Goodbye Speed Channel - I Never got the Memo

[LakeCleElum]

All of this started Aug. 17th. I thought it was just a change for the weekend. But no, Speed is now Fox Sports so they can compete with ESPN??????? I already have more Fox Sports channels than I can count.

Speed had taken a sudden left turn the past few years, but there were still a few shows and events I watched.


From the Net:

Shutdown of Speed and relaunch as Fox Sports 1
Main articles: Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2
Logo of Fox Sports 1, replaced SPEED on August 17, 2013.

On March 5, 2013, Fox Sports announced that it would relaunch Speed as Fox Sports 1 on August 17, 2013. Fox has directly positioned the channel to be a major competitor to ESPN: studio programs featured on the channel will include the daily sports news program Fox Sports Live (which will compete directly against ESPN's SportsCenter), Crowd Goes Wild (originally titled Rush Hour), a new early-evening program hosted by Regis Philbin, and Fox Football Daily (a companion program to Fox NFL Sunday). The new network will also feature Major League Baseball games and coverage of select post-season games (beginning in 2014; the Fox network will air significantly fewer games as a result), and select NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races will be moved to the network as early as 2015.[11][12] College football and basketball games from the Big East,[13] Big 12, Conference USA and Pac-12 conferences, soccer matches from the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and CONCACAF Champions League along with rights to the Men’s and Women’s FIFA World Cup tournaments. Ultimate Fighting Championship events and live fights will also be featured on the new network.[2]

On August 17 at 6:00 AM EDT, NASCAR play-by-play announcer Mike Joy gave his final words before Speed was relaunched as Fox Sports 1:

For 18 years, it’s been our honor and privilege to present motorsports and automotive-related programming to you on the network that began as Speedvision, became Speed Channel and is now known as Speed. From the visionaries who started this network, from maintenance to management, from the talent to the truck drivers, we’ve shared your passion for motorsports over lo these many years. We love that you care as much about your cars as family, God and country. And so do we.

But now it’s time to switch off the ignition and turn in the keys. This is the end of Speed in America. We hope you’ll follow us on our new journey to Fox Sports 1 because all your favorite live NASCAR programming and much more is coming along with us.


So now, it’s goodnight and farewell to America’s motorsports authority. Speed.[14]

While Fox Sports 1 effectively replaced Speed, Fox was required to re-negotiate its carriage deals with the television providers to carry the new network due to its change in scope. While there was uncertainty over whether Fox Sports 1 would have sufficient carriage on launch, as it had not yet reached deals with three of the United States' four largest television providers (DirecTV, Dish Network, and Time Warner Cable) only a month before its launch. However, all three finally agreed to terms three days before the scheduled launch.[15] For any remaining television providers that do not reach a deal to carry Fox Sports 1, Fox planned to offer a "watered-down" version of Speed (with a loop of reality programs and no live events) on an interim basis to fulfill existing carriage contracts until they signed on for Fox Sports 1. In international markets such as Canada, a similar feed was established that retains motorsports programming simulcast from Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2.

[tadink]

yah, well I hope they cover that all-american "sport" of Poker just like ESPN, we really need more of that! ugh.

[widebody911]

Fox will probably do to sports what they did to news.

[biosurfer1]

I have Comcast and I'm not sure who your provider is but if you have watched the channel in the past 3 months, I'm not sure how you could have missed the announcement. I would say every other commercial set had one announcing the new Fox 1 Sports and how Speed would be switching to it.

[GH85Carrera]

They call it a sports network but it is a GAME natwork.

If the players are using a ball, it is just a game, not sports. They will have a few track & field sports, but I bet not much. I deleted that channel from my favorites list on my DVR.

[LakeCleElum]

Originally Posted by biosurfer1

I have Comcast and I'm not sure who your provider is but if you have watched the channel in the past 3 months, I'm not sure how you could have missed the announcement. I would say every other commercial set had one announcing the new Fox 1 Sports and how Speed would be switching to it.

Usually DVR and don't do commercials....Often read at same time and tune out things like that....My bad..

[Zeke]

Bob, it's been discussed here but no worries. It's when things finally take place that we notice. The shows once carried by Speed are being taken up by other channels, most notably Velocity and something called MAVTV which I don't have. But for now, Speed News and Wind Tunnel are gone. I'm thinking the announcers are all still under contract and being paid so they won't be starting up elsewhere for now.

Robin Miller will have to go back to his newspaper.

[VaSteve]

Speed had been on death watch every Monday through Thursday every week for a long time. All that was left was the actual pulling of the plug.

[BE911SC]

Yep, the Speed channel has been dying a slow death. How many auctions must we watch before any racing or "speed" is shown? The History Channel and Discovery were wonderfully watchable once upon a time and they too have sunk into the vast cauldron of stupid, cheap programming.

[edgemar]

is there a streaming site that has similar material to speed?

i think these types of channels will start to exist on the internet...

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Speed - was that the NASCAR channel? Hard to remember which one it was...

[Flieger]

It all started downhill when Speedvision became Speed.

[sammyg2]

ESPN is short for "the entertainment and sports network".

At least that's what they told me when I jumped their you-know-what when they ventured into stupid old moves to fill air space many years ago.

The complete explanation:

"Every which way but loose" was a movie about boxing, so it fit in well with ESPN's core programming.

They gave that up and went towards poker as "entertainment" (fill).

[Aragorn]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Bob, it's been discussed here but no worries. It's when things finally take place that we notice. The shows once carried by Speed are being taken up by other channels, most notably Velocity and something called MAVTV which I don't have. But for now, Speed News and Wind Tunnel are gone. I'm thinking the announcers are all still under contract and being paid so they won't be starting up elsewhere for now.

Robin Miller will have to go back to his newspaper.

I understand that Varsha wanted to do F1 this year but couldn't leave for NBC because of his contract at speed. Speed had him doing the Auction coverage. Just a fascinating use of TV time...

[widebody911]

What gets me is ESPN adds about $5 to you cable bill, whether you want it or not. What is it going to take to get à la carte programming? There are so many useless channels
that just need to die.

[DaveE]

Congress probably gets too much in bribes for that to ever happen



I mean "contributions" of course

[gorthar]

Originally Posted by Flieger

It all started downhill when Speedvision became Speed.

Exactly! I can remember way back when, bugging the hell out of Time Warner cable to carry Speedvision. Coolest channel by far for gear heads. Then it morphed into Speed- The NASCAR channel/really low rent reality shows. Anybody remember Texas Hardtails??
Luckily, there are places on the web to get my racing fix.

[flipper35]

Originally Posted by Flieger

It all started downhill when Speedvision became Speed.

+ (where is the infinity symbol)

When we had Dish we finally got access to Speedvision and a few months later it was bought by Fox. It was a short celebration for me.

[strupgolf]

[QUOTE=Zeke;761219

Robin Miller will have to go back to his newspaper. [/QUOTE]

No, Robin Miller was fired from the newspaper he worked for because he was a real jerk.Lets hope he just goes away, never to be heard from again.

[URY914]

Bring back The Nashville Network and American Sports Cavalcade.