Time To Get Sirius NASCAR Content Online

Every day, SiriusXM channel 128 puts out a steady stream of NASCAR information and interviews. This channel originates right down the street from Lowe's Motor Speedway, NASCAR's Research and Development Center and many major NASCAR team shops.

If you have a SiriusXM receiver in your car, then perhaps you can catch a bit of this content during your daily commute. SiriusXM also makes portable receivers that snap in and out of automobile. Finally, there are handheld receivers that are designed to work indoors. Designed to work being the operative phrase.

While SiriusXM claims to have a total subscriber base of 19 million, things have not been going very well in satellite radio land for a while now. SiriusXM was recently saved from filing for bankruptcy by media mogul John Malone in return for a sizable stake in the company.

While there are some limited NASCAR radio and TV programs during the weekdays, the big fish in the pond is the SiriusXM Channel 128 daily line-up. NASCAR Chairman Brian France called in days ago just to review some topics with afternoon host Dave Moody. Among the scheduled guests Thursday on channel 128 are Greg Biffle, Casey Mears, Steve Addington, Larry Carter, Brendan Gaughan and the list goes on and on.

Today's technology also allows selected Sirius channels to be streamed online. After an initial sign-up, the user can simply turn on a computer or cell phone to get the live signal. Sirius NASCAR Channel 128 is not streamed online and that is the topic of this column.

Back in 2000, Turner Sports acquired all of NASCAR's Interactive rights for a hefty price tag. This included the online video and audio rights. Since 2001, Turner has been the sole producer of the NASCAR.com website. This practice of allowing a third party to run a professional league's website is not unusual. Turner does the same thing for other sports, including the NBA.

The situation we are discussing today is the stalemate between Sirius and Turner. Without a payment to Turner, that company will not allow Sirius to go online with NASCAR audio content. Without a dime in the bank, Sirius has little to offer. Instead of NASCAR being exposed to millions of Internet and cell phone users, SiriusXM Channel 128 continues to broadcast to only a very small slice of hardcore fans.

Today, we find NASCAR trying to wade through the muck of a struggling economy that hit the auto manufacturers very hard. The truck series has been decimated, the Nationwide Series is struggling and this week in Pocono there are only 42 cars. If one team leaves after this week, short fields may begin in NASCAR's top series. So, what NASCAR needs from its own media partners down the stretch is some help.

What would happen if the NASCAR.com website offered SiriusXM channel 128's weekday programming for free through the end of this season? Think about that one. Just go to NASCAR.com, click on the audio player and there it is.

NASCAR.com would get all the website traffic from fans every time they wanted to listen to the SiriusXM channel. No live races would be carried, protecting the existing copyrights of all concerned. Turner's site traffic would go through the roof, Sirius gets the exposure for its product and NASCAR gets the publicity for making its top stars and personalities finally available to fans without charge.

At the end of the season, decisions can be made about what to do for 2010. No one can predict what business dynamic might be in place by then or what lines of discussion this simple act might open for the future.

Let's get the great comments, interviews and questions being offered every day out to the fans right now while the sport is struggling. This one simple act might build a stronger fan base for all of the parties concerned. There is only one way to find out. Ask the fans.

Would you listen online to SiriusXM's NASCAR channel during the week if it was made available for free at NASCAR.com?

Leave us a comment on this topic by clicking the comments button below. We are lucky enough to have folks from Sirius, NASCAR and Turner review this site on a regular basis. They have all told us just how much your comments have helped them to focus on various topics that need some attention.

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Pocono Weather Causes TV Networks To Scramble

It's not just the teams and officials that have to scramble to deal with rain delays in the Sprint Cup Series. NASCAR's remaining two TV partners, ESPN and SPEED, had to make a whole lot of changes on the fly due to the wet weather.

Fans saw the NASCAR RaceDay gang run inside at Pocono when the rain was really coming down at 11AM on Sunday morning. Eventually, the trio of Jimmy Spencer, Kenny Wallace and host John Roberts made it outside to the SPEED Stage. Wendy Venturini and Hermie Sadler both did an outstanding job of chasing down the interviews and news despite the weather. Venturini was the only TV personality all day long who told the truth about the rain.

The RaceDay gang is going to stick around and provide a one hour pre-race show on Monday at 11AM ET. ESPN will only be covering the race, so this will be the old style of RaceDay, with the show leading right up to the green flag.

The ESPN crew from the Infield Pit Studio and Tech Garage flew back to Connecticut Sunday night. Originally, the Monday one-hour version of NASCAR Now was scheduled to be the annual pit reporters show. Instead, Allen Bestwick will be hosting Rusty Wallace, Brad Daugherty and Tim Brewer in the ESPN2 studios for a live version of the show.

ESPN's four pit reporters will stay behind, dry off and get ready for a full race on Monday. Joining them will be Jerry Punch, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree upstairs in the broadcast booth. These three got an opportunity to loosen up and tell the TV viewers some stories on Sunday afternoon. The on-air change was amazing.

The strength of the NASCAR on ESPN line-up is their experience. That is often lost in the carefully managed and scripted world of the current ESPN production philosophy. When Punch, Wallace and Brewer got some time to tell some stories it really showed what this team could be if the ESPN management loosened the reins.

Sunday night, SPEED plugged NASCAR in a Hurry and NASCAR Smarts into the timeslot normally held by the Victory Lane show. That program will air at 8PM on Monday and take the place of This Week in NASCAR. Kasey Kahne was going to be a panelist with Michael Waltrip and Steve Byrnes, no word yet on rescheduling him for a future show.

ESPN cancelled Sunday night's one hour NASCAR Now show and just extended the XGames coverage. No word yet on a Tuesday night version of NASCAR Now. Once the race is over on Monday, ESPNEWS will have coverage from the track, including the live press conferences from the media center.

It would be a mistake not to take a moment and point out the tireless work of Allen Bestwick during the almost four hours of ESPN's marathon rain delay coverage. Bestwick is an organized and deliberate TV professional who likes to come in prepared and exit without a sound. On this day, he served as the backbone for ESPN and once again let the other panelists have the spotlight.

TDP will be live blogging the pre-race show and the race beginning at 11AM. Stop by and leave us your opinion of the coverage. For those of you recording the race, program in some extra time as the threat of rain is still in the area on Monday.

We welcome your comments on the Sunday TV network scrambles. To add your opinion, just click on the comments section below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

Live Blogging The Sprint Cup Series In Pocono (Cancelled - Monday 12PM ET)

Note: The Sprint Cup Series race on ESPN from Pocono has been cancelled due to rain. RaceDay on SPEED will air at 11AM and then ESPN will have the live race at 12PM. Thanks everyone, see you tomorrow for a live blog of the TV telecast.

Most everyone knows by now that Pocono is having a tough time with rain. After a long night of rain, the track is now under fog and the jet dryers are out and working.

There is no doubt that the 2:18 race start is going to be pushed back. Our interest lies in how the NASCAR on ESPN TV team handles the day. There are several options.

First, present the entire pre-race show and then move to stand-by programming after 2PM when the actual race was scheduled to start. Second, stay live and continue to use the eleven announcers, all the drivers and the resources of ESPN to fill the time until the race begins.

It should be interesting to see who quarterbacks this coverage. Allen Bestwick will be in the Infield Pit Studio and Jerry Punch will be upstairs in the broadcast booth. Bestwick has Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty alongside, while Punch has Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree with him for the duration.

Tim Brewer is in the Tech Garage on-site in Pocono. The pit road reporters are Jamie Little, Shannon Spake, Dave Burns and Vince Welch. All of these TV personalities will be heavily involved in filling this time during the rain delay.

One big challenge during a wet weekend like this is the TV equipment. We saw problems happen for NASCAR Now this morning and there is no doubt that something will probably fail before the day is done.

This is Pocono, so the excitement is limited to the frontstretch and the accidents happen everywhere else. Cars fan out three and four wide crossing the start finish line on the longest frontstretch in NASCAR racing. The second and third turns of this track are flat and do not make for good TV. Since the infield is not paved, cars off the track are in for a very wet ride in the grass.

If things get underway, we should be watching to see if ESPN changed the philosophy of playing back driver soundbites and going to Tim Brewer under green flag racing. The stories of the race throughout the field are also a challenge to the network right now and hopefully the pit road reporters will be used to fill-in the gaps.

This post will serve to host your comments about the ESPN coverage of the Sprint Cup Series race from Pocono. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.