Wednesday: TV/Media Question And Answer Session

It's been a whirlwind off-season for the NASCAR TV and media folks. We have also raised some new topics that have been hotly debated since the season ended.

Here are some items of interest. Feel free to add your opinions and questions in the comments section of this post. All questions will be answered ASAP with some help from our friends in the media.

SPEED will resume NASCAR TV with Daytona testing in mid-January. We are being told that the RaceHub series will return in the last week of January, but no time has been passed along.

The network has a new interim president named Scott Ackerson. A TV production veteran, Ackerson gets SPEED without Patti Wheeler present and is said to have been meeting with various staff members to get a feeling for the network's issues.

Sports Business Journal reporters John Ourand and Tripp Mickle published a story that NASCAR is going to buy back its digital (online) rights from Turner Sports. This move is said to be completed for the 2013 season and will reportedly cost over 25 million dollars.

NBC announced that the Super Bowl will be streamed online for the first time this year. NASCAR and FOX Sports continue to be at odds over any potential streaming of the Daytona 500. In the next TV contract, look for online streaming of live content to be a key element.

NASCAR's official satellite radio partner is SiriusXM. NASCAR owning digital rights could swing the door open to making the weekday NASCAR shows available on smart phone, tablets and laptops via streaming. How that deal would work is still up in the air.

Several veteran journalists have raised the issue of just how much reporting and healthy debate about issues in the sport will go on in 2013 if NASCAR itself is running the NASCAR.com website from its HQ in Charlotte, NC.

Right now NASCAR has a digital chief, a marketing/PR chief and a VP dedicated to television operations. It will be up to these three players to craft a working agreement on how to most effectively cover the sport 24/7 online beginning in just one more year.

Michael Waltrip has been very active online during the off-season. This multi-car team owner will soon be moving into the Hollywood Hotel and sitting alongside his older brother Darrell for the NASCAR on FOX coverage. Waltrip will also retain his duties with SPEED as an analyst for the truck series.

The debate has already begun about how an active owner is going to offer analysis on teams, drivers and incidents in a series in which he has a major financial stake. Issues arise that require strong opinions and Waltrip is going to be facing a new situation where it's not going to be hard for fans of drivers to wave the conflict of interest flag when they are called out on TV.

ESPN has been silent on the future of Marty Reid. He was removed from the Sprint Cup Series telecasts on the network in the week before the first race. While he handles duties on the Nationwide Series telecasts down the stretch, ESPN does not cover the Sprint Cup Series until July. Since Allen Bestwick moved into the Lead Announcer role, we should find out what Reid is going to be doing for ESPN this season shortly.

Finally, the debate that just won't die is the absence of any live studio news programming from SPEED this off-season. Repeats of old shows highlight the primetime schedule even as the NASCAR and the motorsports world in general continue to generate big news stories on almost a daily basis.

The emergence of social media as a key pipeline for this information has made the lack of news programming on SPEED stick out like a sore thumb. Although SPEED threw together one special show after Kurt Busch departed Penske, nothing else has followed during the off-season.

We invite your comments on these topics and your questions on anything related to TV or media in NASCAR or motorsports. We will try to get answers ASAP and invite you to check back during the day on Wednesday as these Q&A sessions usually get rather interesting. Thanks again for stopping by.

NASCAR Discovers The Internet

Since 2007 we have been taking aim at one of the worst media contracts in all of professional sports. Over a decade ago, NASCAR sold the total online (digital) rights of the entire sport to Atlanta-based Turner Sports.

Originally part of the NASCAR mindset to maximize profit from the sale of exclusive content, it quickly became apparent that having a third party in charge of the sport's Internet presence was a mistake. Over the past few years, that mistake has turned into a disaster.

Online technology has become a key element for the other professional sports in North America. Recently, the basic offerings of website content and live video have been bolstered by the rapid growth of social media and the technology that comes with it. Digital strategy can now make or break a sport.

Sports Business Journal reporters Tripp Mickle and Jon Ourand broke a story this week that NASCAR had done the unthinkable. Long since governed by the motto that NASCAR cashes checks but never writes them, the sanctioning body seems to be ready to dip into the checking account and buy back its own online rights from Turner.

The SBJ reporters offer that a deal to end the current agreement two years early and have NASCAR back in charge by the 2013 season would wind up costing tens of millions of dollars. Ultimately, it has seemed all along that cash is king for Turner.

While the obvious starting point is the movement of the NASCAR.com website operations to NASCAR's headquarters in Charlotte, that is only the tip of the digital iceberg. The TV networks that will be negotiating in 2012 for rights to races beginning in 2015 need assurance that online streaming of that content is in play.

The current TV deal is NASCAR's cash cow with over four billion dollars changing hands in the current eight year agreement. That money is before any TV network even rolls a production truck, puts out one camera or hires one announcer. Four billion is just for the opportunity to show the races.

Hardcore fans know the real problems. NASCAR.com has been a mess for years and allowed websites like Jayski.com to thrive amid the continuing confusion and constant redesigns being done by Turner. The current version of NASCAR.com is perhaps the worst yet.

NASCAR itself has never been able to stream live race telecasts, radio content or video of any kind. NASCAR's current TV partners have also been restricted in digital applications, even on the websites of the very networks who combined for the current big money TV deal.

This is the right move at the right time and it makes sense for all the parties involved. The big issue on the table is the damage that has already been done. Even as the Sprint commercials on TV suggest that live video of races is available, it has never been. Younger sports fans have never been able to access NASCAR content like the other pro sports.

Secondary to a deal like this is the ability of NASCAR to branch out and address issues that have also been on hold for years. SiriusXM's NASCAR channel has a tiny audience right now of hardcore fans who listen on satellite receivers of all types. NASCAR in charge would clear the way for online streaming to smart phones, tablets and laptops.

While NASCAR's history might be on display at the Hall of Fame, it cannot be viewed anywhere online. Controlling digital rights would allow entire programs to be made available to fans via websites like Hulu, YouTube and NASCAR.com.

"30 Minutes You'll Never Get Back" is a NASCAR.com webcast featuring Rutledge Wood and Kyle Petty on Sprint Cup Series weekends from the track. These two knuckleheads act like fools, talk to NASCAR personalities and generally try to get away with everything they cannot on TV. Fans love it.

Originating live video from the tracks can be as simple as a garage camera with sound or a full-scale production of preview, review or interview shows. Establishing an online production department within the NASCAR Media Group is a clear priority.

Scott Ackerson, a FOX Sports veteran executive from Los Angeles, has been named the interim head of SPEED. One of Ackerson's roles will be to oversee the continued integration of SPEED's TV programs online via the NASCAR.com website.

SPEED is NASCAR's largest TV production partner and has taken the lead over the last few years in expanding the programs being offered in the digital space. Giving fans the ability to keep up with practice, qualifying and the news programs like NASCAR Live via smart phone, tablet or laptop is so very important right now.

Once NASCAR is in charge of online offerings, expect SPEED to play a key role in advancing the integration of existing TV programs onto the Internet. Hopefully, Ackerson will see the opportunity for a strategic partnership that will bring benefits to both SPEED and NASCAR for years to come.

Finally, control of NASCAR's social media would revert back to the sanctioning body. It's been tough to deal with Turner controlling Facebook and Twitter content for the sport. The tension between Atlanta and Charlotte on those issues could be cut with a knife.

The SBJ reporters got a no comment from both Turner and NASCAR, but suggested the deal would be done and announced sooner than later. Thanks to Mickle and Ourand for some solid reporting on this issue. The original story was posted on the subscriber-only Sports Business Daily website. If a legal link becomes available to the full article, it will be added to this post.

We want your comments on NASCAR's online situation. To add your opinion on this topic, just click on the comments button below. Thank you for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

NASCAR Returns To SPEED With Daytona Testing (Updated)

This week we expect an interim president to be named for SPEED. Hunter Nickell will be leaving as the network chief next week. No matter who takes on the task, this transition is going to be tough because Daytona is right around the corner.

It will be Thursday, January 12 when NASCAR coverage returns to SPEED. Testing at Daytona will once again be mixed with a fan fest and details about that can be seen at the Daytona International Speedway website.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday SPEED will cover the afternoon sessions beginning at 1PM ET and running until 5PM. There is also a morning session that begins at 9AM if you might be attending in person.

For those of you familiar with Daytona testing, the story this year is going to be very different. NASCAR is working very hard to break-up the two-car tandem drafting at this track with rules changes of all kinds. From radiators to radios, it's become very clear that NASCAR wants the "lovebug racing" to vanish.

That makes this year's coverage on SPEED important. Twitter and Facebook can send pictures and reactions to the testing, but only SPEED can offer HD video from a TV network perspective. Fans want to know what is going on with this series.

As everyone knows these days, social media has made the timeline of activities like testing run in almost real time. Team reps, drivers, the speedway and the sponsors will all be passing along information as it happens as the teams get ready for another ten month grind.

There are several items to discuss with SPEED's planned coverage. It will be interesting to see if the on-site TV reporters in the garage are tweeting information and posting to SPEED's Facebook page while the announcers in the booth talk about what is happening on the track. This practice might become the norm next season.

Secondly, SPEED will not restart the RaceHub program on January 12 with the testing coverage. The current network schedule puts a re-air of testing running from 6 to 8PM and then nothing NASCAR related in primetime.

So, instead of talking about some of the biggest changes in the sport as NASCAR tries to redefine this type of restrictor plate racing, SPEED viewers will be seeing Pimp My Ride, the now famous tow-truck show Wrecked and American Trucker to wrap-up primetime.

On Saturday, the schedule has the testing re-air at 7:30PM but no other NASCAR programming of any kind that night. This is the final day of this test session.

It seems that SPEED is trapped between a rock and a hard place these days where NASCAR is concerned. The network programming is trying to serve several masters with different agendas and failing miserably at all of them.

As we mentioned in an earlier post the network's head of programming and production, Patti Wheeler, also chose to leave SPEED at the end of the 2011 NASCAR season. It's been a rough couple of months for the Charlotte, NC based company.

The current posted programming schedule for the network only goes through January 15. In a world where schedules are often six months ahead, this puts SPEED in a position of having four weeks of mostly older re-run programs out for the public to see. RaceHub is not on the list.

Update Monday 10AM: SPEED passes along that live online streaming of the 9AM test sessions each day can be seen at the SPEEDtv.com website. Nice addition.

We will update the specific information in terms of announcers, format and additional online information like timing and scoring after the Christmas break. Take a deep breath this week, because it all will be starting again before you know it.

We welcome your comments on this topic. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.