Fox Sports Racing

Fox Sports Racing
Launched August 17, 2013
Owned by 21st Century Fox
Picture format 720p (HDTV)
480i (SDTV/16:9 letterbox)
Country United States
Language English
Broadcast area Canada
Caribbean
Puerto Rico
Headquarters Charlotte, North Carolina
Formerly called Speed (2013-2015)
Website www.foxsportsracing.com
Availability
Cable
Available on some Canadian cable systems Channel allotments vary
Available on most Caribbean cable systems Channel allotments vary
Available on most Puerto Rican cable systems Channel allotments vary
Bell Fibe TV (Canada) Channel 417 (SD)
Channel 1417 (HD)

Fox Sports Racing (formerly Speed) is a motorsports-oriented cable network owned by the Fox Sports division of 21st Century Fox. The network launched on August 17, 2013 as a continuation of the former cable network Speed for North American markets outside of the United States, including Canada and the Caribbean.

The network primarily simulcasts racing events from Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2, which would be otherwise unavailable to international markets, with the remainder of its schedule filled with reruns of Speed's previous reality series.[1] The network retained the previous Speed branding until February 20, 2015.

History

Prior to its replacement with the mainstream sports network Fox Sports 1, the motorsports-oriented network Speed was also carried outside of the United States, particularly in Canada. Shortly after its launch as Speedvision, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) added the network to its list of foreign cable networks approved for carriage on Canadian cable and satellite providers in 1997.[2] Prior to August 2013, Canadian viewers saw a largely identical schedule as the U.S. channel, although some programming, particularly live Formula 1 events, were blacked out to protect TSN, which holds domestic broadcast rights to F1 events (under CRTC rules, foreign services must own Canadian broadcast rights to the content they air).[3] However, this point became moot when NBCSN obtained rights to F1 events beginning with the 2013 season,[4] as that network is not available in Canada.

In Canada, as well as the Caribbean and Puerto Rico, Speed was not replaced with Fox Sports 1; it is unlikely that Fox Sports 1 would ever be approved for carriage in Canada, as it would compete directly with existing domestic sports network chains, such as Sportsnet and TSN.[5] In parallel with the launch of Fox Sports 1, the former domestic version of Speed was silently replaced by an international version of the network on August 17, 2013. Its lineup primarily consists of simulcasts of motorsports events from Fox Sports' cable networks, along with reruns of Speed's past programs.[1]

In early 2014, several major Canadian service providers, including Rogers Cable and Bell TV began to drop Speed upon the expiration of their carriage contracts. Shaw later announced they would drop Speed from their cable and satellite services on April 1, 2015.[6] Reports indicated that Fox had attempted to raise the channel's carriage fees significantly, despite the major reductions in original programming for international viewers,[5] and Rogers suggested Fox was unwilling to allow Speed to be moved to a more specialized package in light of the programming and cost changes.[7]

On February 19, 2015, Fox Sports announced that it would re-brand Speed's international feed as Fox Sports Racing on February 20, 2015 to coincide with the opening event of the 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season. Fox Sports president Eric Shanks explained that the re-branding was intended to "put the power and leverage of the Fox Sports brand behind our commitment to motorsports". Fox also announced that Rogers had reached a deal to restore the re-branded network to its lineup.[8]

Programming

Live programming on Fox Sports Racing is simulcast mostly from Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2, including NASCAR practice and qualifying sessions in the Sprint Cup Series and Xfinity Series, the Camping World Truck Series season, the ARCA Racing Series, Formula E, Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Monster Energy Supercross, and the United SportsCar Championship.[8] The network also airs the studio show NASCAR Race Hub. When it is not airing live or encore presentations of events, the remainder of the network's schedule consists primarily of Speed's previous reality and documentary programming; Fox Sports Racing does not otherwise originate any new programming of its own.[1]

The network does not carry outside advertising aside from commercials inserted by local providers: commercial breaks consist mostly of promos for Fox Sports Racing programming and other Fox-owned channels, such as Big Ten Network.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Two channels will carry Speed name". Sports Business Journal. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  2. ↑ Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (1997-07-22). "Public Notice CRTC 1997-96". Retrieved 2013-03-05.
  3. ↑ Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (2013-02-13). "Revised list of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution as of 13 February 2013". Retrieved 2013-03-05. Authorization for the services on this list is subject to the following: Providers of these foreign services must have obtained and must remain in possession of all necessary rights for the distribution of their programming in Canada. [...]
  4. ↑ "Formula 1 lands four-year deal with NBC". Racer. Retrieved October 16, 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 McDonald, Norris (2014-02-25). "Fogarty, Gurney at large, Villeneuve at Indy and Speed Channel". Wheels.ca. Torstar. Archived from the original on 2014-03-24. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  6. ↑ "April 2015 - Removal of Speed channel". Shaw. Retrieved 2015-02-12.
  7. ↑ "Speed Channel". Rogers Communications. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "FOX Sports Racing to launch new era in motor sports Friday". FoxSports.com. Retrieved 20 February 2015.

External links