NBCSN going away?

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HoneyBadger

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Lots of talk today, after a SBJ article, that NBCSN will fold up after the Olympics or after the NASCAR Championship.

worldsoccertalk.com

NBCSN's days are numbered as a channel

NBCSN shutting down surprised a lot of people in terms of its timing. Is it the right move for the network for its various audiences?
worldsoccertalk.com worldsoccertalk.com
 
Interesting article. If this happens, I'll have to get more savvy about streaming to my living room TV, rather than to my computers. That shouldn't be hard to do, but I just haven't had the need up to now. Oh well...
 
ChexOrWrex said:
The inevitable will happen. NASCAR will create their own channel, like the SEC Network, and sell their channel to streaming services.
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NASCAR had the golden opportunity to do just that with Speed, and were too short sighted to make it happen. If golf, tennis and horse racing can have their own channel, there is absolutely no reason NASCAR couldn't have made a go of it, especially if they had got it done back when they had a LOT more leverage than they do now. Just another of the caught looking at strike three moments from the Brian France administration.....
 
Formerjackman said:
NASCAR had the golden opportunity to do just that with Speed, and were too short sighted to make it happen. If golf, tennis and horse racing can have their own channel, there is absolutely no reason NASCAR couldn't have made a go of it, especially if they had got it done back when they had a LOT more leverage than they do now. Just another of the caught looking at strike three moments from the Brian France administration.....
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When you have Network TV writing you checks over the life of the Contract that total around 7-8 Billion dollars you dont start your on Network. Golf channels are owned by NBC not the PGA. Brain France brokered a brilliant deal.
 
Formerjackman said:
NASCAR had the golden opportunity to do just that with Speed, and were too short sighted to make it happen. If golf, tennis and horse racing can have their own channel, there is absolutely no reason NASCAR couldn't have made a go of it, especially if they had got it done back when they had a LOT more leverage than they do now. Just another of the caught looking at strike three moments from the Brian France administration.....
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As long as we are using perfect 20/20 hindsight, the Speed channel swung and missed before that with what could have been a golden opportunity for 24/7 racing channel, racing news and coverage. As it was and is usually the bane of so many things, they forgot singleness of purpose and thought the way to even more riches was to change to Fox Sports 1 and do a pretty crappy job covering a whole plethora of topics.
 
Formerjackman said:
NASCAR had the golden opportunity to do just that with Speed, and were too short sighted to make it happen. If golf, tennis and horse racing can have their own channel, there is absolutely no reason NASCAR couldn't have made a go of it, especially if they had got it done back when they had a LOT more leverage than they do now. Just another of the caught looking at strike three moments from the Brian France administration.....
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Speed Channel was owned by Fox. From a financial perspective NASCAR did the right thing by selling the broadcasting rights to Fox and NBC.
 
John Ourand is one of the most respected and connected sports media reporters. He wouldn't be so bold about this if there wasn't fire where he sees smoke. Interesting developments.

Spotter22 said:
I'm streaming only. Havent had cable in 3 or 4 years. If I can help let me know
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I've seen you give a rundown of your setup before. I finally got a Fire Stick and am ready to install whatever is needed for the best sports and racing streaming.
 
gnomesayin said:
John Ourand is one of the most respected and connected sports media reporters. He wouldn't be so bold about this if there wasn't fire where he sees smoke. Interesting developments.



I've seen you give a rundown of your setup before. I finally got a Fire Stick and am ready to install whatever is needed for the best sports and racing streaming.
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Roger. I'll pm you some info
 
StandOnIt said:
There could be a silver lining to this. If NBCSN doesn't re-sign with Nascar, it could mean the end of the gerbils as we know it.
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But Fox is showing a lot of signs of not caring anymore. If Fox AND NBC are out, I'm not sure what avenues there are for NASCAR. ESPN maybe, CBS is a longshot, MAVTV is probably the only for sure option.

NBC seems heavily invested in motorsports though.
 
LewTheShoe said:
Interesting article. If this happens, I'll have to get more savvy about streaming to my living room TV, rather than to my computers. That shouldn't be hard to do, but I just haven't had the need up to now. Oh well...
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I just run a HDMI cable from my laptop to the TV and voila I have a big screen laptop.
 
I have this unopened Roku stick that's been sitting on my desk for almost a month. I dropped the cable box from the set in the garage (just that one set only) but haven't found the motivation to open this gizmo and see what it does. I guess I shouldn't be surprised; I've had this smart Samsung TV in the living room for a few years and haven't seriously tried to figure out what it will do either.

I recall comments that technically illiterate / challenged folks (like my Darling Bride and my visiting parents) won't find streaming as easy to use as cable or satellite. That's probably why I haven't bothered yet. She has a hard time just switching input sources so she can use the DVD player. Too many remotes to juggle; too challenging to keep track of which one does what and when to use them.

It sounds like I won't have to worry about this for at least a year. If my 87-year-old father is still alive in '22, he'll never figure it out and will probably just stop watching.
 
Why would NASCAR make their own TV channel if people are cord-cutting left and right? They own the media rights...they could put together their own stream if they wanted to real easy. No need to make a channel that you need to fill with programming 14-16 hours a day (at a minimum) and sell advertising for and broker deals with cable companies. 20 years ago that'd be a huge investment with a guaranteed ROI. Today it'd be a huge PITA and for a platform that is already seen as 5 years out the door and its demise is accelerating.

The nice thing about NASCAR is its relatively limited in scope. I want to say it's around $100 for MLB TV. That's a livestream of every MLB game from every team. I'm not a mathematist but roughly 100 national NASCAR races a season is probably a lot cheaper to produce than the 5829190477 baseball games in a season.
 
gnomesayin said:
I've been using a Chromecast ($30-50 depending on model) to cast whatever I stream on computer or phone to my TV when needed for years. Works well for the most part.
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Thanks. That brings me one step closer to the 21st century. :laugh:
 
Spotter22 said:
When you have Network TV writing you checks over the life of the Contract that total around 7-8 Billion dollars you dont start your on Network. Golf channels are owned by NBC not the PGA. Brain France brokered a brilliant deal.
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The Golf Channel didn't start out being owned by NBC, they bought it AFTER it had become successful and Arnold Palmer cashed a big check. When I speak of Speed, I'm talking about BEFORE Fox bought it and subsequently screwed it it up. NASCAR STILL could have signed a big TV contract, because the NASCAR Channel wouldn't have been showing the Cup races any more than the the Golf Channel shows PGA final rounds. What it WOULD have given NASCAR is a home for all the ancillary programing, and an ace in the hole if the Networks start screwing you around. Who has bigger TV contracts than the NFL, yet they created their own channel and it does quite well. That "wonderful" TV deal was great if all you care about is the dollars and the hell with the details. If Brian France could have gotten another few hundred million, he would have let them turn NASCAR into figure eight demolition derby. When you sell your soul for the last almighty dollar, you end up with your premier events on the USA Network, and getting bumped off to CNBC during rain delays. Definitely NOT a recipe for for growing your brand.
 
Formerjackman said:
The Golf Channel didn't start out being owned by NBC, they bought it AFTER it had become successful and Arnold Palmer cashed a big check. When I speak of Speed, I'm talking about BEFORE Fox bought it and subsequently screwed it it up. NASCAR STILL could have signed a big TV contract, because the NASCAR Channel wouldn't have been showing the Cup races any more than the the Golf Channel shows PGA final rounds. What it WOULD have given NASCAR is a home for all the ancillary programing, and an ace in the hole if the Networks start screwing you around. Who has bigger TV contracts than the NFL, yet they created their own channel and it does quite well. That "wonderful" TV deal was great if all you care about is the dollars and the hell with the details. If Brian France could have gotten another few hundred million, he would have let them turn NASCAR into figure eight demolition derby. When you sell your soul for the last almighty dollar, you end up with your premier events on the USA Network, and getting bumped off to CNBC during rain delays. Definitely NOT a recipe for for growing your brand.
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Yeah the coulda, woulda, and shoulda group missed out big time
 
Formerjackman said:
The Golf Channel didn't start out being owned by NBC, they bought it AFTER it had become successful and Arnold Palmer cashed a big check. When I speak of Speed, I'm talking about BEFORE Fox bought it and subsequently screwed it it up. NASCAR STILL could have signed a big TV contract, because the NASCAR Channel wouldn't have been showing the Cup races any more than the the Golf Channel shows PGA final rounds. What it WOULD have given NASCAR is a home for all the ancillary programing, and an ace in the hole if the Networks start screwing you around. Who has bigger TV contracts than the NFL, yet they created their own channel and it does quite well. That "wonderful" TV deal was great if all you care about is the dollars and the hell with the details. If Brian France could have gotten another few hundred million, he would have let them turn NASCAR into figure eight demolition derby. When you sell your soul for the last almighty dollar, you end up with your premier events on the USA Network, and getting bumped off to CNBC during rain delays. Definitely NOT a recipe for for growing your brand.
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My goodness, where were you when the idiots formulated this plan for NASCAR? Why does the NFL still show the Majority of their games on Network tv? Hmmmmm???
 
There's a motorsports network in existence now, and from what I've heard through the grapevine, that network is expected to be a part of the next NASCAR contract in some capacity.
 
Those comparing a potential NASCAR-owned channel to Golf Channel and NFL Network fail to take into account those sports having multiple concurrent events to choose from on weekends. The NFL has a minimum of a fourteen games a week, most of them overlapping on Sunday; and golf has Europeans, women, seniors, and developmental tours. Those sports have plenty of programming to fill a weekend and rerun during the week. NASCAR has three series with appeal to beyond dedicated, they're scheduled so they never conflict with each other, and they don't generate enough content to show Monday through Thursday.

"But what about all the short track action?? The network can broadcast that!!" Who's going to pay for the crews to cover it? I guess there are people who'll watch the action from 'West I-23 Speed-o-Rama' as recorded on someone's camcorder or cell phone and edited on a home computer, and I guess that fan will accept a small enough fee that the minimal advertising revenue will cover his check. But a dedicated NASCAR network would mean the end of what few Truck and X standalone events still exist; it's cheaper to cover them if they're at the same track as Cup.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Those comparing a potential NASCAR-owned channel to Golf Channel and NFL Network fail to take into account those sports having multiple concurrent events to choose from on weekends. The NFL has a minimum of a fourteen games a week, most of them overlapping on Sunday; and golf has Europeans, women, seniors, and developmental tours. Those sports have plenty of programming to fill a weekend and rerun during the week. NASCAR has three series with appeal to beyond dedicated, they're scheduled so they never conflict with each other, and they don't generate enough content to show Monday through Thursday.

"But what about all the short track action?? The network can broadcast that!!" Who's going to pay for the crews to cover it? I guess there are people who'll watch the action from 'West I-23 Speed-o-Rama' as recorded on someone's camcorder or cell phone and edited on a home computer, and I guess that fan will accept a small enough fee that the minimal advertising revenue will cover his check. But a dedicated NASCAR network would mean the end of what few Truck and X standalone events still exist; it's cheaper to cover them if they're at the same track as Cup.
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There's a LOT of content out there, and there USED to be more. If NASCAR had put a network in place circa 2000, some of the stuff that has gone away MIGHT still be around. The biggest single thing that killed the ASA Series was the lack of a decent TV package once TNN got rebranded. Remember when you used to get WoO races on regular cable channels? There's no reason the channel HAD to be confined to NASCAR content, the important thing is that NASCAR would have been in control, and I'll take control over my situation over a few extra pennies in my pocket ANY day. Besides racing, there are all the shows Speed used to run, and Motor Trend and Mav currently run, plus all of those lucrative infomercials. If SOMEBODY with some damn vision would have been looking ahead, the possibilities were almost endless. Remember how bad they botched their first real internet presence because they farmed it out to some third party that likely didn't give a crap? And as I said, NONE of this would have meant that NASCAR STILL couldn't have signed a big contract to show the Cup races, and probably most of the Xfinity races too. NASCAR never had more "control" over their situation then they had in the early 2000's and that was the time to make things like that happen. Now, anything they do is just playing from behind.
 
Apparently a pair of 10 year broadcast contracts worth a combined $ 8+ Billion equates to playing from behind.

Those dollars have been the primary revenue stream for tracks and teams since 2014. To insist that they should have followed their own path requires a weekly injection of confirmation bias serum.
 
aunty dive said:
Apparently a pair of 10 year broadcast contracts worth a combined $ 8+ Billion equates to playing from behind.

Those dollars have been the primary revenue stream for tracks and teams since 2014. To insist that they should have followed their own path requires a weekly injection of confirmation bias serum.
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well somebody has to be in charge of water under the bridge.
Charlie Spencer said:
Those comparing a potential NASCAR-owned channel to Golf Channel and NFL Network fail to take into account those sports having multiple concurrent events to choose from on weekends.
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I've been talking about an Auto Racing channel myself, not just Nascar. All venues ALL the time.
 
A NASCAR streaming service and a network television package doesn't have to be one or the other, it can be both. For an example, I have the Formula 1 TV app, which streams every second of on track action, and also has specially produced content that normally cover that weeks action and news of the sport. I really enjoy the app, it lets me customize my viewing experience as I can chose which broadcast to watch and switch between any car's on board camera at any time with the ability to listen to live radio traffic. It also has an archive function and I can watch races dating back decades. I can even, wait for it, turn off commentary and just listen to ambient sounds from the track.

However, I can chose to watch the race on ESPN on race day and not bother with streaming the race. I like that I have a choice. Hell, most premier dirt track touring events are steamed live nowadays.

I guess my point is, NASCAR owns the content, and similar to other sports, could start a streaming service to give fans more options to access their content.
 
Tim_Richmond_Fan said:
A NASCAR streaming service and a network television package doesn't have to be one or the other, it can be both. For an example, I have the Formula 1 TV app, which streams every second of on track action, and also has specially produced content that normally cover that weeks action and news of the sport. I really enjoy the app, it lets me customize my viewing experience as I can chose which broadcast to watch and switch between any car's on board camera at any time with the ability to listen to live radio traffic. It also has an archive function and I can watch races dating back decades. I can even, wait for it, turn off commentary and just listen to ambient sounds from the track.

However, I can chose to watch the race on ESPN on race day and not bother with streaming the race. I like that I have a choice. Hell, most premier dirt track touring events are steamed live nowadays.

I guess my point is, NASCAR owns the content, and similar to other sports, could start a streaming service to give fans more options to access their content.
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NASCAR owns the content and the networks own NASCAR.
 
I hate commenting on this type of stuff because I’m not in the racing or tv business, just a fan obviously but my observation is that I think NASCAR made the right move at the time with the money they received from the TV Contracts they negotiated. Someone mentioned 8 billion? That’s a whole hell of a lot of money, you take that money and figure it out later. Maybe lacks future foresight but I’m not gonna tell a company that received that kind of money they done wrong. I guess my question is where do they go when those contracts are up? Are they still going to rely on that type of TV money? Is that money even readily available when negotiations are due? I think this the part where I’d like to be in control of my content, I mean streaming isn’t the future...it’s here. I hope NASCAR will jump into that end of the pool all the way, I’d love if races were streamed on Prime (for example) without ads I’d pay it. YouTube TV would also be a great place, I mean most old races are unofficially on there anyways. I hope when NASCAR does figure out which way they go there is a way to watch old races, just pick the year and there they are, I think there’s some money in that. I’d be for having practices when or if they ever get back to normal behind the streaming paywall. There’s just endless possibilities like watching a race from your favorite driver cam inside the car, constant race data on the tv screen while watching a race and if feasible different announcers than the tv feed. I’m probably not even thinking of ideas I can’t even fathom but when it’s rolled out you’ll say “that makes sense”. How about having ARCA races, qualifying and practices could be shown on there too since NASCAR owns them. If done right NASCAR will hit the jackpot with streaming and internet options. I’ve said it before but they should look at the WWE network model, Vince really was ahead of this. Now the WWE are at the point where they can sell the monthly PPV’s to other networks (while keeping it behind the wwe network paywall) or even other streaming services which has been rumored since early this year. NASCAR can go the same path, the future is very exciting in this aspect.
 
Interesting that he thinks FOX will drop NASCAR after 2024 as well, partially due to his thinking that FOX gets in on half of the NHL rights with NBC.

NBC moved a fair number of other sporting broadcast to USA this year, and they’ve used CNBC for racing a decent amount too. The 2016 Watkins Glen Cup race that was on USA during Rio 2016 got above-average ratings relative comparable NBCSN races - USA is available in more homes. I don’t think it would be the worst thing in the world until the next contract, depending on how much, if any, they would move to Peacock Premium.
 
NASCAR really needs it's own streaming service Times are a changing
 
aunty dive said:
Apparently a pair of 10 year broadcast contracts worth a combined $ 8+ Billion equates to playing from behind.

Those dollars have been the primary revenue stream for tracks and teams since 2014. To insist that they should have followed their own path requires a weekly injection of confirmation bias serum.
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Some people cant admit when they are wrong and Brian actually did a great job on that deal.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Interesting that he thinks FOX will drop NASCAR after 2024 as well, partially due to his thinking that FOX gets in on half of the NHL rights with NBC.
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I don't follow his logic there, and I think he's wrong. But that's just me. The NHL isn't primarily a Sunday afternoon venture, is it?

I think the latter 60% of the NASCAR season, if they continue to split it roughly the way they have, remains the package that is far more in play and would keep switching hands. I see Fox being content with the post-NFL slate of NASCAR they have, and I doubt anyone else is motivated to overpay to take it from them.
 
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