Speed TV rediscovers its roots?

[paul-collins]

SpeedTV lists a block from 11:00am to 9:30pm for PLM. Hope they get the 1000 miles in before the 10 hour allotment to allow a bit of post-race coverage.

I guess they've been reading their emails!

I just thought I'd repost this in its own thread to make the old-worlders jealous.

[rdjones]

Well I will be tuning into the Radio-web, so that I can follow PLM

[jimclark]

p-c - YOU"RE TERRIBLE !!! (but I hope it's true...)

[paul-collins]

Originally posted by paul-collins
I guess they've been reading their emails!

Feel a bit silly quoting myself, but...

For those who have or can get Speed TV, don't forget to email them to
1) congratulate them on this smart bit o' decision-making and
2) ask pretty-please if they'd expand their 24h du Mans and 12h of Sebring coverage for next year.

[Liz]

I got the following message this morning -- in fact I got eighty three copies of it (my first question to them was "isn't this, like, overkill?") but here is an ideal chance for all of us sports car and CART fans to be heard! Fire up those computer, dudes and dudettes.

The inaugural session of SPEED Chat, the latest addition to the SPEED Channel web site, will take place at 7 p.m. ET tonight. Following tonight's debut SPEED Chat will become a permanent feature of the web site and will regularly welcome popular motorsports personalities to discuss the current issues and topics of the day. The best part is you, the SPEED Channel audience, get to ask all the questions.

For tonight’s SPEED Chat debut we have lined up a very special guest to commemorate the occassion. Jim Liberatore, president of SPEED Channel, will be joining you LIVE online for a full hour to personally answer your questions concerning everything from current network programming and operations to the all-important future plans for the network.

We welcome and encourage your active participation in this new forum but we do have two simple requests. All we ask is that you refrain from using profanity and keep the questions intelligent and to the point. We will then do our best to get to as many as possible in an hour.

And that’s not all. Even if you are unable to join us online tonight for the LIVE chat you can still be sure to weigh in on the issues important to you by submitting your questions throughout the day via e-mail. In addition to answering each of these questions individually by e-mail as soon as possible we will also answer the most frequently asked questions at the start of tonight’s chat session.

To submit your questions by e-mail today send them to publisher@speedtv.com and please include "SPEED Question" in the subject line. To participate in the LIVE chat session tonight all you have to do is make sure you are signed up as a SPEED Insider and then simply show up in the SPEED Chat room starting at 7 p.m. ET and follow the directions.

So, if you have questions, or concerns, about the future of SPEED Channel don’t miss this exclusive opportunity to express yourself directly to the man at the helm of the fastest growing sports network on the planet. He really does want to hear from you tonight.


Don't miss on SPEED Channel Thursday, September 5th at 12:00 AM

*ALL Times Eastern - Schedules may be subject to change

For a complete list of daily, weekly and monthly SPEED Channel broadcast times please visit the SPEED Channel Program Schedule. To change your email preferences please go to your User Profile.

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[paul-collins]

Well, having read the transcripts, what we have is:

Rupert Murdoch wants to make money. NASCAR every other day draws tonnes of goob^h^h^h^hviewers, so we'll get NASCAR every Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

Don't hold your breath for the 24h coverage, as the cost is apparently too great for the lack of viewers. Paid Programming works 'cause it doesn't rely on viewers actually tuning in to make money (although I always wonder how those who are paying justify the expense if there aren't enough viewers for regular programs). (Maybe Derek Daly could sell some knives during the wee hours of Le Mans coverage? "And the Biele Audi is in to the pits, watch those pit crew cut those tires off the car, and then the knife slices a tomato clean as can be!")

Big Bad Bernie won't sell his old tapes cheap, so no reruns, no extra digital feed, no Legends of Motorsport that aren't public domain.

The really good (ie high rated) stuff is going to be on broadcast, 'cause Speed doesn't have market penetration and Bern and Willie France want the masses.

So, basically, Speed's mandate isn't to bring new motorsport to the view of the public - only that which is already proven to sell.

[rdjones]

Well at least u lot in the USA get some coverage - use in the UK, have to wait a week to get 1 hours coverage on Europsort - thank god for the Radio Web.............

[paul-collins]

Yeah, well, we are happy(ish) to have an all (or almost all) racing channel - but it used to be about getting the hard-to-get stuff, not more of what we already get on broadcast.

I just wish they'd run just enough NASCAR to pay the bills to allow them to show the majors in toto, full stop. Not all NASCAR all the time, as it's becoming...

[Liz]

Basically they don't care about racing, they care about money.

People keep on telling me that life is 100% about money and nothing matters at all except dying with the biggest bank balance in the world.

Speed Channel is just another argument against this mantra. I wish they'd remember that old time idea of "Give the customer what he wants." Yes, it's easier to keep on recycling the same that the idiots can recognize; that's why we have networks full of recycled "comedies" that are really the old comedies with dirty language and extra sexual content, and nobody wants to wait longer than five episodes to build an audience. If the baby doesn't grab the toy as soon as he sees it, throw it out and offer him another one.

Sorry. Rant over. I'm tired of people telling me that the only thing that matters in life is a big wad of cash and the only way to get that cash is to woo a mass of idiots with what they already have.

[cybersdorf]

Originally posted by Liz
I wish they'd remember that old time idea of "Give the customer what he wants." Yes, it's easier to keep on recycling the same that the idiots can recognize; that's why we have networks full of recycled "comedies" that are really the old comedies with dirty language and extra sexual content, and nobody wants to wait longer than five episodes to build an audience. If the baby doesn't grab the toy as soon as he sees it, throw it out and offer him another one.

Isn't that "giving the customer what he wants"? Instead of offering him something new he may not like. The same stuff over and over and over again.

[paul-collins]

I sense a slip into higher levels of discussion here...

I think that "give the customer what he wants" leads to the same sort of short-term-gain thinking that permeates the stock markets and board rooms across North America. The problem is that what's really happening is "give the customer what we have already and tell them it's what they want." Those vaunted sales programs of the 80's broke it down into (1) identify the customer's want, (2) convert it into a "need" that your product happens to satisfy, (3) sell the product. It doesn't matter if your product satisfies the original want - only that it satisfies the need, and that you can convince the customer the need and their want are the same.

I see NASCAR on Speed as a double-edged sword. Used properly, it could bring a mass of motorsports fans to new forms of racing and educate them, leading to a renaissance in North American racing. Or, it could squelch the diversity under the weight of gooberism, and sell more same ol' same ol'.

If Speedvision had've had access to some NASCAR early on, they'd have been able to fulfil their mandate, which they saw as the first scenario. Under FOX, I fear the mandate of Speed has switched to the second.

[paul-collins]

I've posted this elsewhere.

In response to queries about flag-to-flag coverage of Le Mans this year, Jim Liberatore (aka speedtv) posted on insider.speedtv.com:
"Unlike paid programming where we charge a fee for the time, Le Mans charges us a fee to show the race which we can not come close to recover on overnight telecasts."

So, not only does Speed's advertising sales have to cover the chargeable fee for these advertainment shows, it has to cover the license fee, which it sounds like is a fixed per hour fee. ACO (or whoever manages these fees) gives no break based on broadcast time.

Is there any way that ACO could be pressured to reconsider this? Could fans have any impact, or IMSA/Don Panoz?

[Lee Janotta]

Originally posted by paul-collins
I've posted this elsewhere.

In response to queries about flag-to-flag coverage of Le Mans this year, Jim Liberatore (aka speedtv) posted on insider.speedtv.com:
"Unlike paid programming where we charge a fee for the time, Le Mans charges us a fee to show the race which we can not come close to recover on overnight telecasts."

So, not only does Speed's advertising sales have to cover the chargeable fee for these advertainment shows, it has to cover the license fee, which it sounds like is a fixed per hour fee. ACO (or whoever manages these fees) gives no break based on broadcast time.

Is there any way that ACO could be pressured to reconsider this? Could fans have any impact, or IMSA/Don Panoz?

Well, the FIA has tried for decades to bring the ACO under their thumb with little success, so I doubt Speed Channel and IMSA can make much of a difference once those egotistical french morons make up their minds...

I've spoken with Mr Liberatore, and FOX management has definitly put him between a rock and a hard place. It's damn difficult to turn a profit in a niche market like this.

And with F1 declining these days, after they spent so much to get the rights... Sadly the ratings for Hooters Pro Cup are probably better now!

At least they've got CART and WRC!

[Liz]

Hmm. I think there's a difference between giving the customer what he's used to (or what he recognizes) and never giving him anything else. Remember when the computer stores were run by people who knew about computers? You'd go in and they'd ask "What are you going to do with it? Why do you need a computer?" and then they'd sell you something that would do what you wanted to do. Now if you can find a clerk at all, he wouldn't know a disk drive from a CD-ROM and all he wants is to sell you the next computer on the shelf, regardless of what you want. (Want to see a real look of stunned disbelief? Tell the computer store clerk, "I don't play video games. I just type.")

Take time to get to know the customer, then sell him what he WANTS. Don't just sell him whatever you have and tell him it's what "everybody" wants and that should be good enough.

[NGS]

[i]Originally posted by Lee
At least they've got CART and WRC! [/B]

My thoughts exactly! But I'm still wishing for better WRC coverage...

[Brant]

Interesting though, is the fact that most of the public opinion polls posted on Speed channels website tend to favor Formula One over Nascar. Perhaps its because most of the good old boys can't read. Just watch American TV, its all action and flash. A twenty car pile up on an oval is much more interesting to the Jerry Springer crowd; rather than the technical masterpiece of an Audi R8. When the CLR took off, it didn't successfully pull of the Triplefront side Fakey with a nosegrind.(Very nearly though!)Nascar isn't our only competition, not one Audi driver this year hit anyone over the head with a chair. The Hawiian Tropic girls are our only hope!

I'll put in my 2-cents worth at Speed channel and maybe we should send some mail the ACO's way. Bottom line is business will always follow the money trail.