SPEED channel is now Fox Sports 1

[tbwhhs]

I'm guessing Speed2 is becoming Fox Sports 2. They just advertised Barrett-Jackson coverage for Vegas on FS1, FS2 and Nat Geo.

I heard that Fuel TV is becoming FS2 on the same day that Speed changes into FS1.

About a month ago I heard Bob Varsha say that Speed/FS1 has the US tv rights for LeMans next year. Though that might not have any effect on who gets the USCR tv rights.

 

[GTPorsche]

Oh yeah, I see that now.

Still unsure of what becomes of Speed2.

I hope NBCSN gets rights to the USCR, and I wouldn't expect LeMans to have any effect on who gets USCR coverage as they aren't related series.

 

[Müle]

Oh yeah, I see that now.

Still unsure of what becomes of Speed2.

I hope NBCSN gets rights to the USCR, and I wouldn't expect LeMans to have any effect on who gets USCR coverage as they aren't related series.

I hope not, because then I'll have no way to watch it without illegal streaming.

 

[RACECAR]

I hope not, because then I'll have no way to watch it without illegal streaming.

Given how Sportscar racing (Grand-Am or ALMS) has all but completely disappeared from network TV, I don't think you'll have any choice in the matter anyhow since ABC/ESPN has no desire for it, Fox will probably neglect it again (or just won't have it period now that FS1 is "The new home of NASCAR") and there are no other networks making a bid for it.

 

[TheCadabers]

It looks like Fox Sports Network has gained the rights to broadcast Formula E.

 

[JohnBM01]

This weekend will be the final full weekend of Speed Channel as Speed Channel, and next week will be the final full weekday set of Speed as Speed Channel. Next Saturday (Aug. 17) is the FOX Sports 1 debut. Feel free to make your own eulogy for when Speed Channel takes that dirt nap.

 

[GTPorsche]

USCR just announced to have multi-year deal with Fox Sports.

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/uscr-fox-sports-announce-long-term-tv-partnership/

 

[FoolKiller]

USCR just announced to have multi-year deal with Fox Sports.

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/uscr-fox-sports-announce-long-term-tv-partnership/

And we just lost any hope of quality coverage. The first time an endurance is interrupted for something stupid I'm done.

 

[GTPorsche]

And we just lost any hope of quality coverage. The first time an endurance is interrupted for something stupid I'm done.

No doubt it will get the Barrett-Jackson treatment.

Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, National Geographic channel (lulz to that channel getting that kind of programming).

 

[RACECAR]

And we just lost any hope of quality coverage. The first time an endurance is interrupted for something stupid I'm done.

My thoughts exactly. If they couldn't even cover the 24 Hours of Daytona ( a race under the NASCAR-owned Grand Am) without interrupting it for pointless crap, what are they gonna do with this merged series?

And I seriously question the inclusion of Nat Geo. I mean really? What the hell about this channel says "This is perfect for broadcasting Motorsport!"



Fox Sports: 🤬 on your Non-NASCAR/stick & ball sports coverage.

 

[JohnBM01]

How do you REALLY feel, RACECAR?

But yeah, I'm pretty sure the USCR coverage probably will fare pretty well. Only concern is how FOX Sports 1's influence will affect the motorsports coverage. The 24 Hours of Daytona is usually held in late January or early February. Usually, that means either the Super Bowl, nearing the midpoint of NBA basketball, middle stages of college basketball, and even hockey will usually hit the airwaves around the same time we're enjoying the 24 Hours of Daytona. Especially for 2014, we might even get some bits on the Winter Olympics during Daytona.

I do follow traditional sports, but my first love has been and always will be motorsports. What I probably will hope for is that we get motorsports coverage without interruption and maybe some other sports highlights mixed in with motorsports coverage. I want to believe FOX will be more respectful of racing than say, ESPN/ABC. So I don't think we'll get any breaking news of (for example) a free agent signing with some overrated team in some boring sport while we're enjoying seeing a heated battle among prototypes and GT cars.

Then too, remember- us racing fans are a minority as far as sports fans are concerned. Much like there are other motorsports series that don't have the same appeal and market share as NASCAR, we don't have as much appeal as any fans of football (gridiron or association), basketball, baseball, or even hockey. Us motorsports fans are basically a niche market. At least Speedvision and Speed Channel were our television voice for motorsports when most others didn't have as much passion or care to consistently and continually provide great motorsports coverage. Now with Speed Channel becoming FOX Sports 1, all we can hope for is that the same amount of motorsports coverage is treated cleanly and respectfully without any serious interruptions or snags. Maybe we'll see how the new FOX Sports 1 package starts out when it airs the Michigan NASCAR Trucks race on August 17.

 

[Müle]

And we just lost any hope of quality coverage. The first time an endurance is interrupted for something stupid I'm done.

I'd sooner have low-quality coverage than no coverage at all, aka what would happen to me if NBC got the deal.

But really, would NBC actually have shown the full 24 hours uninterrupted? They have Hockey to show in January.

 

[RACECAR]

I'd sooner have low-quality coverage than no coverage at all, aka what would happen to me if NBC got the deal.

But really, would NBC actually have shown the full 24 hours uninterrupted? They have Hockey to show in January.

Pretty sure they would likely show hockey on the regular NBC channel and leave the race on NBCSN. They've shown they'll move races if they are busy with other major events (as they did with two F1 races while covering the Tour De France).

 

[FoolKiller]

I'd sooner have low-quality coverage than no coverage at all, aka what would happen to me if NBC got the deal.

But really, would NBC actually have shown the full 24 hours uninterrupted? They have Hockey to show in January.

I have constantly stood by the thought that racing needs to move to an online format. Broadcast schedules are archaic. We have altered basketball and football in the US to have TV time outs. That's like forcing a full course yellow.

Racing without many cautions and lasting more than a few hours doesn't work on TV. You can still have ads on an online model, but you could even make the on-demand feed pick up where it left off. And when a race stretches over 12 hours you don't have to worry about your regular schedule or your contractual obligation to show a syndicated reality show.

Who here, assuming you had the Internet access needed, wouldn't be willing to pay $5 or $10 a month for an online dedicated racing network with both live feeds and on-demand streams? Sweeten the pot eith apps on mobile devices and home devices, like Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, gaming consoles, and app-enabled TVs/BD Players. If you can't watch the full 24 hour race you can resume it later. Without a limited number of broad set hours they could carry everything from 10-lap lawnmower races to multi-day events like Dakar.

Need a more profitable feed, they can by the rights to show movies like Bullet, LeMans, both Gone in 60 Seconds, and even F&F. You could even get the documentaries like Senna or Truth in 24.


Fact is, it could be monetized in a way that is not limited to broadcast schedules or if your ISP or cable company have bought into an agreement.

It wouldn't be easy or cheap, so it would need to be ad-based and subscription. And it could be international.

 

[scarslasher]

And FUEL TV will be rebranded FOX Sports 2.

I'm hating FOX more than ever right now.
Why not make their own channel instead of taking over Speed?

I can understand them rebranding FUEL TV. But Speed is changing an entire freaking demographic. You're taking away Speed-oriented programming from 80+ million subscriber. FOX has the money, make a new darn station instead taking over one that has a dedicated audience.


What's happening to Speed 2?

 

[JohnBM01]

Let me touch up on potential carrier issues. I am not sure what this FOX Sports 1 will do, but we have a similar situation here in Houston with Comcast SportsNet Houston. This October will be about one year since CSN Houston launched. What's the big deal here with this channel? It is the TV home of the Houston Rockets, Houston Astros, and Houston Dynamo among others. Part of the channel's problem is in nailing down major carriers- namely the likes of Dish (which my parents have), DirecTV, and AT&T U-Verse among others. You of course have no problem with CSN Houston if you have Comcast. But for a network like this, not being able to see your favorite teams and athletes play will leave you wanting to curse out the network proudly showing the material.

That same dilemma could face those who may not be able to get FOX Sports 1. I say that I don't get NBC Sports Network. We can get NBCSN... just that we don't have it. So I am missing a great deal of races especially in the likes of Formula 1 (though I don't really follow F1 as I do sportscar racing). Having FOX Sports 1 as a motorsports fan is kind of like inviting over a bunch of people to a party who have different interests. You may want to see NASCAR's usual mayhem, but the other people want to see a college or pro football game. I think FOX Sports 1 at the earliest level will be whatever left that reminds you of Speedvision/Speed Channel mixed in with what you'd normally see on ESPN. Fussy parents would probably tell you that it won't kill you just because you want something other than what is given to you- like if you want sweet potato pie rather than the steamed vegetables you're given. So in the sense of FOX Sports 1, it won't kill you to be fond of other sports in addition to motorsports. But as much as football fans probably couldn't really care about what happens in basketball or baseball, most motorsports fans would probably not want to know about someone pitching a perfect game or if someone outside of racing gets arrested for performance-enhancing drugs. Only good to come out of this is that motorsports gets regarded as a sport- which it is.


So enjoy this final week of Speed Channel as Speed Channel before the FOX Sports 1 takeover.

 

[RACECAR]

And FUEL TV will be rebranded FOX Sports 2.

I'm hating FOX more than ever right now.
Why not make their own channel instead of taking over Speed?

I can understand them rebranding FUEL TV. But Speed is changing an entire freaking demographic. You're taking away Speed-oriented programming from 80+ million subscriber. FOX has the money, make a new darn station instead taking over one that has a dedicated audience.

You don't think the extreme Sports fans feel cheated that they too are having their one dedicated channel is being changed as well? Sorry, but I don't see how its more understanding that the Extreme sports fans are being cheated out of there network then us motorsports fans are being cheated out of ours.

 

[scarslasher]

Today was last Speed Center.
Last Wind Tunnel.

Big middle finger to you, FS1. I hope you tank.

 

[JohnBM01]

Did you all see Wind Tunnel just now? Epic insight by Robin Miller, Bob Varsha, and Jeff Gordon in the final ever Wind Tunnel. See... there's a reason why we have a dedicated motorsports channel. It's because of people who actually give a damn about racing and can promote racing the best way possible. I was EXTREMELY pleased at the sort of "gloves off" passion and insight from the three aforementioned gentlemen on the show. I even heard Bob Varsha say "bitch" for the first time ever. I even got on Speed Channel's Facebook fan page and voiced my support of the former Speedvision/Speed Channel impact. It's just a great shame this channel will go kaput. Yeah, it's becoming FOX Sports 1, but Speed Channel and what it brought is going to take that croaking death. Metaphorically speaking, FOX Sports 1 is the wooden stake driven through the heart of the vampire of Speed Channel.

One of my problems with FOX is... who the hell watches FX? How come FX became immune while Speed, Fuel, and National Geographic all got themselves part of the FOX Sports 1 madness?


Still, it was great to see "Wind Tunnel With Dave Despain" earlier tonight.

 

[iMikeTheKing]

The Wind Tunnel ending was amazing. I'm going to miss Speed Center and Wind Tunnel.

Fox is going to be interesting. They have UFC but most fights are on Pay-per-view. In college Sports they are supposed to show Big Ten (They have their own Network) and PAC 12. They already have half of the NFL games. Also, they only have baseball on Saturdays. I have no reason to watch it. I can avoid Fox Sports 1 even if I have to avoid NASCAR and USCR. I'll stick to ESPN, CBS, and NBC.

EDIT: I completely forgot about Soccer but I have 5 channel in my sports package dedicated to Soccer.

 

[GTPorsche]

No idea what happens with SPEED2.

 

[05XR8]

I miss the old "SPEEEEEEEDVISION!" commercials. It was the only channel to watch WC, DTM, BTCC, Australian Touring cars, Sports Car racing, Mazda open wheels cars. I went to school with Alfonso Ribeiro(showing my age) and it was cool watching him race on tv. It's a shame when big corporates mess with a good thing. The same has happened to One HD down here. We used to get WRC, DTM, BTCC on the regular and F1. Now, the parent channel gets F1 and MotoGP feature races. which I guess leaves more room for the dedicated sports channel to feature more episodes of Black Gold and M*A*S*H.

 

[JohnBM01]

If SPEED2 is also dissolved, there's going to be hellacious revolt among us racing fans. This is basically the age where cyberspace provides better programming than television. Where the heck else are we going to enjoy what SPEED2 has to offer with all the different series featured on SPEED2?

 

[RACECAR]

Found this interesting link someone posted on Speedtv.com:

http://m.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2013/08/05/Media/Speed.aspx?

 

[RVDNuT374]

I don't know why everybody is so upset about losing SPEED Channel, because they haven't been a true motorsports channel in years. 👎 Yes they aired some racing (mostly NASCAR), but most of the other programming was garbage unrelated to motorsports such as "R U Faster Than A Redneck?" and re-runs of "Pimp My Ride." My only issue with the takeover is if Fox Sports 1 becomes a "premium package" channel that people will have to pay extra for, which will blow up in NASCAR's and Fox's faces.

 

[FoolKiller]

One of my problems with FOX is... who the hell watches FX? How come FX became immune while Speed, Fuel, and National Geographic all got themselves part of the FOX Sports 1 madness?

Seriously?

FX is the home of Sons of Anarchy, American Horror Story, Justified, Archer, Wilfred, Anger Management, Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and many other past award-winning, high-ratins original shows. FX is their big high-budget quality cable channel. It's a cash cow.

 

[GTPorsche]

FX does so well for Fox, they've actually expanded it with an FXX channel, which some of those FX shows, like It's Always Sunny, will go over to.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

FX does so well for Fox, they've actually expanded it with an FXX channel, which some of those FX shows, like It's Always Sunny, will go over to.

Thanks for the laugh. Sadly I agree but I don't know if I'm agreeing to sarcasm or not.

Seriously?

FX is the home of Sons of Anarchy, American Horror Story, Justified, Archer, Wilfred, Anger Management, Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and many other past award-winning, high-ratins original shows. FX is their big high-budget quality cable channel. It's a cash cow.

How dare you not mention The Bridge, or The League...

 

[GTPorsche]

Thanks for the laugh. Sadly I agree but I don't know if I'm agreeing to sarcasm or not.

For once, I wish it was sarcasm.

http://www.deadline.com/interstitia...y-unveils-fxx-channel-to-launch-in-september/

BTW, there's also an FXM.

 

[JohnBM01]

Does FOX's FXX make sweet engine noise and has seriously high top speed? Lighthearted humor is always appreciated!