Is Speed TV Doomed?

[cosworth151]

I was just listening to Midweek Motorsport on Radio LeMans. They reported 2 rumors that were making the rounds at Suzuka, and neither are good.

Rumor 1: On 1 January 2013, Speed TV will become Fox Sports Network. This would mean an even greater reduction in race coverage than when Fox first took over the late, lamented Speedvision and made Speed TV out of it.

Rumor 2: Fox will drop the Speed F1 team and replace them with the feed from Fox-owned Sky.  Many people, including me, consider the Speed crew of Hobbs, Varsha, Machett & co. to be the best in the business.

[Jericoke]

Live F1 coverage is blacked out from Speed in Canada, but I've never been a fan of what I've seen compared to BBC coverage.  I'm not familiar with Sky coverage, of course.

If this means more F1 coverage on Speed, or Fox Sports Network or whatever, then that's fine by me.  I'd like more F1 coverage in Canada though.

[lkjohnson1950]

There is already a Fox Sports network, so Speed would have to be some kind of addition to it. If it will save them money, I'm sure we're screwed.

[cosworth151]

Fox has regional sports networks, like the Fox Sports Ohio we get here. As of now, they don't have a single, national sports network.

If anything, it will mean far less F1. There will be less racing in general, except maybe NASCAR. The rest of the time will be filled with soccer, basketball, golf and other pointless things.

[lkjohnson1950]

Too true!!

[Scott]

Looks like NBC or NBC sports will air it in 2013.  Hopefully for you Americans, the broadcast team will remain intact and move to NBC. 

Not sure if that means they will blackout the Canadian broadcast on NBC or not.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ap-sources-speed-wont-air-f1-after-season

NBC will be a lot easier to pick up on a stream than Sky is.   

[cosworth151]

Good for me. I can get NBC Sports, but not Speed.

Besides IRL, NBC Sports network (formerly Versus, formerly Outdoor Life) has long carried the Dakar Rally, too. I hope they pick up the Speed crew for their coverage.

[lkjohnson1950]

I fear it's more likely we'll get the boring crew that does Indycar, who have zero knowledge of F1. Varsha at least will probably stay at Speed since he covers Barrett-Jackson among other things for them.

[Jericoke]

We already get about 20 sports channels in Canada, so I doubt we'll be getting NBC Sports.

While we can't watch Speed's F1 coverage in Canada, knowing that I can always put on Speed and get a car show was nice.  Watching it turn into just another channel that shows either sports I already get, or obscure sports I don't care about (how many poker and ultimate fighting leagues are there!?), doesn't interest me.

[lkjohnson1950]

Frankly the longer Speed has been on the air, the less racing it has shown. I rarely watch unless it's F1 or Grand Am.

[cosworth151]

I'll bet that things like Barrett-Jackson will bite the dust when the conversion to Fox Sports 1 takes place in January. As you say, Lonny, there has been less and less racing on the network since Fox took them over and changed the name from Speedvision. After January, it will be ultimate fighting, poker, marbles, rock-paper-scissors, golf......