SPEED Suddenly Pawn In TV Face-Off

DirecTV released a new statement in relation to the most recent strong-arm tactics being employed by FOX in the ongoing rate dispute involving FOX cable and regional sports networks. SPEED is included as a key piece of the puzzle in this issue.

DIRECTV has always been able to fight on our customers’ behalf and settle its business behind the scenes – where it belongs. But unfortunately that’s not the case with News Corp and FOX.

FOX has had very public and nasty rate disputes with Cablevision, DISH, and Time Warner Cable - and that’s only in the past year. No TV provider is immune to their bullying tactics.

By comparison, DIRECTV has quietly closed deals with hundreds of different programmers in the last few years, representing thousands of channels, and we are prepared to do the same with FOX. We wish you weren’t put in the middle. But we’re listening and talking to Fox daily.

We’re hopeful that FOX will soon become more reasonable with their demands and we can put all this behind us.

Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter, who is not a FOX employee, took to the airwaves before his most recent series episode on FX. In his recorded message, he took DirecTV to task for possibly forcing subscribers to miss the final five episodes of his hit show. He also posted a profane message on his personal blog accusing DirecTV of using their own subscribers as leverage in the dispute.

It's a tad ironic that Sons of Anarchy actor Ron Perlman, shown above in PIR's Victory Lane, is doing the introductions for ESPN on all of the NASCAR Chase for the Championship races this season.

"All of these shenanigans are interesting to read about, but DirecTV is putting its focus towards getting a deal done that will keep our customers' monthly TV bill at an acceptable level," said DirecTV spokesman Robert Mercer to the FierceCable.com website. "We've been in discussions every day with News Corp and Fox and are perfectly fine paying a reasonable amount for the channels, but asking our customers to absorb a 40 percent increase in tough economic times is just not fair."

So, there you have the most recent update. DirecTV clearly stating once again that the individual FOX regional and cable networks being "bundled" together and offered at one price are not worth a significant increase that will ultimately be passed along to DirecTV subscribers. The 40% number was again used publicly.

Meanwhile, FOX denies that it ever asked for anything approaching that kind of increase and says it offered to continue to let DirecTV broadcast all the various networks while a deal is being hammered out. The FOX contention is that DirecTV drew the line in the sand of November 1 for a blackout of the networks in question.

This weekend is a good example of the impact losing SPEED would have on NASCAR and the fans. SPEED is handling the Friday and Saturday programming from the track in Martinsville with over 12 hours of live coverage on those two days alone.

Expect more finger pointing and posturing on Thursday as these two parties battle over a huge contract renegotiation. What we do know is that SPEED will be on the 20 million DirecTV homes this weekend. What we don't know is just how long the network will be in the dark if DirecTV removes it from service next Tuesday as planned.

Updates on this story will be posted here, on the TDP Facebook page and Twitter account. In the meantime, please feel free to offer your comment on this situation.

Race Wrap: ESPN In Talladega

It was going to be an interesting weekend. Many believed that might be true despite the lack of racing in this new two-car tandem scenario at Talladega.

Nicole Briscoe hosted the pre-race show with Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty. Briscoe and her husband, IndyCar driver Ryan, were friends with the late Dan Wheldon and his family. Briscoe worked her way through a tough segment dealing with the recent racing deaths and the risks faced by drivers. Her emotion was very real.

Wallace and Daugherty often reinforce what each other are saying, but for some reason Daugherty was on the Dale Earnhardt Jr. bandwagon. This might not have been bad, but Daugherty kept calling Earnhardt "Junebug" over and over again. It was very strange.

Wallace tried to elicit a reaction from Matt Kenseth, who was an in-studio guest on the perception that Kenseth was essentially....boring. Kenseth would not bite. Wallace is not having a very good Sprint Cup Series season on TV. Perhaps the different dynamic of having Briscoe hosting has affected him.

Allen Bestwick had his work cut-out for him. The tandem racing at Talladega looked more on TV like two cars trying to avoid collisions with one guy driving blind than actual racing. The incidents on the track happened when partners had a problem, not from racing for the lead or position.

Bestwick was accurate and informative, not sugar-coating the lack of racing on the track. The task was to do the best with what was going on and that was accomplished. This is the track where tension between ESPN and NASCAR first became public. A lot has changed since that time.

"It is what it is" has become a catch phrase used to try and explain this type of racing. Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree never made it an issue, just tried to keep the viewers up to speed with the wide variety of agendas being used by the various tandems during the race.

This style of racing forces ESPN to say wide with the cameras as the tandems demand coverage of a "clump" of cars and not just one or two. The "hyper-tight" style of ESPN could not be used. Instead, the wider views made the video watchable and the use of the larger side-by-side video box for more features within the show was a plus.

Tim Brewer tries his best, but sometimes his explanations are just hilarious to a fan base that has watched the sport since February. Many of us have been fans for a very long time, so repeatedly telling us about the fundamentals of the sport is pointless. Give him credit, he is enthusiastic about his role on the telecasts.

The lack of incidents left the pit reporters out in the cold. There simply was not much to do and the cars that came off the track and into the garage were being fixed to return. Even a late caution that caught ESPN in a Nonstop commercial resulted in two cars being parked but no real stories to follow-up.

The final 11 laps were another pushing and shoving match between couples. Regan Smith showed the random nature of being involved in an accident in this style of racing. Luckily, he avoided injury. A late solo move by Clint Bowyer after a break-away with Jeff Burton won the race.

ESPN ran though the standard post-race interviews. There are certainly going to be a lot of new stories emerging in the media over the next couple of days. TV had a tough time keeping up with all the changes on the final restart.

This post will serve to host your comments on the ESPN coverage of the Sprint Cup Series race from Talladega. To add your TV-related comments, just click on the comments button below. Thanks for stopping by.

Live Blogging Sprint Cup Series From Talladega (ESPN - 1PM ET)

Rarely has a Sprint Cup Series race had the national media spotlight like the race today in Talladega. On the heels of IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon's death, motorsports has come once again under the glare of the mainstream media's spotlight.

Publications like the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times barely even acknowledge racing, but are quick to jump on the bandwagon of blame when a serious incident takes place. Online sites like the Huffington Post suddenly "discover" racing when they can lead with a powerful headline referencing death.

Add to this the fact that SPEED has been replaying the death of Marco Simoncelli in the Malaysian MotoGP race today. Adam Alexander has replayed the accident in NASCAR programming all morning long. Even SPEED straddles the line.

Nicole Briscoe gets the assignment of opening the NASCAR Countdown pre-race show. Her husband is IndyCar driver Ryan Briscoe, who was uninjured in the accident that took Wheldon's like. Both families are longtime friends.

Brad Daugherty has just announced a new crew chief for 2012 and the return of Bobby Labonte as the driver for JTG/Daugherty Racing. Daugherty joins Rusty Wallace on the pre-race show with Briscoe. Wallace continues to struggle for sponsors for next season in the Nationwide Series and has recently denied reports his team might suspend operation. Needless to say, it should be interesting to see what topics are discussed on this pre-race show.

The Chase continues under this new points system, but the type of dynamic stories of the past have yet to emerge. Three drivers are still realistically in the game, but the type of tag-team racing that Talladega now demands will no affect the ability of some teams to contend.

Allen Bestwick will have to try and describe the tag-team action and somehow frame it in a Chase context. That is simply not going to be easy to do. Rumor is that teams have designated pushers and that the Chase drivers in contention will always be pushed to the front by any and all teammates as the ultimate goal.

Dale Jarrett had his appendix out this week, but rallied to get to Talladega. He has strong opinions on safety and it should be interesting to hear what he has to say. Andy Petree partners with Jarrett and Bestwick upstairs. Petree continues to be the foundation of this coverage as the only original member of the NASCAR on ESPN team in the TV booth.

Dr. Jerry Punch, Jamie Little, Vince Welch and Dave Burns are the pit road reporters. Little and Welch were involved in the IndyCar coverage from Las Vegas. Little was sent from the track, still in her firesuit, to the hospital in Vegas for updates on Wheldon's condition. There is little doubt that emotions are still raw.

ESPN's coverage is deeply affected by the tag-team racing. The cameras are now forced to frame four, six or even more cars at a time to keep the action in a single frame. It is impossible to isolate on one car, as there are only "combo's" on the track under green.

SPEED produced the truck series race on Saturday and framed the coverage very wide, integrating aerial shots on a regular basis. Effectively mixing the high and low camera angles relays the incredible speed of the track. Lazy directing results in long periods of high angle coverage, which loses the feel of the speed and results in a feeling that the race is actually "boring." No such thing at Dega.

Let's hope the racing is as safe as possible today and NASCAR walks away with the storylines in the media relating to the racing. As usual, eyes are also on Dale Earnhardt Jr. at this track. There is little doubt TV will forget that element.

This post will serve to host your comments on the ESPN coverage of the Sprint Cup Series from Talladega. To add your TV-related opinion, just click on the comments button below. Thanks for stopping by.