Thursday, May 1, 2008
Historic TV Simulcast Calms Angry Fans
Thursday was a very interesting day in the history of NASCAR TV.
What began with an on-air scheduling problem for ESPN2 has resulted in move that can only be described as amazing.
The Internet posts began to appear early on Thursday detailing the fact that ESPN now had an NBA playoff game on Friday night that was going to have to be aired nationally. With ESPN busy, ESPN2 was going to be the only option.
The result was a decision by ESPN executives to move the Nationwide Series race at the Richmond International Raceway on Friday night to the ESPN Classic network.
This TV network served on many occasions in 2007 to handle NASCAR product when the two main ESPN networks were live with other sports events. The results for NASCAR were not good.
It was shortly after this network decision was announced that emails and phone calls began to pour into The Daly Planet that NASCAR was not happy. A highly-rated and much anticipated night race at RIR was going to be moved to a cable network with limited national distribution. So, the next question is...what to do about it?
That answer came just a bit later in the form of a mind-bending announcement from NASCAR and the TV networks involved.
Simply put, SPEED Channel will simulcast the entire ESPN production of the Nationwide Series race from Richmond.
“SPEED is happy to lend a hand to NASCAR and one of our fellow NASCAR television partners,” said SPEED President Hunter Nickell. “It’s a great way for SPEED and ESPN to come together to best serve the race fan.”
So, that means the Friday night race will be on both ESPN Classic and SPEED live for the fans with ESPN announcers and commercials.
Shortly after that email, things began to shake on the Internet front. As most fans know, Turner Interactive in Atlanta, GA is the company that runs NASCAR.com and has done so for years.
ESPN.com is the company’s website that serves almost every kind of sport and is one of the most highly-visited websites in the world.
On Friday night, both NASCAR.com and ESPN.com will “stream” the live broadcasts of the Nationwide Series race for free to all Internet users. This makes the race available on two TV networks and two Internet websites live.
Incredibly, that was not the end of this issue.
Ping to change of plans for Friday nights race, see above.
I’m amazed really.
Thanks for the background and heads up. Family and I are heading to our cabin that has TV for the Saturday evening race but no internet access. Hope all will enjoy the Sprint race.