming a not premium channel, in terms of pricing.:thumbsup:

But with it becoming stick and ball who cares???:mad:

The 'greenies' hate racing... So, its wood bats & leather balls... No CO2 emissions... Save the planet, stop breathing :) & no brass nads...

hate to hear this. I remember in the late 90's when they had Skippy Formula Dodge racing on , then lawn mower racing, but at least it was racing...

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Originally Posted by racerdad2

The 'greenies' hate racing... So, its wood bats & leather balls... No CO2 emissions... Save the planet, stop breathing :) & no brass nads...

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I don't think I have ever heard anyone call FOX "greenies." That's a new one... :fan:

Well, y'all need to bring your race cars and yourselves on down under to NZ; race on almost every weekend through summer at a variety of tracks, all within a few hours drive of main centers.

Then, after you've raced your little hearts out, you can sit down and watch any of the following, with the majority LIVE and UNINTERRUPTED BY ADS:

F1
GP2
GP3
WTC
V8 Supercars
V8 Supertourers (NZ's version of the Supercars)
Tier One racing including V8 utes, V8 feeder series, Production Saloons, Toyota Race Series (Formula Toyota - sort of like a Formula 3000 class), Formula Fords, Suzuki Swifts
NASCAR
Indy Car
MotoGP
Superbike
AMA Motocross
Red Bull X-Fighters
X-Games motorsports
BMW E30's
F5000's
Classic Saloons
Historic Muscle Cars (Corvettes, Holdens, Fords, Dodges, you name it with a V8)

Only thing is, we don't do autocross / solo II stuff. Our carparks are too small and used on the weekends by another type of motorsport enthusiast...the bargain shopper...

I am sincerely hoping the new Fox Sports sucks so I can cancel it. It has become so marginal as a channel for me, the only reason I keep it is to watch Grand-Am races, and I rarely actually watch them now anyway.

Brian

Way to be NZ !!! I was just poking fun at at US in general. I bet if we developed a battery powered race formula series, we'd have full coverage on many stations... Now, how do we get all that great TV from NZ here in the States ? Any internet access ? Foreign subscriber service ?

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Originally Posted by racerdad2

I bet if we developed a battery powered race formula series, we'd have full coverage on many stations...

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It's closer than you think...
Isn't the FIA working on a Formula E car/championship?

I seem to recall when Champ Car ended, some billionaire bought most of the DP01's for modification and was planning a "Green Prix" series. I guess nothing ever came from it... Which is too bad, because those care looked like race cars

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Originally Posted by racerdad2

The 'greenies' hate racing... So, its wood bats & leather balls... No CO2 emissions... Save the planet, stop breathing :) & no brass nads...

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How "green" is stick & ball? The teams travel across the country in planes & buses. The ticket holders drive or use public transport to get the the field/stadium. Unless they have artificial turf, lawnmowers cut the grass...

Plenty of CO2 emissions for the stick & ball sports. Just playing the devil's advocate. ;)

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2013/0...eason-in-2014/

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Originally Posted by Ty_Handke_83

It's closer than you think...
Isn't the FIA working on a Formula E car/championship?

I seem to recall when Champ Car ended, some billionaire bought most of the DP01's for modification and was planning a "Green Prix" series. I guess nothing ever came from it... Which is too bad, because those care looked like race cars

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Great link. Cool cars. Now, can we hope someone can build one for club racing in a few years ? How ez to have just a go & whoa pedal :) it will be strange to watch racing without the sweet sound of straight pipes...

Interestingly enough Speed will continue outside the USA - all about the type and distribution of available cable channels within the US I'm told.
Phil

The Indy cars are all here in storage in Atlanta - bought by Ben Johnson that bought the Atlantic series. Must be 20-30 of them inc Reynards and Panoz cars but its gone nowhere.

Geez, now I gotta leave the US to watch SPEED... & I thought cable was expensive... Round trips to NZ on off weekends is gonna be spendy...

Its still up there in Canada! That's closer and counts as outside the US!!!

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Originally Posted by Phil Creighton

The Indy cars are all here in storage in Atlanta - bought by Ben Johnson that bought the Atlantic series. Must be 20-30 of them inc Reynards and Panoz cars but its gone nowhere.

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Not to get off topic, but what ever happened to Ben? He kinda just fell off the map. I heard he was going to run a series where the cars where all powered by Ethanol, but then I guess someone beat him to it.

His Atlantic was sitting in Formula Cars East's shop collecting dust over two years ago.

Gosh. Oh, Canada... Is sounding better with each passing day :) Any chance a Yankee can buy a small piece of land ? It's been many years since I've been up North. Loved the wilderness & lakes :) Can I bring me guns ? Seems a better choice to ward off a bear than stick :)

OK he has some money

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Originally Posted by Phil Creighton

The Indy cars are all here in storage in Atlanta - bought by Ben Johnson that bought the Atlantic series. Must be 20-30 of them inc Reynards and Panoz cars but its gone nowhere.

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