With Howard Stern Deal Done It's NASCAR Time

On Thursday the second of three big issues for Sirius XM Radio was solved. This time it was Howard Stern announcing a new deal to stay on the air at Sirius.

It is a five-year agreement that analysts value at $400 million. But the important part for NASCAR fans is what is hidden in the fine print.

Here is a paragraph from the Newsday story on Stern:

The new deal does offer a significant bonus to fans. Stern's show will be available on various platforms besides satellite radio including the iPhone, Android phones and BlackBerrys. "The addition of the mobile apps will be a significant one going forward because it makes him more available," said Tom Taylor, news editor of Chicago-based Radio-Info.com. "It was frustrating to some listeners [that] it wasn't available on both [mobile apps and satellite.]"

NASCAR fans can certainly identify with that last statement. Sirius NASCAR Channel 128 is not available online or through a smart phone app. Way back when, NASCAR sold all the online rights (including audio content) to Turner Sports. NASCAR fans must have a Sirius XM satellite receiver of some type to hear channel 128.

It was Tuesday, November 30th when Sirius announced that it had reached an agreement to renew and expand its contract with the NFL. This time, Sirius got what it really wanted. All NFL games beginning in 2011 will be streamed online through Sirius Internet radio. While the cell phone details are yet to be announced, adding the NFL to the Sirius online offerings is just huge.

The third piece of the puzzle has to be next. Sirius, NASCAR and Turner Sports have time now in the off-season to hammer out an agreement that extends the same sort of online streaming deal for NASCAR. Both on Sirius Internet radio and the Sirius apps for devices like smartphones.

Click here to take a peek and maybe even a listen to just how easy it is to load and go with this technology. As with everything in life, there is a price to be paid, but if NASCAR fans had Sirius 128 on laptops, iPads and all types of smartphones the sport would be much better off for 2011.

With so many things in NASCAR just not going well lately, it would be a welcome move for the parties involved to come together and get this ironed out. NASCAR would join Howard Stern and the NFL as moving online in the Sirius world.

We will update this blog with any news on the topic immediately. In the meantime, we are happy to have your comments on this topic. 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.

Can ESPN Save The NASCAR Hall Of Fame?

Those of you who have been around a bit may remember the old RPM2Night TV show. What began in a tiny studio near the Carowinds theme park eventually moved into the ESPN Regional Television (ERT) facility in the Ballantyne area of South Charlotte.

Back in 2000, it was ERT General Manager Chuck Gerber who put into words why it was a smart move for ESPN to produce its only motorsports show from Charlotte. "It only makes sense because all of the teams are here," Gerber told Erik Spanberg of the Charlotte Business Journal. "It's a good relationship for everyone." Click here to read the entire article.

In 2011, ESPN2 enters year five of producing the network's only motorsports news program called NASCAR Now. After a terrible start, the on-air and production team have finally hit on a combination that works. An hour on Monday, thirty minutes Tuesday through Friday and a preview show before each Sprint Cup Series race.

When the Chase races come around, ESPN adds a killer Sunday night one-hour show that has all the highlights, information from the track and complete interviews. It's been interesting to watch ESPN take years to sort this series out. Now, it just might be time to take it to the next level.

The current TV contract with ESPN and NASCAR runs through 2014. That means at least four more seasons of NASCAR Now will be produced. It's very possible that with a contract extension this TV series may run for many more years. It's a powerhouse product for NASCAR fans who can't get enough of Allen Bestwick, Ricky Craven and the rest of the gang.

When SPEED decided to get back into the NASCAR news game, they created a series called Race Hub and located it in North Charlotte at the SPEED studios. The idea was that the proximity of the studio and the race teams would make for easy access to drivers and other NASCAR personalities.

This series airs Monday through Thursday and is comprised of same-day interviews, recorded studio guests and features. It has been a welcome addition to the TV landscape, but has not diluted the NASCAR Now franchise in the least.

Ten years after his article on RPM2Night, Erik Spanberg is now the senior staff writer for the Charlotte Business Journal. Click here for his story on the current situation with the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Needless to say, things are in a funk. The Hall needs something that can regularly attract visitors. It has to be something that out of town guests would remember and tell all of their friends about. Word of mouth is the best advertising. At the same time, North Carolina locals would need something to bring them back for a repeat visit.

Perhaps, the solution to this problem might be a little TV show called NASCAR Now. As many of you may know, the Hall is connected to the NASCAR Media Group (NMG) television production facilities in the same complex. Showtime tapes Inside NASCAR in one of the NMG studios.

Many of us watched the special NASCAR Now shows produced from the Hall of Fame during events like the grand opening, the induction and even the announcement of the inductees. Dr. Jerry Punch is a Hall of Fame voter and he reported for NASCAR Now surrounded by very appreciative fans. Just with that one show, he made a lifetime memory for each and every one of them.

Currently, NASCAR Now is jammed into a corner in the Bristol, CT studios of ESPN2. This fish out of water show takes production resources away from an already overworked facility. While Mike Massaro agreed to move back to Connecticut to co-host the show, both Nicole Briscoe and Allen Bestwick live out of state. There is a whole lot of traveling going on to get this program done each week.

Reporters like Marty Smith, Ryan McGee, David Newton and Shannon Spake all live in the Greater Charlotte area. Briscoe does as well. Add Dale Jarrett, Andy Petree, Rusty Wallace and Punch to that list. You get the point.

Just as Gerber stated back in 2000, where ESPN's coverage of NASCAR is concerned all the teams are in the same place. It only makes sense to originate the daily program covering the sport from where the news is happening. Not to mention the fact that NASCAR has consolidated its own operations in the office complex right next to, you guessed it, the Hall of Fame.

In 2006, I forwarded a letter to ESPN's SVP John Skipper suggesting that ESPN consider originating a NASCAR news show in Charlotte if one was in the works. My response was that ESPN would not spend the money to invest in a High Definition (HD) facility when the Bristol studios were available.

Well, since that time some things have changed. ESPN has acquired an immense amount of new college and pro sports that each require a studio presence. Meanwhile, NMG has a state of the art HD television facility in downtown Charlotte looking for more work. Finally, attached to that facility at no extra charge is the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

With a nice low price from the NMG folks, ESPN could free up studio space and production time back in Bristol to serve the new stick-and-ball sports programming. NASCAR Now could have free run of the Hall of Fame, providing the folks who operate that facility with a unique attraction that would change every single day.

Putting the show out among the exhibits, the fans and the history of the sport would provide a unique backdrop. It would also allow ESPN the daily contact with the sport it has been lacking with the series produced in Connecticut.

NASCAR Now is not slated to return until February. That leaves plenty of time for some good conversation, some good imagination and as the bottom line, some good common sense. Maybe ESPN and NASCAR can actually agree on something that will make both of them better once it's done.

We welcome your thoughts on this topic. 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.

ESPN Throws Numbers At NASCAR Critics

As we continue to look back at the TV issues of the 2010 season, we have been aided by a recent press release from ESPN. After some media members and NASCAR pundits blamed cable TV for the fading ratings of The Chase, ESPN has fired back.

Before we review the ESPN document, let's go back to the issue. This was the first season that the vast majority of the Chase races had been moved to ESPN. When the first TV contract was done after the Chase, there was an emphasis on the fact that the final ten races would be seen on "free over-the-air TV."

Unfortunately the reality of rain, red flags and long delays under caution made the Chase races a mess for broadcast TV. Trying to serve four timezones was almost impossible and the stories of ABC local affiliates either not carrying the pre-race show or leaving at the checkered flag for local news came in on a regular basis.

So, the subsequent shift to ESPN brought pro's and cons. The flexibility of cable TV meant a designated pre-race show, complete coverage and an extended post-race show for every Chase race. The cons were that once the NFL began the pre-race show was on ESPN2.

One other drawback frequently mentioned was that those without cable TV service would not be able to see the final ten races. Of course the Camping World trucks were on SPEED and the Nationwide Series raced on ESPN2, so those same fans would not have seen any of those races. In addition, the summer Cup races were on TNT so the same fans would have also taken the summer off.

The thrust of the argument for free TV was that the rough economy had caused many households to drop cable TV service. Some had been rumored to be "cord cutting," which became the new buzzword. That means dropping cable TV service and using the Internet for video streaming instead.

In October, ESPN had a series of meetings with NASCAR. The topic on the table was the cause for the substantially lower ratings. Certainly, the elephant in the room was the NFL and the incredible ratings success of the 1PM ET games on Sundays.

The other big topic fed by some media members was the shift from ABC to ESPN and the loss of those households that had dropped cable TV service. The new ESPN survey helps to address just what is happening with cable and Internet homes in the marketplace.

Click here to read the data released by ESPN. While not exactly spoken in plain English, what the survey says is the erosion of homes is very small.

Here are a couple of key sentences:

The study found that just 0.28 percent of homes in the Nielsen sample dropped multichannel service but kept their broadband Internet connections.The study also showed that the number of multichannel homes adding a broadband connection was nearly five times as large as the "cord cutter" group.

ESPN and ESPN2 are now over the 100 million home mark in the US. This means the penetration of these networks is almost equal to over-the-air TV distributed by local stations. Coupled with the information that few existing cable customers dropped television service, it gives ESPN a strong case that distribution was not the big issue with the Chase problems.

If we can close that door now once and for all perhaps attention can be turned to the reality of the Chase and the many problems of providing television coverage of a race within a race.

TV Problems With The Chase Easy To Understand was a column focusing on the issues faced by ESPN as they navigate through the tangled web of racing scenarios. Click on the title to read the column and the comments.

Those Footsteps Might Sound Familiar was originally published in August as a preview of the trouble that the NFL might bring to NASCAR yet again. Click on the title to read the column.

On January 21, Brian France will be speaking to the media during a test at the Daytona International Speedway. After the TV struggles of NASCAR's top series down the stretch, France will be announcing his decision on what changes will be made for 2011.

With NFL football continuing to dominate the ratings and ESPN proving there is no distribution problem, the focus is going to be on the sanctioning body to deal with two issues. The Chase format and poorly produced TV coverage are now the remaining cards on the table.

How NASCAR chooses to play this hand may serve to determine who walks away with the TV jackpot and who walks away empty-handed.

We welcome your comments on this topic. 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.