Top Two Executives At SPEED Step Aside

The saga of the network now known as SPEED is one of the most interesting stories in cable TV history. This week the evolution continued.

It was called SpeedVision and was a business partner to the Outdoor Life Network when I came across it operating out of Stamford, CT in 1996. Bob Scanlon was the executive producer and ran the programming and production departments. Scanlon is now running the new Velocity HD cable network owned by Discovery.

The Speed Channel name came next when Jim Liberatore ran the show as the network transitioned to Charlotte, NC. Liberatore was interactive with the fans during a time when the network began searching for a real identity. Liberatore is now the president of the Sportstime Ohio regional sports network.

Hunter Nickell, shown above, arrived in 2005 after running the SportsSouth and FSN South networks for more than a decade. A good FOX soldier, Nickell helped negotiate NASCAR and Formula One programming deals for the network now simply called SPEED.

This week brought more changes. Here is an excerpt from a network media release:

"Hunter Nickell, the president of SPEED, is leaving the network at years end. Nickell will finish several projects with SPEED over the next few months and continue to explore opportunities within the FOX Sports Media Group. An interim replacement will be named shortly." Click here to read the full release.

So, just like that another page is turned in the history of a TV network still trying to deal with a unique combination of issues. For the past several years, SPEED was criticized for not having a NASCAR daily news program or a studio show on weekends for race highlights. In 2010, Nickell took a step to solve that problem.

Motorsports TV veteran Patti Wheeler was brought in to become the Executive Vice President of both the production and programming divisions of SPEED. Wheeler formerly ran TNN Motorsports for a long time and also headed up World Sports Enterprises, a company that produced motorsports of all types.

Wheeler got the Race Hub NASCAR news show sorted out and then went about creating the SPEED Center concept for in-studio highlights and news on weekends. Suddenly, SPEED viewers had an informative presence to pass along all the information on racing weekends of any kind. That concept may now be over.

Last week, after only a year or so on the job, Wheeler decided to step away from SPEED and her executive duties. Personal reasons were cited, but clearly there is an ongoing dynamic at SPEED right now that has the ground shifting under the feet of those still employed.

What is driving this upheaval is even bigger changes for SPEED's parent company out on the West Coast. Heading up the FOX cable networks is Randy Freer, an experienced executive who took this position in January of 2011. Click here to see Freer talk about sports subjects in a Jon Weinbach interview for Fan House.

Nickell was not a person Freer chose for SPEED. In the world of sports TV, it's common for changes at the top to affect those executives on a lower level. There is little doubt that the new man at SPEED will be hand-picked by Freer and there will have been an existing relationship already in place.

Freer also shook-up the FOX cable networks by hiring a friend of his to become the VP in charge of TV production. John Entz will be given the new job of overseeing the studio and on-site production for the entire FOX cable networks group. That is a huge job.

You can imagine that perhaps Wheeler was not very happy finding out that after working for 12 months revamping SPEED, she would suddenly have to answer to yet another Los Angeles-based executive in order to get things done in Charlotte.

All of this swings the door open for major changes at SPEED, but as we know with the television world the pace is not rapid. We documented the new line-up of "lifestyle programming" SPEED has purchased and is now in production. Click here to read about stuff getting blown up, people quizzed at the gas pump and searching for car parts in the Bronx.

SPEED at one time featured cars, planes, boats and motorcycles in equal parts. Then, it moved to European racing shows, World Rally Cars and a weekly night of motorcycles. Now, it continues to look like two rival fraternities slugging it out on the cable TV airwaves.

Friday through Sunday are dominated by racing with solid programming, good information and informed on-air announcers. Monday through Thursday, however, continue to be a hodge-podge of programming that has never been able to make any daypart work effectively.

Nickell championed shows like PINKS, Stealth Rider and Wrecked, the "reality" show about a family operating a tow truck service in Chicago. Ultimately, a lot of what Nickell put on the air looked like imitations of A&E, Discovery and truTV. He called it "lifestyle programming" but many motorsports fans called it garbage.

NASCAR has no financial investment in SPEED. At one time, NASCAR was a partner with the FOX cable networks group. That partnership was dissolved and other than the TV production from the tracks on weekends, the NASCAR Media Group is just another program provider trying to get SPEED to invest in new programming for primetime.

The bottom line is that SPEED moved lock, stock and barrel to North Carolina to get more NASCAR content on the network in whatever form possible. Now, the challenge facing the senior executives at FOX in California and whoever steps into the new SPEED role is to once again try and define what programming model makes sense in these tough economic times.

Either SPEED is going to use the NASCAR Media Group (NMG) to generate new ideas for programming or we are going to see yet another shift further away from actual racing and motorsports. It's gotten so bad at NMG that company has actually been producing college football content in order to generate some revenue.

In the backyard of NASCAR, with the incredible happenings we have been seeing in the sport this year, there is absolutely nothing new on the table for SPEED from NMG. Not a reality series, interview program or morning talk show. None of the existing Sirius weekday radio shows are on TV, including the one done from the Hall of Fame.

We will all find out together the agenda of the new management group at SPEED when they are in place. In the meantime, we can just once again think about what could have been and hope that a robust and diverse motorsports and racing network has a place on the cable TV dial.

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

Monday Motorsports News Continually Updated

It's a strange time of the year. Twitter is moving all kinds of motorsports information as is Facebook. It's been my suggestion that all true NASCAR fans get on Twitter as soon as possible. There is little doubt that this simple and free technology is changing the motorsports communications dynamic from top to bottom.

Here are some of the items in the news today:

The NASCAR on FOX production team is gathering for their two-day annual meeting in the Charlotte, NC area. Chris Myers and Larry McReynolds both asked NASCAR fans on Twitter to offer suggestions they would then bring up at the meeting. Nice touch.

It was a NASCAR vs. IndyCar showdown at the Indy Karting Classic on Sunday. The feature event streamed online by the 3 Wide Life bunch featured go-karts racing indoors on concrete at the Canseco Fieldhouse in Indy. Click here to read the story.

Sports Business Journal just released the new "50 Most Influential" people in sports. NASCAR Chairman Brian France is at #17, up slightly from last year. No other motorsports executive is on the list. Click here to see the entire list.

Still working hard to get details on the CBS airing of the 2012 Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals. The date being mentioned is January 28, but no response yet from the production group. Click here for the event website. This is a big off-season meeting for all kinds of motorsports personalities centered on racing USAC midgets on dirt inside the Oklahoma Fairgrounds exhibition building.

While in the past, NASCAR relied on the network producing the race telecast for on-track replays, it appears that things are about to change. NASCAR and a company called Telestream have just made a deal for something new.

"The instant replay system that Telestream will be providing NASCAR next season will enable our officials to perform their jobs in an even more efficient and time-sensitive manner," said Robin Pemberton in a media release. "Having instant access to that many camera angles featuring such high quality video will be a terrific addition to our race weekends."

Telestream’s new Replay multichannel video player combines with its Pipeline HD video capture system to provide instant capture and display of 18 high definition 720p camera feeds. This allows race officials to instantly see detailed information to make rapid decisions about on-track aspects of the race.

One key point jumped out from the release. This news system gives NASCAR officials in Race Control the ability to view on-track incidents through synchronized multiple camera angle displays, including time-stamped track status metadata – in real time or on-demand. That should be a great assist with on-track incidents that in the past used the TV feed as the only source of content.

Bob Pockrass at Scene Daily reports that unofficially the Daytona 500 start time will be 1PM for next year. This has been an issue in the past. Pockrass also reminds fans this year the race is one week later than usual due to pressure from the NFL and the Super Bowl. Click here to read Bob's story.

We will be updating new links and stories all day long as this off-season Monday continues. Happy to have your comments on these topics of NASCAR TV/media questions.

Weekend: The Beat Goes On

Update: Going to let comments on this topic continue through the weekend as fans add the issues they want to see followed-up by the NASCAR TV partners. So far, there have certainly been some interesting suggestions.

The big topic in our email, tweets and Facebook posts has been just how big the information gap appears on SPEED and ESPN since the NASCAR studio news shows all went off the air at the end of the season.

What is making this situation stand-out like a sore thumb this year is the fact that so many fans have access to social media. Events now unfold online and fans know the basics of what is transpiring. So, while it's great that a reporter can tweet something with a link to a breaking story webpage, it's ridiculous that the NASCAR TV shows viewers have come to trust and depend on to then flush-out those stories are gone.

Mike Joy from FOX tweeted: "Great time at "Stocks For Tots" last night. North Carolina Motorsports Hall of Fame and NASCAR Tech made a great effort to help kids in need this Christmas season." There were lots of big names signing autographs in one of the classic off-season functions. Joy made a point to pass along that local TV station WSIC and MRN's Kyle Rickey were the only media at the function.

Pete Pistone from MRN and CBS Sports tweeted: "Baseball season has been over for 6 weeks yet I've watched a ton of the MLB Network - sure wish we had a NASCAR TV option for off season."

The debate continued on the future of Kurt Busch, the new driver and crew chief for the Penske #22 and how Danica will find her way into the Daytona 500. Mike Ford is gone from the Denny Hamlin team and Darian Grubb still has not landed. Those are just a few of the topics in play this week.

This issue in general is not, however, a new one. Let's check the progress of TDP talking about off-season TV over the past few years.

December 27. 2008: "NASCAR TV Needs To Continue In December And January" - This was at the end of the second year of the current NASCAR TV contract. NASCAR Now had finally shown some promise, all of the NASCAR shows on SPEED were either Sunday or Monday and RaceHub did not exist.

December 23, 2009: "NASCAR Needs Off-Season TV Coverage" - End of year number three and in the first season of RaceHub it joined all the other motorsports shows on SPEED and ESPN by ending shortly after the NASCAR season.

December 13, 2010: "All Quiet On The Western Front" - Daytona had a new coat of asphalt, but that same old off-season silence in TV land was just the tip of the iceberg of issues for the TV coveage.

The most poignant story of this season in terms of affecting the sport in general may be about to unfold on Thursday.

Here is a brief excerpt from Dave Moody's update at Sirius-Speedway.com:

"Red Bull Racing's four-year run as a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team will come to an end tomorrow (Thursday), when the last of approximately 150 employees will be laid-off and the competition shop shut down, presumably for good."

The failure of a global brand like Red Bull to mesh with NASCAR is amazing. Built from Red Bull dollars, this company chose to own the entire racing operation in Mooresville, NC. The closure is a story that needs national television coverage on SPEED, a network located literally right down the street from the race shop.

Unfortunately, this topic will not be discussed and debated with Dave Despain on Wind Tunnel. Ray Evernham will not be in the studio to give his reaction on Speed Center. Steve Byrnes will not be able to have the key personalities in this story drive over for an interview on RaceHub.

One fan wrote in an email, "It's like NASCAR TV just fell off a cliff." While ESPN is certainly out of the mix until February, let's keep an eye out and see if SPEED follows-up on the thrown together Monday night Kurt Busch Speed Center special and rolls-out some sort of regular off-season studio programming. It's certainly not too late to get back in the game, even if the rules may have changed.

As usual, we welcome your comments on this topic. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. Thank you for stopping by The Daly Planet.