As the SPEED Network continues to attempt to become the NASCAR network, I'm sure that many of you noticed they cut out coverage of the WRC this year entirely. I've heard rumors that the WRC may be covered on Versus in 2007 though. Strangely enough I've also heard that the parent company that controls the SPEED network also controls Versus.
Has anyone else heard anything about the World Rally Championship coverage for 2k7?

Hmmm. Never heard of Versus till now. Might be worth getting a dish.

Find out your Versus channel:
http://www.versus.com/findversus/

As the SPEED Network continues to attempt to become the NASCAR network, I'm sure that many of you noticed they cut out coverage of the WRC this year entirely. I've heard rumors that the WRC may be covered on Versus in 2007 though. Strangely enough I've also heard that the parent company that controls the SPEED network also controls Versus.
Has anyone else heard anything about the World Rally Championship coverage for 2k7?

Versus is solely owned by Comcast, while Speed Channel is jointly-owned by Fox (NewsCorp) and Comcast. I believe Fox has the majority stake now. When I talked with Nicky Grist at the X-Games, he said there's just about no chance WRC coverage will ever return to Speed.

I think the best bet right now will be ESPN. If the X-Games Rally thing stays fresh, and their ESPN2 Rally America coverage is well-received, then I think WRC is the natural next step. ESPN is making a bit of a resurgence in the motorsports department, and will be airing NASCAR, IRL, and Champ Car in 2007.

You might have heard of Versus before as the Outdoor Life Network, i.e. OLN.

ESPN has some intent of showing Rally America, from what I've heard. No concrete plans for WRC anywhere that I know of.

F*** SPEED NETWORK, I understand that someone has to abide by the contract of is prapriator. In agreeing with the terms put forth. I know the network has done somewhat better financially. But, I've noticed that they have cut out some original programing that actually launched the network and defined the fan base they accumulated. I don't think there is a day when one doesn't find NAS (suck) CAR programing. I used to stay up till 3am just to see programing on the WRC or the F1 series, all of which have become void.

my .02

F----- NASCAR

I wonder if anyone stateside sells the DVD's they have in the UK. I believe you can get entire seasons on DVD, but you cannot import from the UK since the DVDs manufactured for sale in the UK will not play on US DVD players. The rumor about Versus made sense to me because they already cover (or covered) the Paris-Dakar Rally. The coverage on the X-Games was helpful for Rally America, but I doubt it will lead to WRC coverage....we'll see.

F*** SPEED NETWORK, I understand that someone has to abide by the contract of is prapriator. In agreeing with the terms put forth. I know the network has done somewhat better financially. But, I've noticed that they have cut out some original programing that actually launched the network and defined the fan base they accumulated. I don't think there is a day when one doesn't find NAS (suck) CAR programing. I used to stay up till 3am just to see programing on the WRC or the F1 series, all of which have become void.

my .02

F----- NASCAR

+1 !!!!!!

i used to stay up just to watch the coverage of WRC and F1 also, now they're puttin' dumb a$$ reality show ***** on. SPEED sux now.

Well over here in Japan there is a channel in my hotel room Adventure 1 channel (A1). Really good programing anything outdoors it shows, including our favorite WRC, they even cover D1 on Sat and Sun.

Versus used to be called OLN(Outdoor life Network) and they changed their name and added different programming. They are going to start carrying college football. I don't know about the wrc. Speed Channels coverage sucked ass anyways, minus F1 and MotoGP, there is absolutely nothing to watch on Speed Channel. I don't even have it anymore. Got rid of it. All they show is Nascrap and really bad ripoffs of pimp my ride. Worst channel evar!

The website did mention they are covering the Dakar Rally in January. Maybe there is hope.

Michael

I wonder if anyone stateside sells the DVD's they have in the UK. I believe you can get entire seasons on DVD, but you cannot import from the UK since the DVDs manufactured for sale in the UK will not play on US DVD players. The rumor about Versus made sense to me because they already cover (or covered) the Paris-Dakar Rally. The coverage on the X-Games was helpful for Rally America, but I doubt it will lead to WRC coverage....we'll see.

Three things.

1. Go ahead and buy those DVDs from WRC.com - view them on your computer. Computers care not for broadcast format (PAL vs NTSC). I picked up "WRC 2002 Reloaded" at the end of the 2002 season (duh) ... it is Region ALL, so it will not have the region issues either.

2. The coverage of the X Games has prompted ESPN to enter into a multi-year agreement with Rally America, to cover the series on ESPN2.

3. WRC this year was covered by Eurosport in the EU. As with virtually anything on the TV these days, it can and has been digitized and stored for download in a number of places. Legality questions aside (as they can't be answered definitively one way or the other for every location and every situation), WRC 2006 is out there if you want it.

The website did mention they are covering the Dakar Rally in January. Maybe there is hope.

Michael

Yea until the fat burger munching redneck folks turn on their pentium 1 compu-tars and spam SPEED saying;

"OH MY FREAKING LORD, NASCURR IS NOT ON WHAT IS WRUNG WITH YOU SON?"

then even the Dakar will be kicked; for more drama teeny country boppin' show about some NASCAR driver who has no skill and was brought up by sponsorships.. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Yea until the fat burger munching redneck folks turn on their pentium 1 compu-tars and spam SPEED saying;

"OH MY FREAKING LORD, NASCURR IS NOT ON WHAT IS WRUNG WITH YOU SON?"

then even the Dakar will be kicked; for more drama teeny country boppin' show about some NASCAR driver who has no skill and was brought up by sponsorships.. :lol: :lol: :lol:

I think that it's OLN / Versus that has the Dakar.

Ever since the name changed to Speed it went all downhill :-/ I used to be a HEAVY watcher of speed 18 hours a day at least... Hell Now I cant remember the last time I turned to the channel... And when I pass by it's always NASCAR around and around in the circle they go!

I don't know about the wrc. Speed Channels coverage sucked ass anyways, minus F1 and MotoGP, there is absolutely nothing to watch on Speed Channel.

I think In Europe they had I think Eurosport doing coverage for WRC? wow that was Quality!

Now that the boring racing series are done for the season, Speed is showing interesting stuff. BTCC, DTM, CORR, V8SC, a couple of targa rallies, and loads of other stuff are making the airwaves these days, but you have to make guesses as to when it's on, because the program listings mostly say "Auto Racing". (And yeah, I know that's not their fault, but whatever.)

A bit late to show the good stuff now?

you have to make guesses as to when it's on, because the program listings mostly say "Auto Racing". (And yeah, I know that's not their fault, but whatever.)

They provide the EPG information to the distribution networks. Send an email to the channel and your provider. If enough of us do it, we'll get better information.

Three things.



3. WRC this year was covered by Eurosport in the EU. As with virtually anything on the TV these days, it can and has been digitized and stored for download in a number of places. Legality questions aside (as they can't be answered definitively one way or the other for every location and every situation), WRC 2006 is out there if you want it.

try this - http://enormouslysideways.net/wrc2006.html

Good stuff, if you don't mind watching it in front of your 'puter...

I think In Europe they had I think Eurosport doing coverage for WRC? wow that was Quality!

I've been watching the Eurosport feed and it's leaps and bounds better than Speed Channel crap.

Speed channel has nothing but crap now...heck their mechanic shows all make it easy..they have a huge garage full of tools, welders, lifts..why don't they make a reality show out of a real like at home mechanic that has to crawl under the car, use tools that aren't right for the job, and not have access to welders, and plasma cutters, and 80 billion dollars in funding. Nascar is boring. Windtunnel with david spaine or what ever his name is..that guy is an Ahole. they have the other show, where the guys are all out expensive cars and they like going autoX'n and they're all about like sitting around and talking about damping rates of suspensions....its all crap...id rather watch mr rodgers then watch the speed channel.

WRC & Topgear > all other automotive broadcasts.

Unfair that I can regulary watch neither....

try this - http://enormouslysideways.net/wrc2006.html

Good stuff, if you don't mind watching it in front of your 'puter...

http://images.dlink.com/products/DSM-320/DSM-320_main.jpg (http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=318)

I use one of these to stream it to my TV. Works great.

I've been watching the Eurosport feed and it's leaps and bounds better than Speed Channel crap.


yeah I found a Torrent of one of the Races it was great

I've been watching the Eurosport feed and it's leaps and bounds better than Speed Channel crap.

Speed Channel used the same feed, dubbed their own commentary, and added in the Nicky Grist bits. So, it was the same "crap" as the "Speed Channel crap."

Speed and fox are going to be carrying the full F1 season. So I doubt we'll see WRC.

Darn it, I was getting excited when I saw this thread.
I've got over 200 hundred channels and still nothing on!
Except John Stewart.:p

Speed and fox are going to be carrying the full F1 season. So I doubt we'll see WRC.

How does Speed and Fox carrying F1 mean that Versus won't be carrying WRC?

try this - http://enormouslysideways.net/wrc2006.html

Good stuff, if you don't mind watching it in front of your 'puter...

I'v never being able to use this site!!

I'v never being able to use this site!!
Try this site...

http://www.corriewolfe.com/Movies/

Try this site...

http://www.corriewolfe.com/Movies/

Thanks, :)

Speed has no choice but to show NASCAR garbage 24/7. The CEO finally posted an article about people whining about how much coverage is given to NASCAR over rally, or whatever.

Reruns of trackside live bested ratings of WRC ratings by a landslide. Yes, a rerun of a live NASCAR show was better than a brand new rally race. Sure, WRC didn't come on until pretty late, but it proves what a juggernaut NASCAR is. Sponsors want ratings, and that's what they get. It sucks that not enough people in the US have a reasonable interest in WRC.

Any update on this since the new season starts in like a month?

i used to stay up just to watch the coverage of WRC and F1 also, now they're puttin' dumb a$$ reality show ***** on. SPEED sux now.

Bitch and moan all you want but Speed still has full Formula 1 coverage, apart from two or three races per season that CBS grabs (and even then Speed still airs them later). That includes races, qualifying and practice. They have some great motorcycle racing, they had a long show on the Newfoundland Rally this year and loads of Le Mans coverage.

Get a DVR, learn to use it. Download torrents of rally and have quality coverage with little effort.

The CEO finally posted an article about people whining about how much coverage is given to NASCAR over rally, or whatever.



So wait the CEO now agrees too much NASCAR is being shown now? I guess thats something to build on?

Any update on this since the new season starts in like a month?

I would be astonished if Speed had any intent on covering WRC. If you believe the people at Speed, it's ISC's fault for asking for too much money. I have my doubts that ISC would ask for less of a deal than they had last year.

IMO, the only hope for seeing WRC in North America ever again would involve either mass change at Speed Channel, the series getting picked up by another network, or North American carriers bringing Eurosport and the like to these shores.

I would be astonished if Speed had any intent on covering WRC. If you believe the people at Speed, it's ISC's fault for asking for too much money. I have my doubts that ISC would ask for less of a deal than they had last year.

IMO, the only hope for seeing WRC in North America ever again would involve either mass change at Speed Channel, the series getting picked up by another network, or North American carriers bringing Eurosport and the like to these shores.
I was talking about Versus picking up WRC instead of Speed.

Speed still has full Formula 1 coverage, apart from two or three races per season that CBS grabs (and even then Speed still airs them later). That includes races, qualifying and practice. They have some great motorcycle racing, they had a long show on the Newfoundland Rally this year and loads of Le Mans coverage.

Whatever you do, don't give credit for the Targa NL coverage to Speed. It's produced by a Canadian company and Speed just happens to buy it cheap. They do the same for CASCAR coverage.

People have every right to be concerned, even if they are only interested in F1 or something else similar. If you think F1 is untouchable, you need to take a closer look at what Speed considers quality programming. Yes, they have great coverage of le Mans and F1 events, but that's about all that's worth talking about any more. If Speed can consider Unique Whips, Pinks, and an 18-hour marathon of NASCAR Beyond The Wheel to be quality programming, it's quite plain that not even F1 is sacred.

A few years down the road, it's not outside the realm of possibility that F1 fans or le Mans fans will be griping just the same as us WRC fans are doing now.

I was talking about Versus picking up WRC instead of Speed.

My bad, then. :) Best of luck in that case. Us Canucks don't get Versus, but here's to hoping OLN Canada will bring "select programming" to us as they did when Versus was OLN.

I get angry every time Speed shows their highlight reel, Rally is always included.
Excitement thieves! :furious:

The reason Motocross has gained so much in popularity, isn't because the sport changed or the veiwership changed. It's the result of progressivly increasing TV coverage.
If Speed had a back bone and would commit to the WRC, veiwership would follow.
I'm sorry but NASCAR SUCKS and 24hrs of NASCAR really sucks!

:)

Why does this thread taunt me so!??! :furious:

<-- predicts no change and will continue to have to torrent WRC07 footage.

So wait the CEO now agrees too much NASCAR is being shown now? I guess thats something to build on?

No, he was just reinforcing the idea that it makes perfect business sense to cater to what viewers want to see. It'd be a stupid business move to show WRC instead of NASCAR Trackside Live or whatever, because the ratings for NASCAR shows are so incredibly high.

They show what people want to see, simple as that. It sucks for rally fans, since there are apparently so few of us.

I've been watching the Eurosport feed and it's leaps and bounds better than Speed Channel crap.

Ditto I have a torrent I burned to a dvd of one of the races.

No, he was just reinforcing the idea that it makes perfect business sense to cater to what viewers want to see. It'd be a stupid business move to show WRC instead of NASCAR Trackside Live or whatever, because the ratings for NASCAR shows are so incredibly high.

They show what people want to see, simple as that. It sucks for rally fans, since there are apparently so few of us.



Ahh ok yea well at least it's a start... Because every time it seems like I turn to speed they are showing some crap on about NASCAR.

Try this site...

http://www.corriewolfe.com/Movies/

I'll check it out!

Tivo is set to record a whole 30 minutes of Dakar on Versus on the 7th!!

(Is that it? pathetic)

Tivo is set to record a whole 30 minutes of Dakar on Versus on the 7th!!

(Is that it? pathetic)

I remember years ago when Speed covered a large portion of the Dakar and had a daily show with updates. That is also when they covered the WRC. That was when SPEED was doing what is meant to do; show racing outside of NASCAR. I was watching it long before my first subaru.

Good site Carisma :)

No problem.

Tivo is set to record a whole 30 minutes of Dakar on Versus on the 7th!!

(Is that it? pathetic)

I thought they had nightly 30 minute coverage :(

Would it make sense to simply bombard SPEED with emails requesting WRC and other rally coverage? It may work, I mean they need to hear from us in order to cater to us.

Would it make sense to simply bombard SPEED with emails requesting WRC and other rally coverage? It may work, I mean they need to hear from us in order to cater to us.

Tried that...there have been many threads here and elsewhere that called for and got a repsonse to do that.

IMO, Speed is dead, a better bet is to ask versus, OLN, etc....

Tried that...there have been many threads here and elsewhere that called for and got a repsonse to do that.

IMO, Speed is dead, a better bet is to ask versus, OLN, etc....

Agreed. Speed doesn't give a rat's .. well, they don't care about the fans. They have answers for every argument you can make. The first and foremost is that it wasn't Speed's fault, it was ISC asking for too much money. When you point out that Eurosport was able to afford it, they counter with the fact that Eurosport 'almost didn't get it either'. So what? The fact of the matter is they did get it. When you point out that Speed is part of the Fox corporation and should have access to ridiculous sums of money, with which to be able to afford any amount ISC was asking for within reason, it's pointed out that Speed/Fox/NewsCorp is not in the business of promoting racing series out of their own pocket, and if the series wants promotion it needs to start advertising more in this part of the world. When you then point out that ISC asking for more money is quite possibly an attempt to entice Speed to then, in turn, go after bigger advertisers than, say, the Video Professor, Enzyte Bob, and the DR Field & Brush Mower, in order to attract more 'attention' to the sport here in North America by way of larger advertising/sponsorship, the Speed cheerleaders shift gears and say that there's no market for rallying here in North America anyway or else it would be on Speed/wouldn't have gotten such low numbers when it was on at 1:00am Sunday night/Monday morning several years ago. :huh::confused: The logic is baffling and makes you want to end your brain's misery with a Q-Tip, but it's the way things are done at Speed. They specifically have folk positioned on their message forums that purport to have no connection to the company, but are never seen posting anything that isn't damage control, never talk badly about Speed decisions, and always have an answer for a grievance, even if it's as ridiculous as the line of thinking portrayed above.

If.. no, when all the racing on Speed finds its way onto other networks and Speed collapses under the weight of idiotic shows like Texas Hardtails, Pinks, and Unique Whips, you won't find me shedding a tear. In my opinion, the best thing that could happen to any racing series is to get coverage on an alternate network other than Speed. (I like OLN simply because it has a Canadian affiliate, of sorts - though that remains to be seen how that'll play out now that the US version has changed to "Versus TV".) ESPN is high on Rally America. Someday soon maybe we'll get to see Eurosport added to our satellite/cable packages, or even perhaps MotorsTV, which would be a great channel to 'work up' to Crush Speed and put Will Castro, Rich Christensen, et al, out on the street.

If.. no, when all the racing on Speed finds its way onto other networks and Speed collapses under the weight of idiotic shows like Texas Hardtails, Pinks, and Unique Whips, you won't find me shedding a tear. In my opinion, the best thing that could happen to any racing series is to get coverage on an alternate network other than Speed.

Speed is a business, and NASCAR sells great for them. If NASCAR popularity declines, Speed will probably fill holes in their lineup with other types of racing, it's unlikely they will go out of business. Much of the racing they used to show was cheap (PCA club racing and comes to mind), but it also got bad ratings.

I always hoped they would start a Speed 2 or the like, but if OLN or someone else wants to step up then that's fine too. Petition these other network's to pickup the shows you want.

Speed is a business, and NASCAR sells great for them. If NASCAR popularity declines, Speed will probably fill holes in their lineup with other types of racing, it's unlikely they will go out of business. Much of the racing they used to show was cheap (PCA club racing and comes to mind), but it also got bad ratings.

You misread me.. I have no qualms about NASCAR. I was a longtime fan of NASCAR in the Earnhardt Sr years. I personally find rally, V8SC, DTM, etc to be more interesting nowadays, as there is actual racing compared to the rush-hour mess that most NASCAR ovals provide. However, I don't mind (much) the NASCAR racing coverage on Speed.

What I do protest is the saturation of cheap, crappy so-called 'lifestyle' shows that have been filling up the channel. The aforementioned three are just the worst of them (well, two now - TH was thankfully trashed after a year of proof that it was horrible). I also dislike the Under the Sheets or Beneath the Wrenches or whatever the 1,952 additional 'behind the scenes' programs on various NASCAR elements are called. During today's V8SC coverage, Speed is advertising for a bobsledding race between NASCAR drivers. Really, honestly, there is such a thing as too much, and even rabid NASCAR fans that I know consider all this crap too much, by a long shot.

Besides all that, NASCAR's popularity has been declining steadily over the past few years. NASCAR is trying all sorts of desperate measures to make things interesting again such as the 'chase', messing with the car design/setup/etc, and so on, when if they wanted to make for exciting racing, they'd look at some of the other successful series around the world and do the same kind of things. Instead, NASCAR has become the professional wrestling of the racing world. And with the blind dedication to lifestyle programming instead of racing, Speed has become, as someone else who shares my opinion so eloquently put it, the "MTV for car guys" instead of the "ESPN for car guys".

Ratings numbers are inherently flawed for a niche network such as Speed, in any case, and are becoming more and more irrelevant overall in the era of the "500 channel universe" and digital video recorders/timeshifting. Relying on the Nielsen numbers, as Speed does, as a gauge for its programming's popularity, eliminates the viewers in Canada (like me), plus all the other areas where Speed is received - of which there are plenty. There're tons of other reasons ratings have no place being used to gauge interest in a dedicated motorsports channel (which Speed claims it is, according to its press releases on its website).

I always hoped they would start a Speed 2 or the like, but if OLN or someone else wants to step up then that's fine too. Petition these other network's to pickup the shows you want.

First thing - who says I haven't been petitioning other networks? :)

Second - I would protest the creation of a Speed 2 to my last breath. The reason for this is that Speed 2 would be managed by the same brain trusts that Speed is run by. As much as people disliked Jim Liberatore (previous head of Speed), he at least had a clue of what racing fans want. The scuttlebutt is that he was dumped because he protested the path the mothership wanted Speed to take.

In the past year, I have watched Canadian Rally Championship on Rogers Sportsnet (a Canadian national sports network), CASCAR on The Sports Network (another Canadian network), STAR Racer (a reality-type show where one driver of 32 was nominated to become the next rookie in the STAR Mazda series) on Discovery Channel, Dakar Rally on OLN (Canada), and WRC via the Internet, downloading Eurosport coverage. I'm grudgingly watching V8SC, DTM, and BTCC etc on Speed this winter, because it's the only way I've been able to find it (although the possibility of downloading torrents might be better this coming year for at least V8SC).

For Speed to tell me that they don't show racing because there is no interest in it, while I at the very same time am finding all this racing available on other networks and in other ways, I have to call "bull" on Speed's claim.

Various mainstream networks (CTV, NBC, CBS, etc) are now offering their programming via broadband off their website. I paid the WRC folks this year for both the WRC+ service, allowing me real-time leg/split times, etc., and WRC SMS, with stage/leg/day summaries sent to my mobile phone, for the times when I couldn't be near a PC all day/night to watch and listen to the race. IMO, it's only a matter of time before series such as WRC, V8SC, etc., learn to combine the two and let us all watch the races on our computers, making Speed even less relevant.

Besides all that, NASCAR's popularity has been declining steadily over the past few years. NASCAR is trying all sorts of desperate measures to make things interesting again such as the 'chase', messing with the car design/setup/etc, and so on, when if they wanted to make for exciting racing, they'd look at some of the other successful series around the world and do the same kind of things.

What real race series isn't doing these things? Rules never stay the same for long. NASCAR does a lot of thing right, including access to the drivers, and that's what makes their fans so loyal.

Fortunately for all of us race coverage is becoming more and more available online, and with the way things are going that will be the way to find niche products.

Besides all that, NASCAR's popularity has been declining steadily over the past few years.

Do you have any evidence you can cite? :confused:

This is the first time I've heard this statement, not that I wouldn't be happy to hear it, I'm just surprised.

Do you have any evidence you can cite? :confused:

This is the first time I've heard this statement, not that I wouldn't be happy to hear it, I'm just surprised.

OK, "declining steadily over the past few years" might be wishful thinking, but "not thriving" wouldn't be too far off.

Jayski's site (http://www.jayski.com/pages/tvratings2006.htm) has a section where you can check out NASCAR ratings for a number of years. The '06 ratings are out and seem to indicate that ratings were down for everything except 2 or 3 races.