NASCAR's Got A Sirius Situation

As we head toward the banquet and the official close of the 2010 season, we have used the last couple of days to review big agenda items.

Since 2007 we have been thumping NASCAR, Turner Sports and Sirius XM Radio pretty hard on one issue. The Sirius XM NASCAR channel 128 has never been available online. All those interviews, all those races and all that conversation and debate has been transmitted to only a sliver of the NASCAR fan base.

Sirius XM technology continues to be installed in vehicles and also made available through receivers where a satellite downlink is possible. While the total number of Sirius XM subscribers is put at 20 million, the real number Sirius XM has in mind is much bigger. An educated guess at the number of Americans regularly using the Internet is over 200 million and growing rapidly.

Sirius XM has a nice little online audio application that is easy to use and very portable. The original idea was to capture the laptop and desktop market, but there was a problem. Up to now, three big pieces of the Sirius XM pie were missing. NASCAR, the NFL and Howard Stern were nowhere to be found online.

While Stern continues to negotiate with Sirius XM on this topic, one big domino has finally fallen. The NFL has just signed a deal to bring live games to Sirius XM next season and online streaming is included.

Here are some excerpts on this topic from Spencer Osborne of the SiriusBuzz website:

The news here is the addition of on-line streaming beginning with the 2011 NFL season. This gives Sirius XM Radio a unique advantage with content that is otherwise unavailable through many other platforms or services.

Getting the NFL deal done was an important step that will allow Sirius XM to carry content that many of their competitors simply cannot match. Music is music. However, when it comes to news, talk and sports Sirius XM now almost has it all.

The NFL could have held back and kept the streaming rights for itself. It could also have broadened the existing deal with Verizon and the NFL app that allows streaming of video on some games. It makes the deal worth a lot more because it is yet another outlet where subscribers can access content that keeps them within the Sirius XM universe.

So, Stern is negotiating and the NFL deal is done. That puts the pressure on the three parties involved to get NASCAR in the mix. Turner Sports owns the online rights to NASCAR as a part of an existing contract. It's no secret Turner wants to get paid in any online deal.

Sirius XM has repeatedly said Turner wants way too much money. That leaves the settlement of this issue up to NASCAR. Opening the door to an inexpensive desktop and laptop online application would be great. NASCAR prying open the Sprint door and allowing cell phone streaming for 2011 would simply be spectacular.

With the advent of smart phones in the marketplace the ability to open the phone, press a button and listen to Sirius XM 128 would accomplish several key elements. One, it would increase the subscriber numbers dramatically. Two, it would finally make NASCAR truly portable, a key element in today's world.

Finally, it would accomplish a goal that has frustrated NASCAR all season long. It would provide an application that would be popular with younger fans. The days of listening to MRN in the garage are long gone. Appointment viewing of NASCAR TV shows, including races, has plummeted. It's got to be portable and available now.

We begged for these three parties to get together for the good of the sport during the last off-season and nothing happened. This time, it's beyond crisis mode. Walking into 2011 with Sirius XM 128 still limited to only a small slice of the potential NASCAR fan base is just not going to cut it.

NASCAR content is thriving on Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media. Online streaming of live video may be coming for next season where races are concerned. It's going to be vitally important to make original live daily radio programming available online as a part of this comprehensive media package.

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SPEED's "Race Hub" Fills A TV Void

There was a time when executives at SPEED simply laughed when we brought up the concept of adding a weekday NASCAR news program. Primetime on weekdays was dominated by "lifestyle" shows that had absolutely nothing to do with real racing or sometimes any type of motorsports at all.

Over the years, the network has towed trucks in Chicago, served beer to bikers in Texas and created a phony drag racing franchise right out of central casting. Through it all, SPEED had a NASCAR news void from Monday through Thursday every single week during the racing season.

Officially, no one is saying exactly how the Race Hub series began in 2009. It was October and SPEED had just been named the official TV network of the new NASCAR Hall of Fame. The rumor was that NASCAR was not very happy with the weekday "void" we mentioned earlier.

Suddenly, from out of the blue, word came that SPEED had added a weekday half-hour of NASCAR news on Monday through Thursday at 7:30PM. In a flash, the scramble was on to put SPEED in the NASCAR news business. This was not another NASCAR Media Group production either, it was all SPEED.

Kyle Petty is fond of using the term "cluster" when things are not going well and the ramp-up to the original version of this show certainly fit that bill. Krista Voda was the original anchor along with appearances from some of SPEED's other on-camera regulars.

OK, so the make-up was bad, the sound was awful and the studio was corny but who cared? After years of being told NASCAR would not work in primetime on SPEED, there it was. Voda tried her best to make the early shows go and the series showed enough promise to return for 2010.

Once things got rolling this year, it was apparent that there were some problems to be fixed. Thirty minutes works for ESPN's NASCAR Now, but it was clear that SPEED had a lot more content available and often the shows seemed to leave a lot on the table.

Voda also split time with multiple hosts and the lack of a consistent presence was not good. The series needed a full time host who knew NASCAR and had a comfortable relationship with TV viewers.

This summer, SPEED answered a lot of these questions with one press release:

SPEED unveils its new NASCAR Race Hub set Monday, Aug. 16 at 7 p.m. ET with Steve Byrnes as the new full-time host. Byrnes, a veteran NASCAR broadcaster with more than 25 years of experience, has served as a rotating host of the one-hour nightly NASCAR news and information program that premiered last October.

In much the same way that the show had appeared from nowhere, SPEED expanded to one hour and inserted Byrnes as the host right in the middle of the NASCAR season. It took a lot for Byrnes to come off the road after many years of hosting Trackside as well as practice and qualifying sessions for SPEED.

Race Hub also added a full time "local reporter" since the SPEED studios are only a short drive away from most of the team shops. Danielle Trotta was the rookie with only limited TV experience who was thrown into the mix with Byrnes.

After a few tweaks to the set, the new line-up began to get some momentum going. NASCAR personalities now had access to national TV with only a short car ride to the SPEED studio or they could arrange for Trotta to come to them. In addition, the show had access to Larry McReynolds and Jeff Hammond who also live in the area.

In just two short months, Race Hub has proven itself to be a solid provider of interviews, features and NASCAR news. Very different from NASCAR Now, Byrnes has been able to build a comfortable studio environment that has seen a wide variety of guests since October.

Last week, SPEED confirmed that Byrnes, Trotta and Race Hub would be returning for 2011. The series will remain one hour in length and run Monday through Thursday. During the NASCAR on FOX weekends, Byrnes will also be returning to his pit road duties. That should make for a busy spring season.

With new management at SPEED, we can only hope that Race Hub will provide a platform on which to create additional NASCAR-themed programming. A Monday NASCAR version of Wind Tunnel, a weekly Camping World Truck Series show and an extended interview program like The Humpy Show are all ideas that have been kicked around for a while now.

Race Hub was a great first step toward turning the focus of SPEED away from entertainment programs and bringing it back to motorsports of all types. We should know exactly when Race Hub is going to return and what other NASCAR programs may be coming to SPEED before Christmas.

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RPM News Welcome Before Sprint Cup Series Banquet

Monday the news came from several outlets that Richard Petty had emerged from his latest financial crisis not only intact, but in charge. Petty and a group of investors bought out RPM owner George Gillett and took control of RPM.

This is welcome news as the Sprint Cup Series gang heads for Las Vegas and the post-season awards show. Monday on SPEED, Steve Byrnes and Danielle Trotta will be reporting from Las Vegas for Race Hub while John Roberts will anchor the show from the network's Charlotte studios.

Race Hub is on at 7PM ET Monday through Thursday this week, then the two banquet shows air Friday. The combined Camping World Truck and Nationwide Series show is at 7PM, while the live Sprint Cup Series banquet is 9PM ET.

More on the format of the live coverage during the week. We hope to avoid the issues experienced in the past where the live portion of the banquet was non-existent.

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