If you’re a fan of SPEED
programs like Trackside, NASCAR Race Day
and NASCAR Race Hub, enjoy the next
few weeks. It appears the network is set for a major retooling that could
eliminate at least some of the network’s NASCAR-themed programming in 2013.
Multiple
industry sources say the network’s parent company will rebrand SPEED as Fox
Sports One next season, introducing an expansive slate of Major League
Baseball, college football, basketball and other sports to its broadcast lineup
in an effort to compete with ESPN, NBC Sports Network and CBS Sports Network. While
the new Fox Sports One will likely continue to broadcast live NASCAR Camping
World Truck Series events next season, some of SPEED’s ancillary NASCAR
programming – including practice and qualifying coverage and pre- and post-race
programs – could fall victim to the channel’s new stick-and-ball commitments.
SPEED has struggled to
establish a cohesive personality in recent years. Executives assembled a solid
lineup of weekend motorsports programming, headlined by live broadcasts of
Camping World Truck Series, Formula One, AMA Pro Motocross, ARCA, Sports Car
and Australian V8 Supercar events. Unfortunately, the channel’s weekday lineup
consists of some truly horrendous lifestyle and reality TV programming, including
Wrecked, a reality series based on
tow truck operators; Pass Time, a
game show requiring contestants to guess how fast a series of cars will
traverse a quarter-mile drag strip; and Hard
Parts: South Bronx, which chronicles the trials and tribulations of
operating an auto parts store.
While there are still more
questions than answers concerning a future role for NASCAR programming on Fox
Sports One, the bottom line appears likely to be a net loss of programming hours
for NASCAR fans to enjoy.
Photo: SPEED.com
I am not a stick and ball fan at all, i really enjoy racecar driving and when it is done on this channel i will also be done with this channel. Very disappointed with this news. Maybe nascar needs it's own tv channel. They have a radio program on Sirius/XM that does very well and i think that a tv channel would also do very well...
ReplyDeleteSPEED had a chance at going the "NFL Network route" of having a channel devoted to one sport, that one sport being motorsports, but instead they went the opposite direction and took the "MTV route" by trying the mix the one thing that made their network appealing and turned it into a reality tv network.
ReplyDeleteI'm sad that SPEED is going away without ever realizing their potential as a motorsports network, but I'm also thankful that this painful experiment is coming to an end shortly. I don't know if the new Fox Sports One network will have shows devoted to racing news, but as long as they show coverage of practice, qualifying, and/or races, I'm okay with this.
Well the Cable Company use here in Hannibal,MO ask that you request Speed Channel in your Cable Line Up.
ReplyDeleteany word on a possible NASCAR channel?
ReplyDeleteWonder why viewers are leaving nascar? Just One more way of losing viewers. Bad enough that the FOX announcers act like we are all stupid, when we know as much if not more than they do.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that all the macontents and name callers post as "Anonymous?"
DeleteAs an Alberta, Canada race/car fan, I am deeply saddened to hear this.Granted, yes, some of the awful shows on SPEED are, well, crap. However, I am not a baseball fan.I hate football. I despise basketball.I need engines and tires. In Canada, we have the NHL,CFL, NFL,NBA,MLB, and golf(ugh) forced down our throats here on western Canada by TSN. SPEED was the one channel they couldnt touch. Now what?? Heres my vote for not necessarily a NASCAR only channel, but a Motorsports channel featuring a wide variety of cars,trucks, and racing!
ReplyDeletei really liked watching practice on friday
ReplyDeleteThis may be good for NASCAR - the fact remains NASCAR is overbranded and overexposed. Cutting back on some NASCAR-themed programming may be what it needs.
ReplyDeleteCompletely over-exposed. You can watch nascar on many networks. What about the treatment us motorcycle racing enthusiasts have had to put up with this season? Interrupting WSBK, MotoGP and AMA racing to show a nascar "highlights" show? Completely nixing the 2-wheel racing show to air nascar Victory Lane. We didn't get to see the end of the recent Moto2 race because the nascar show jumped in during the last 5 minutes of the Moto2 broadcast, never to return to Moto2. Sure, they had the replay later that night, but still, no respect. Earlier this season, they wormed in during a WSBK race halfway through and never returned. A "world championship"! Let nascar have their own channel, get rid of those impossibly stupid reality shows...show racing replays instead of that drivel. Now they're going to show ball sports? I detest ball sports, with all the corruption, criminal activity from players, the whole thing. The US gets this crap rammed down their throat from the day they're born...many know of nothing else and don't consider motorcycle racing an athletic endeavor; when the exact opposite is true. European countries seem to have it figured out, why can't US enthusiasts do the same? If they start showing ball sports on the same channel as racing, I'll be forced to buy DVD's of the racing and the end-of-season highlights discs. This is what happens when you become the motorsports equivalent of MTV. Buttholes! This couldn't be worse news for racing fans. Just when we get another MotoGP race at a great track like the new Texas CoTA...guess I won't be seeing that on TV next year. Sad day if this pans out.
DeleteJohn, I feel your pain, but it's not us vs. them. It seems like an all-motorsports channel (I know, I'm dreaming) would have roon for two AND four-wheel competition.
DeleteWow, very disappointing!! I thought SPEED had a great thing going. I don't watch the NASCAR daily shows on ESPN because it seems they are rarely on at their scheduled times due to stick and ball sports running over their alloted times. Sounds like we can expect the same now on Fox Sports One. As far as other programming, yeah SPEED missed the mark...the only reality shows I ever watched there were 'NASCAR360' and 'Bullrun'.
ReplyDeleteMark me down as a viewer of a NASCAR channel! Hey Brian France, are you listening???
Coverage of practice & qualifying will more than likely end up as a live stream available on Nascar.com or on an APP like ESPN has. The digital assets of NASCAR will take on a new face in the future. Everybody step away from the ledge. It will be ok.
ReplyDeleteI remember when Speed was Speed Channel and had different off days devoted to theme programing such as aircraft one day, watercraft the next. Not everything was my cup of tea but there was something for everyone. Then they changed to Speed and it was race coverage with a strong Nascar center. Then they catered to the lowest common denominator and came up with the reality crap.
ReplyDeleteThe real fans left long ago, the catered 30 second attention span crowd have found a new shiny object to watch, and now we have whats left. I don't feel bad for Fox, they made their own bed. I feel for the quality broadcasters who did do a good job with their shows who'll have to go elsewhere.
I wish there was a solid "Racing" channel, not just NASCAR on Speed. All forms and as many levels as possible. The weekday reality shows would be replaced with Short track racing, sprints and midgets, open wheel racing, 2 wheel racing and on and on. I'm guessing NASCAR makes that difficult - i.e. live coverage of other sanctioning bodies events other than F1 and a select few others. I really miss Thursday Night Thunder style TV from the past.
ReplyDeleteThis can't be good for race fans. Stick and ball games always seem to run over, no matter whether they are on ESPN or on CBS. When this happens it means that our races either don't show any of the pre-race commentary, or we totally lose victory lane, or my favorite, it is temporarily shown on another network until the other sport concludes.If you try to DVR it you get really upset. Is this really what FOX wants to do to us?
ReplyDeleteWhy couldn't they just move the programming to FUEL TV and FUEL TV is basically the new SPEED?
ReplyDeleteDave, whatever happened to the reported all-NASCAR cable network being formed for a year or two from now?
ReplyDeleteDave,
ReplyDeleteJust another Car Guy here. I'm saddened by this move on Fox Sports behalf as much as the next person. We have more than enough Stick and Ball Channels , why could they not have picked on the Regional Fox affiliates like FSN for example?
My dream channel will have Motorsports for everyone's tastes , shows profiling cars and thier restorations and repairs too. My only ask is that the show do it's advertising during the alloted commercial time space , not making every show a non-stop infomercial for whatever product line it's featuring that particualr episode.
I was a Huge Fan of Dream Car Garage , I know it's still around , but not in my market or cable package , I guess now that Speed is Spun Off , I'll be able to say I even missed PINKS and all the other DRAMA based garbage that Speed morphed into when not airing NASCAR related stuff. Don't get me wrong , I love NASCAR but it did in fact get to be too much LONG AGO.