SPEED channel is now Fox Sports 1

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NBC has always come off to me as the one network that whatever little Motorsports they do get, they put alot of care in it unlike ABC and CBS. Seeing as they also have rights to Dakar and wasted no time in getting Diffey in the booth, I would not mind seeing them become the go-to place for Motorsports.

There is one thing I have seen ESPN/ABC do that I wish everyone would adopt for live race coverage: Side-by-Side advertisements with race footage in a small window with the audio muted. If something happens during a commercial break you won't miss it. Few race series have enough cautions to be treated like a traditional ball sport with timeouts and you can't take a TV timeout the way some American sports do now.
 
There is one thing I have seen ESPN/ABC do that I wish everyone would adopt for live race coverage: Side-by-Side advertisements with race footage in a small window with the audio muted. If something happens during a commercial break you won't miss it. Few race series have enough cautions to be treated like a traditional ball sport with timeouts and you can't take a TV timeout the way some American sports do now.

That's exactly what NBC Sports has been doing with their Indycar and F1 coverage. I didn't miss Hinchcliffe exiting his car towards the end of the race because they went side-by-side.
 
Of all the times I flip to SPEED...
  • 35% of the time it's either NASCAR or a post- or pre-NASCAR talk show
  • 35% of the time it's trashy "reality TV" with grating personalities and a bare minimum of content
  • 20% of the time it's a dull, uncharismatic DIY show with a bare minimum of content
  • 5% of the time it's a humorless "general interest" car show, like the absolute driest episode of Fifth Gear you've ever seen
  • 5% of the time it's touring/sportscar/SCCA/rally/endurance/formula racing
Unless it's a Tuesday, in which case 100% of the time I flip to a motorcycle race.

It's a garbage channel and I won't miss it, personally. By the time they chased off all of their potential non-NASCAR viewers onto internet streams, it was too late to be saved.
 
I hope speed dies honestly. They do not show anything like they used to and to even go as far as pimp my ride and censor all mtv logos is pathetic.
 
This confirms NBC as the new king of Motorsports in the US.

They have the following
-F1/GP2
-Indycar
-World Challenge
-Dakar
-Stadium Trucks

And there is rumors that they are the front runners for the USCR contract and if I'm correct would give them the rights for 24 Hours of Le Mans in the States
 
So Wind Tunnel is effectively cancelled now?

Of all the times I flip to SPEED...
  • 35% of the time it's either NASCAR or a post- or pre-NASCAR talk show
  • 35% of the time it's trashy "reality TV" with grating personalities and a bare minimum of content
  • 20% of the time it's a dull, uncharismatic DIY show with a bare minimum of content
  • 5% of the time it's a humorless "general interest" car show, like the absolute driest episode of Fifth Gear you've ever seen
  • 5% of the time it's touring/sportscar/SCCA/rally/endurance/formula racing
Unless it's a Tuesday, in which case 100% of the time I flip to a motorcycle race.

Always found it damned impressive that that stayed that way throughout everything, though.

:lol:
 
No more WindTunnel, although they had already butchered it by making it a 30 minute show with no call/email/twitter interaction.
 
No more WindTunnel, although they had already butchered it by making it a 30 minute show with no call/email/twitter interaction.

Yeah, I saw this coming a mile away when they did that.


As for Robin Miller, he should be fine since he has a gig with NBC anyway.

Any chance NBC will snatch up that staff? They could always use more people for their epic Motorsports coverage :sly:
 
If nothing else we should be glad it lasted this long. All the doom and gloom about how the writing was on the wall that was happening 2005-ish, I didn't expect to get 8 more years out of things.
 
Problem I already have with that: They're trying to be ESPN. I don't want another ESPN.
 
No, I'd rather not have another ESPN either. There's already enough of them.

Hopefully NBCSN gets a good amount of motorsports rights out of this. Their coverage is better.
 
No, I'd rather not have another ESPN either. There's already enough of them.

Are you sure? They're ready to roll out ESPN 4, which is short for:

The Home Depot Channel Presented by Budweiser, live (Previously Recorded) at the Progressive Center in the Subway Fresh-Take Studio, brought to you by Levitra, supported by Dodge-Chrysler underwritten by Invesco.
 
Less than 30 days until FOX Sports One takes over. I must say I'm disappointed in all of this. I don't get NBC Sports Network (the artist formerly known as Versus). So I've missed a lot of good racing. With the lineup my parents' satellite TV has, I'd lovingly trade Universal Sports Network for NBCSN. And if NBC will be the new "it" network for motorsports, then there needs to be some races to be shown on NBC affiliates unless more people pick up NBCSN.

I think on Speed Channel's Facebook fan page, I even said something along the lines of "if you want to fight this fight with ESPN, fine. Just compensate for us racing fans." It almost sort of seems like you'll need to go to Europe and get Motors TV if you want fully-dedicated coverage while motorsports coverage in America just gets further neglected. Speedvision was great. Speed Channel, while not perfect, cares much more about motorsports and cars than any traditional sports network. It will be sad once Speed Channel dissolves into an ESPN contender. I'd rather watch a race nobody cares about or some completely boring race than motorsports coverage mixed in with traditional stick and ball sports. With all due respect, I can always watch another channel to keep up with more traditional sports rather than have a channel that does traditional sports and... here and there covers racing.


FOX is probably just chasing money. I probably should have speculated this once Speed shown an English Premier League game. Most others probably feared this with UFC discussion on Speed. Damned shame, folks.
 
FOX is probably just chasing money.

It's more than a probability, they are even asking for more money from carriers, which means everyone's bills will go up.

Jayski.com
Fox asking for increased fees for Fox Sports 1: Sports Business Daily reported yesterday that FOX Networks will ask cable and satellite providers to pay 80 cents per month per subscriber for the newly rebranded Fox Sports 1, with carriage fees climbing to $1.50 monthly over the life of multi-year contracts. Affiliates currently pay approximately 23 cents per month for SPEED. FOX has already inked a new deal with Comcast Cable, but major carriers Time Warner Cable, DirecTV and Dish Network have reportedly balked at the price increase. Fox Sports 1 - formerly known as SPEED - will televise college football and basketball, NASCAR racing, UFC mixed martial arts events and sports news programs.(Godfather Motorsports)(7-17-2013)

Than they wonder why ditching cable/satellite is a growing trend.:rolleyes:
 
That might sound like a crazy increase, but it's even more insane once you figure their goal by year 3 is to be in 90 million homes. Multiply that by $1.50 and you'll see why the providers are freaking out.
 
This Sunday will be the final edition of "Wind Tunnel With Dave Despain" according to Speed Channel... uh, FOX Sports 1's Facebook fan page. I tell you. If you're on Facebook, there are lots of people disappointed with Speed "transitioning" to FOX Sports 1. Joey Coulter of the NASCAR Trucks raced a truck with the livery of FOX Sports 1 at Pocono. He'll run it again for Michigan.

One thing I read in the New Cars magazine of Road and Track Magazine notes that Fuel TV may likely serve as a "FOX Sports 2" to carry leftover content that FS1 won't carry. Let's face it. If you care about motorsports, you have one of two options to get your proper motorsports fix: go to Europe and enjoy Motors TV, or get some kind of deal to enjoy motorsports TV online (i.e. Speed2). Apparently, great and diverse motorsports coverage is somehow too good for television.


Shame.
 
This confirms NBC as the new king of Motorsports in the US.

They have the following
-F1/GP2
-Indycar
-World Challenge
-Dakar
-Stadium Trucks

And there is rumors that they are the front runners for the USCR contract and if I'm correct would give them the rights for 24 Hours of Le Mans in the States

I hope they get USCR and Le Mans rights. I have faith in them giving us perhaps 24 full hours of Le Mans coverage. Fox Sports 1 will be so tied up in stick and ball sports I bet we get less then 12 hours of lemans coverage next year. The only problem is NBC sports network is a tier above the DISH package I have now. Really dont want to pay $10 more for one channel basically
 
NBCSN is also getting (some) of the ARCA RE/Max series. Their first race coverage was August 1st. Had no idea it happened.
 
NBCSN is also getting (some) of the ARCA RE/Max series. Their first race coverage was August 1st. Had no idea it happened.

What are the chances that Fox will just drop ARCA completely and NBC ends up picking up coverage entirely?


Also since we know for a fact Speed channel will be dead as of August 17th (well it was already, it'll just be official), I think the question in the thread title has been answered very clearly.
 
I'm hoping they do. As of now, the ARCA races that NBCSN has are tape delayed and air Thursdays @ 11pm Eastern. Considering they were races that SPEED/FS1 weren't scheduled to show, it's better than nothing.
 
The only problem with NBC becoming the home for Motorsports is that I only have access to the main network in Canada. So unless it's on that, it's a no go. Which would also be pretty lousy, at least for Canada.
 
The only problem with NBC becoming the home for Motorsports is that I only have access to the main network in Canada. So unless it's on that, it's a no go. Which would also be pretty lousy, at least for Canada.

Your home Grand Prix was aired on NBC. At least you'll be able to catch that.
 
Apart from F1, I guess I should have clarified. Fortunately in Canada we have access to the BBC world live feed (for every race) on TSN, which is nice.
 
I'd say the chances may be pretty high that ARCA gets dropped from FOX. Maybe it will be hung onto by FOX for a little longer, but NBC may be the beneficiary of ARCA coverage unless (for example) CBS or somebody wants to show ARCA. I remember back in 1999 when most of the NASCAR coverage was on CBS, TNN (then known as The Nashville Network, and of course now known as Spike TV), and ESPN. TNN used to show the old ASA series.

Let's face it- NBC is being the new media giant. It may be that they want to take the motorsports market in filling the void left behind from Speed Channel in going from Speed Channel to FOX Sports 1. Heck... maybe they'll make their own dedicated motorsports channel in the future. When it comes to what Speed Channel- and even the former Speedvision, I don't think many realize what's being killed off. It was a channel that had loads of racing as well as automotive programs. I'm sorry- I can't trust traditional sports reporters to discuss or cover motor racing. Something like Speed was a dedicated home for racing. We have MLB Network, NFL Network, NBA TV, NHL Network- all dedicated channels to their respective sports. We have ESPNU, a dedicated college sports channel and the last remaining college sports channel since CSTV (College Sports Television) became CBS Sports Network. There are a few other networks devoted to other collegiate conferences. So where am I getting at with Speed? It's simple. As much as you can complain over too much of NASCAR and not enough of everything else on Speed, at least it is a proper channel to enjoy motorsports from people who actually know what the heck they're talking about. The slow disintegration of Speed through FS1 is going to mean someone else is going to have to pick up what Speed left behind or will leave behind. Motor racing will be even more a lost cause in TV media if something like Speed or even better than Speed is offered as a TV channel.

This will be a serious blow unless something greater comes along. I know there's Speed2, but I'm talking about on TV material. It's basically coming to a point where stuff that's REALLY worth watching and what you want to see will have to be online, because TV and radio are somehow too good to show or profit certain material. And what were to happen if Speed2 somehow gets dissolved as well? THEN what? This whole thing is going to be tough to follow as time passes along.
 
To the above post:

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I agree fully. Without a dedicated motorsports channel, a ton of coverage will be lost due to the traditional stick and ball sports being showcased.

As it is now, I can't access Speed2 or NBC Sports live streaming due to not having access to the cable provider account log-in info.
 
I'm guessing Speed2 is becoming Fox Sports 2. They just advertised Barrett-Jackson coverage for Vegas on FS1, FS2 and Nat Geo.
 
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