Updated: Mayfield Arrest - Wednesday TV/Media Notes

Here are some TV and media notes that have come through the mailbox this week:

Update: Big media story breaking Wednesday. Former driver Jeremy Mayfield has been arrested for possession of methamphetamine. Authorities went to Mayfield's house with a warrant to look for stolen property. During the search, they found the meth. Lots of online stories already published, it will be interesting to see how ESPN and SPEED report it.

NASCAR is trying a new approach to the Sprint Cup Series banquet. Reba McEntire will be the official host and also the featured performer. Reba's son, Shelby, is teaming up with Roush Racing to co-drive a Grand-Am entry in 2012. Reba has appeared at other NASCAR races to sing the national anthem and is reportedly a fan of the sport.

The wild action at Martinsville seems to have reaped one benefit for the sport. The Sunday race got a 3.6 cable household rating which puts the race over 5 million total viewers. Last year, with the sport in a mess, the race on ESPN got a 2.8 rating. This is a substantial increase at a critical time.

The hot news that perhaps David Reutimann was out and Mark Martin was in at MWR for 2012 came in a little late for the ESPN folks at NASCAR Now. I was told the Tuesday show was recorded earlier in the day, several hours before the 3PM air time. Over at SPEED, Bob Dillner came to the RaceHub studio and updated the news.

Our friend Phil Allaway over at Frontstretch.com took on several issues about the ESPN telecast. Here are some excerpts:

"One of the biggest stories that came out of Sunday’s race was the fact that Travis Kvapil’s jackman, Sean Irvan, was hit on pit road during a stop by Mark Martin. Irvan suffered a concussion. However, based on ESPN’s coverage, I had no clue that this injury had occurred. I didn’t learn about it until after the race had already finished."

"Look, I know that Kvapil’s No. 38 team would almost never fall within the top-24 rule that Shannon Spake so eloquently described to me back in 2009. However, when something such as what happened to Irvan occurs, that is an extenuating circumstance, as far as I’m concerned. The script must be broken and the incident reported on. It is your duty to do so. Maybe ESPN doesn’t have any video that shows what happened. I don’t care. If you don’t have any video, tell the audience that you don’t have video, but still bring up what happened. Tell the viewers what went down, and provide updates. I’d like an explanation as to why a story such as this one was missed on the telecast."

Phil brings up a great point. Once again, an important story that ESPN was certainly aware of was not reported by choice. It made little sense to NASCAR fans.

The Sprint Cup Series race from Martinsville will re-air on SPEED at noon ET Wednesday in a three hour timeslot. NASCAR Now will be at 3PM on ESPN2 and RaceHub will be at 6PM on SPEED.

It's a tripleheader weekend, so the SPEED gang with Rick Allen, Phil Parsons and Michael Waltrip will call the truck race on Friday night from the Texas Motor Speedway. Marty Reid will team with Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree for the Nationwide Series race on ESPN2 Saturday. Jarrett and Petree return with Allen Bestwick for the big Sprint Cup Series race on ESPN Sunday.

The DirecTV deal with FOX being done has resulted in very little information being released to the public or the media. As usual, both sides seem to have given in a bit to get the job done. DirecTV gets a broad renewal of many FOX TV properties, including the FOX News Channel and the local TV stations. FOX most certainly got a higher price for those properties from DirecTV. We will keep an eye on whether or not those costs are going to be passed along to DirecTV subscribers soon.

The latest update on Rick and Linda Hendrick is that they are back in North Carolina after the plane crash in Key West. Mr. Hendrick has a broken collarbone and rib. His wife has bumps and bruises. Both pilots, who work for Hendrick Motorsports, also returned to Concord, NC. There has been no explanation for the brake failure on landing. Jimmie Johnson, co-owner of the plane, said that is the jet he and his family fly regularly on to and from the races. Both NASCAR TV news shows did a good job of keeping viewers updated on the story.

Update: Mike Massaro reported on NASCAR Now that after being evaluated in Charlotte, Rick Hendrick was found to have four broken ribs in addition to a broken collarbone. He was admitted to a Charlotte area hospital for observation and is expected to be released in a couple of days.

Some random TV notes: Matt Kenseth was at ESPN on Tuesday. These trips are a waste of time now that NASCAR Now airs at 3PM and has no repeat. Kenseth appeared for a liveshot on SportsCenter, but the exposure for all the effort did not make sense. The guest on PTI was Peter King from SI.com and Kenseth was not featured on any other talk show.

There have been no announcements from ESPN about the TV line-up for next season. Rusty Wallace is re-signed through the 2014 end of the current contract. Brad Daugherty and Carl Edwards are the two names in play. Edwards is reportedly joining ESPN to work the Nationwide Series races, what role Daugherty will play in 2012 has yet to be confirmed.

Trackside on SPEED will once again be Rutledge Wood, Kyle Petty, Jeff Hammond and Marianela Pereyra from Texas. SPEED has confirmed that this will be the line-up for the rest of the season. Pereyra's four show deal was recently extended through the season. No word on whether Trackside will return for 2012 just yet.

We will update this post if any other TV/media information comes along on Wednesday. In the meantime, please click the comments button to add your opinion on any of the topics mentioned above. Thank you for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

Hendrick Airplane Incident In Key West

News came out Monday night that a Hendrick Motorsports airplane had skidded off the runway while landing at the airport in Key West, FL. Rick and Linda Hendrick were on board with two pilots.

This is the original news story from Keysnews.com:

A private G150 Gulfstream jet containing four people missed the runway while landing at Key West International Airport and ran into the salt ponds at 7:45 p.m. No one was seriously injured.

The airplane was co-owned by Jimmie Johnson Racing II Inc. and Hendrick Motorsports LLC of Charlotte, N.C. Monroe County Airports Director Peter Horton confirmed the famous NASCAR driver was not on board.

Everyone was taken by ambulance to Lower Keys Medical Center for evaluation. Only two complained of injuries: one for neck pain and one for shortness of breath/heart palpitations, according to Monroe County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Deputy Becky Herrin.

There were two pilots and two passengers, but it was unclear who was injured. The airport was closed for about an hour, but has reopened. Some fuel spilled, but it was unknown how much. The small-business jet was approaching the west end of the runway. The pilot said he landed, but had no brakes, Herrin said.

The picture above of the plane was provided by the Monroe County Sheriff's Dept. and posted on Twitter by AP reporter Jenna Fryer.

Additional information was subsequently posted by the Miami Herald and revealed that the plane benefited from a recent safety improvement at the airport.

Here is the story from Cammy Clark at the Miami Herald:

The Gulfstream 150, which was registered to NASCAR’s five-time champion Jimmie Johnson, who drives for Hendrick Motorsports, apparently lost its brakes upon landing at the small airport at about 7:45 p.m.

Horton said the pilot and co-pilot radioed to the tower saying they had “no brakes.” The plane skidded completely off the 4,800-foot runway and came to a stop along a 600-foot unpaved safety area that had just been added at the airport in May .

“If this area hadn’t been added the outcome would have been different and probably catastrophic,” Horton said. “Before we had only 100 feet of overrun and then they would have gone into a salt pond and hit an embankment.”

The pilot and co-pilot, whose names were not available Monday night, were walking after the accident and did not appear to be injured, Horton said. But both pilots were taken to the hospital for evaluation.

Hendrick and his wife were put on stretchers and taken to the hospital. The extent of their injuries was not available Monday night.

It's easy to click on Google maps and view the safety area at the Key West International Airport that is referenced in the story. The Hendricks have a compound on the private Sunset Key island that contains a main house and several guest cottages. It is used for corporate entertainment and as a family get away.

Team Hendrick had not released any additional information, but there is no indication that either Rick or Linda Hendrick was admitted to the hospital. Tuesday should bring some more specific information.

Thanks to the Florida-based news outlets for this information. We welcome your comments on this topic.

Agreement Reached in DirecTV vs. FOX Dispute

Confirmed: Shortly before 6:30PM ET, the news was released that an agreement has been reached in the ongoing dispute between DirecTV and FOX. Cable networks like SPEED, FUEL and FX will be unaffected and the agreement extends to other FOX cable networks and local broadcast stations. Thanks for your patience, more details will be added when released to the media.

It's crunch time for the latest media crisis involving the struggle between content providers and distributors. This time, DirecTV is facing off with a slice of the FOX franchise that provides cable network content.

The equation is simple. The current agreement for a package that includes FX, SPEED, FUEL and the FSN regional sports networks is set to expire. DirecTV has indicated that FOX is seeking a substantial increase in payment for delivering these services. Numbers used to describe the increase range from 25 to 38%. DirecTV is not going to agree to the increase and will remove these networks on Nov. 1 from the service.

There is no love lost between these two parties. The current CEO of FOX used to run DirecTV. FOX has a long history of playing hardball with distributors. The DirecTV strategy is to set a deadline for removing these networks and negotiate against that deadline.

In essence, DirecTV is using the only real weapon it has and that is to discontinue distributing content to the 19.4 million homes it services. In response, FOX expanded the online propaganda to include statements that were not true. DirecTV then complained to the FCC.

"Fox is using misleading advertising informing DirecTV customers that 'soon, in some markets, you may lose your local Fox station,'" DirecTV Executive Vice President Derek Chang wrote to the FCC. "Even if the Fox cable channels are no longer carried on Nov. 1, the broadcast stations are covered under a separate agreement, which does not expire until Dec. 31."

FOX had begun to say online and in media releases that the FOX News Channel and local FOX over the air TV stations would be lost in this agreement. That is not accurate and is intended to mislead consumers.

The last update on the negotiations was Saturday before the parties broke for the weekend. At that time, the sides were far apart. In a nutshell, FOX is trying to ram this agreement through using the current hit shows on FX as the leverage. Sons of Anarchy, American Horror Story and others have given the FX primetime a boost.

One real issue on the table is that FOX has constructed a series of cable networks that simply "churn" content during the daytime on weekdays and depend on primetime and weekends to provide original and popular programming.

SPEED is a good example of this type of network. Between 3AM ET and 6PM on weekdays the network is a hodgepodge of content. There has never been an original morning show, there is no content designed for afternoons and currently the Monday through Thursday primetime line-up is a disaster.

SPEED recently moved NASCAR RaceHub out of primetime in the heart of the NASCAR season and replaced it at 7PM with two re-airs of the "drag racing" show Pass Time. Click here for a story on the new series SPEED ordered for 2012.

DirecTV has a point. What FOX is offering is basically several series on FX and the regional sports networks showing NBA, NHL and MLB programming. It should be interesting to see how negotiations progress today as the Nov. 1 deadline approaches.

Update #1: At 12:55PM, the Hollywood Reporter confirmed negotiations are in progress, but both sides declined comment.

Update #2: At 1:30PM ET all the SPEED twitter accounts are now tweeting the link to the Facebook page containing the FOX anti-DirecTV video. It never mentions the substantial rate increase demanded by FOX, only tries to scare DirecTV subscribers about losing FX shows and sports programming.

Update #3: At 2PM FOX fired back at the perception they are the bad guys in this dispute. Latest from Fiercecable.com: "Yes we are still negotiating and are hopeful the parties can reach an agreement," said Fox senior VP of communications Scott Grogin. "We plan to leave our signals up and available to DirecTV. If the signals come down, it will be because DTV took them down," he added.

Update #4: 3:30PM and Variety updates that no information is out, both sides continue to negotiate. SiriusXM's Pete Pistone tweeted DirecTV spokesman told him to expect SPEED and other nets in deal to be removed at midnight PT.

Update #5: At 5:30PM, DirecTV said "We are actively in discussions & hope to reach a fair agreement." Told both sides talking, but no hint of resolution at this time.

Update #6: at 6PM, DirecTV on FOX actively encouraging existing DirecTV customers to cancel service and switch to cable TV - "Switching only helps FOX charge a higher price, and will result in a higher monthly bill for you, no matter who you get your TV service from. News Corp and FOX are by far the most aggressive programmer in the industry. They want you to switch so they can put more pressure on DIRECTV to agree to their outrageous price increase. FOX will then take that new price to all the other TV providers, demand they also pay the new higher price, and start scaring their customers into switching service."

We will continue to update this story and post updates on this main page. Today is a critical day for both sides to either agree to a compromise deal or stand their ground and let the services in question go dark. Stay tuned.

To add your comments on this topic, just click on the comments button below.