Bob Jenkins back calling races on TV

MRM

MRM

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He's not back in NASCAR, but he will be calling the IRL races for VERSUS. I thought people in this section might want to know.

Versus is poised to announce it's on-air lineup Tuesday for IndyCar Series telecasts in 2009.

Bob Jenkins, Jon Beekhuis and Robbie Buhl will be the in-booth announcers, according to according to a statement by Marc Fein, executive vice president of programming. Robby Floyd, Jack Arute and Lindy Thackston will serve as trackside reporters.

The network will show the first of 12 2009 races on April 5. VERSUS will air 12 races in 2009 and will open the season on April 5 live from St. Petersburg, Fla. Versus signed a multi-year TV deal with IndyCar last year.
 
MRM said:
He's not back in NASCAR, but he will be calling the IRL races for VERSUS. I thought people in this section might want to know.

Versus is poised to announce it's on-air lineup Tuesday for IndyCar Series telecasts in 2009.

Bob Jenkins, Jon Beekhuis and Robbie Buhl will be the in-booth announcers, according to according to a statement by Marc Fein, executive vice president of programming. Robby Floyd, Jack Arute and Lindy Thackston will serve as trackside reporters.

The network will show the first of 12 2009 races on April 5. VERSUS will air 12 races in 2009 and will open the season on April 5 live from St. Petersburg, Fla. Versus signed a multi-year TV deal with IndyCar last year.
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Bob's been calling the races on IndyCar Series radio on Sirius-XM for years.

ESPN's keeping everything the same in NASCAR next year. Only change over there, after a second year of dreadful ESPN coverage, is that Marty Reid will be calling the Nationwide Series races from ORP on out. They will keep the infield studio and Tech Center.

IRL has a good package with VERSUS - much better than what they got with ESPN.
 
Versus may have a better package than ESPN but they will have less than half of the viewers as ESPN. So what good is a better package when less people will see it. And Im talking several millions of people.:confused:

I think the deal is not good for the IRL, especially now when they are trying to grow the series, gain fans and sponsors.
 
DanicaRules said:
Versus may have a better package than ESPN but they will have less than half of the viewers as ESPN. So what good is a better package when less people will see it. And Im talking several millions of people.:confused:

I think the deal is not good for the IRL, especially now when they are trying to grow the series, gain fans and sponsors.
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Versus is avaliable in more homes than ESPN Classic, right?

That's the problem you guys have over there in IRL. The most anticipated moment in motorsports since Dale Sr. won the Daytona 500 took place on ESPN Classic, where 20% of the country could see it.

A series isn't going to grow when it's up against NASCAR on the network that carries NASCAR.

VERSUS has no problems getting viewers to watch the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. If IRL fans want to see their races, they'll find VERSUS.
 
AndyMarquisLIVE said:
Versus is avaliable in more homes than ESPN Classic, right?

That's the problem you guys have over there in IRL. The most anticipated moment in motorsports since Dale Sr. won the Daytona 500 took place on ESPN Classic, where 20% of the country could see it.

A series isn't going to grow when it's up against NASCAR on the network that carries NASCAR.

VERSUS has no problems getting viewers to watch the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. If IRL fans want to see their races, they'll find VERSUS.
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Just about every household has ABC where some of the races were shown and ESPN has like 70 million subscribers, Versus has about 40 million. Where is the gain in that ???

Oh, and this thread should be moved into the open wheel racing forum now. :)
 
DanicaRules said:
Just about every household has ABC where some of the races were shown and ESPN has like 70 million viewers, Versus has about 40 million. Where is the gain in that ???

Oh, and this thread should be moved into the open wheel racing forum now. :)
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Now it's on ONE network.

I got frustrated as hell when the IndyCar Series races started on ESPN, moved to ESPN2 and then found themselves on ABC halfway through because of the overly-exciting sport of golf. :sarcasm:

How many races were on ESPN Classic the past two years?

And ABC still has 4 or 5 races.
 
DanicaRules said:
Just about every household has ABC where some of the races were shown and ESPN has like 70 million subscribers, Versus has about 40 million. Where is the gain in that ???

Oh, and this thread should be moved into the open wheel racing forum now. :)
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Oh, and research VERSUS. Find out who they're owned by. ;)
 
ABC is still covering the Indy 500 and Espn is gonna call a hand full of races. I personaly liked the coverage they did with the Indycar series but i felt that the network didnt care for them. They gave them zero leanancy. If a race went one minute of it gets yanked, i can best remember a race where Buddy Rice flipped over just as they where going off the air. Instead of showing what happend they said tune in to sports center tonight to see if hes alright and find out who won the race.
 
wilson89 said:
ABC is still covering the Indy 500 and Espn is gonna call a hand full of races. I personaly liked the coverage they did with the Indycar series but i felt that the network didnt care for them. They gave them zero leanancy. If a race went one minute of it gets yanked, i can best remember a race where Buddy Rice flipped over just as they where going off the air. Instead of showing what happend they said tune in to sports center tonight to see if hes alright and find out who won the race.
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michigan i recall?

I get versus on my college dorm....Time warner basic cable.
 
I know about all the TV schedules for this year, how ABC is covering the Indy 500 and 4 other races, the rest are on Versus. Im just making the point on how there are a lot less viewers to Versus than ESPN.

We discussed this topic in-depth on my radio show when it first was announced that Versus was taking the television coverage over and the majority in this area that discussed it on the radio show were against since they didnt have Versus and didnt feel like shelling out more money per month to get it on cable or satellite. And Im only an hour away from the IRL headquarters, it just seems crazy.
 
what level package does it take on dish and directTV to get versus? Im not sure if we have it on DTV.

like i said, my basic cable has it. So i think the non-metro ppl will be the ones whining. the small rural cable carriers may not have it.
 
Magnethead said:
what level package does it take on dish and directTV to get versus? Im not sure if we have it on DTV.

like i said, my basic cable has it. So i think the non-metro ppl will be the ones whining. the small rural cable carriers may not have it.
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I have it on DirecTV but I also got a sports package to make sure I could get masn.
 
Versus comes with most lower-end packages on DirecTV. I even have their HD channel.
 
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