CART: New TV deal?

[Jim Wilke]

Autoweek says CART will announce next year's TV deal soon:

AutoWeek

No speed: CART to announce new TV deal



CART will announce new TV arrangements for the United States at its race in Toronto, and it is almost certain that Speed Channel will not be part of the race programming.

While Speed has increased its subscribers in the last year to 60 million households, it still has a low “household penetration” rate among cable channels. The new deal will increase the number of races broadcast on CBS to at least 10, and add another cable partner for the rest. The leading candidate is the USA Network.

No word on who will do the production and how much that will cost CART and no word on how CART will pay all that money to CBS. I would also guess this means goodbuy to Speed and qualifying coverage. Could be worse, I suppose. At least UPN wasn't involved.

[Doctorindy]

What about Spike TV...err...TNN....err...the network formerly known as the Nashville Networks....err...Spike Lee channel ....oh wait, they settled that lawsuit....

[Turn13]

Does that mean there's a better possibility for future Indy Car programs on Speed?

[dog-ring]

If this is true it will be interesting to see what those posters that touted carts moving to Speed will have to say.

[Jim Wilke]

"Speed never did a thing for CART except cash their checks."

"Speed had lousy penetration, too many people couldn't get it."

"Being on network with bad production is WAY better than on a niche cable network only a few can see."

"Whatever Pook says is definitely the way to go. Until he changes his mind, in which case, that will be the way to go."

And like that.

[Railbird]

I'd pipe in but it looks as if the usual suspects are having way too much fun with their circumnavagated oscillition to be interupted at this point in time

[STAND E]

I hope CART's new TV deal is whatever the IRL's is...that is that CART gets merged with IRL next year. Enough is enough.

[Gman]

STAND E ----- AMEN Brother!

Enough is Enough.........

Let's get it on. Merge, Fold whatever, let's get them all together. have 30 Cars 20 races.

Let TG lead the way, heck let Pook be his no. 1 assistant. I'm tired of explaining the difference between CART & IRL racing. ONE SERIES. Toyota, Honda, Chevy/Ford ( I put them together on purpose!)

LET THE EGOS GO! Get it done. Two similar series aren't good for anyone.

I wonder if anyone has ever discussed this idea before! LOL

[Jim Wilke]

Originally posted by dog-ring
If this is true it will be interesting to see what those posters that touted carts moving to Speed will have to say.

Just for fun, I snagged these off a couple of other fora:

Let's face it....... Speed SUCKS! They do not market CART at all and when they do it might be during some stupid NASCAR thing like NASCAR Tech or Trackside At........ CART needs to get off Speed the ratings there are bad and not enough homes get Speed channel whenever I go to my sister's place she has no Speed channel and she lives in the biggest suburb in Illinois. I've been lucky that the races have been on CBS lately whenever I'm over at my sister's place. If CART could get on TNN that would be cool but then TNN would want CART to market WWE Wrestling which is something I'm very glad I stopped watching a few years ago. CART ON USA Network or TNN or CBS because Speed has disappointed me and it doesn't really help that they have a show with a host that likes to bash it and throw cheap shots at CART------Windtunnel with Dork Destain.

And:

I think this is great news.

With all due respect to the SPEED TV crowd, who have really done a great job with CART...

You can't grow a series on a niche channel that doesn't have widespread market penetration. CART needs to get all its races on mass-market cable, and USA would work just fine for that.

And still more:

YES, A CHANNEL EVERYONE GETS, FINALLY!!!!!!!!

As fine of a network it is, the fact is, many of us still can't get it through our providers. CART moving to network and basic cable is the right move (for the fans - and more importantly, the sponsors).

IMO, there is no downside to CART leaving Speed.

I agree. To me it is clear that Speed is very heavily weighted toward NASCAR. I hardly watch it anymore except to see the CART coverage. You can switch to it any time day or night and the likelyhood of seeing anything other than NASCAR coverage is low. They even give far more coverage to AMA, and motorcycle racing in general, than they give to CART. They devote an entire evening to it. So as far as I'm concerned, it's really not a negative. Even if the network doesn't give CART any more coverage than SPEED, at least more people have the opportunity to see it.

Yes, there were some comments on the other side of the scale but I believe my predictions were pretty close.

[STAND E]

Roger that Gman. Salute to you too. By "enough is enough" I wasn't complaining about my fellow forum members or anything in this thread. I respect those who want only road racing or such. Every fan has their tastes. I'm just not happy with open wheel split down the middle. These drivers are putting it on the line every race. Let's have the league owners and managers put it on the line too and get something done.

Hopefully this forum will some day get to be renamed from Splitsville to MergerMania.

[mnkywrch]

Why didn't you post on any of those forums, Jim?

Not surprised to see it happen, but a bummer all the same.

I've said for some time that Speed was great for Monday through Saturday. But you've got to have your Sunday races on network TV.

Speed did a good job with CART I thought, but financially, it didn't work (they were losing money on CART and that's why they dropped CART Friday Night & Friday coverage). They've got to make money, and NASCAR is what is making them money.

It was a vicious circle - without network promotion and a strong product, CART couldn't drive viewers to Speed. Speed, being a niche channel, can't draw viewers unless the product is there - and it clearly isn't in comparison to previous years.

I doubt the IRL would do much better, though they could use a similar deal - quals on Speed, races on network - since the Mouse doesn't seem to give one rip, much less two, about them.

I wonder if they'll keep Lingner's folks doing the production on the new network.

[Chaos]

I'll miss Speed. They do a good job. That said, CBS has been doing well this year too. More races there can't hurt. I hope we don't lose qualifying though (which seems to be inevitable)

[The Beer Baron]

I guess having CARt to CBS/USA is better than having no TV deal!

I guess the overall cost of production would be the same, be it Speed/CBS/USA/ABC/ESPN/PornTV ,

the fact is that CART will probably have to pay more for USA, but then advertisers, whoever is left, will get a bigger audience!

UNless something happens soon, open-wheel racing wont be on TV for long, be it CART or IRL, the IRL's sweetheart deal with ABC isn't producing the desired goods!

[SamC]

The thing to remember is that this is still a time-buy. Looking at the figures, CART simply does not currently have the money to buy that kind of time on USA Network and CBS.

Either

- this is all smoke and mirrors

- they have a sugar daddy that will be buying the ads that pay for the time buy, or buying the time directly, or loaning them the money.

- they are giving the product away. CART produces a finished product and just gives it to USA and CBS, which sells its own ads and keeps whatever money that yeilds.

[Disciple]

I'd really like a night of hot monkey love with Reese Witherspoon or Halle Berry. But I have a feeling that'll be just a dream for the rest of my natural life. In reality, if I want to go horizontal with anyone of that appearance, I'll have to pay for it, and it will probably cost more money than I have.

So I suppose I'll have to be content driving, like, a Ford with a plain looking woman inside.

Que sera sera.

[IndyIRLman]

Hmmmmmmmm........It seems like good news to me. I'm a bit surprised this thread is sooooooooooo negative.

[The Fry Sauce King]

Originally posted by Jim Wilke
Just for fun, I snagged these off a couple of other fora:




And:



And still more:






Yes, there were some comments on the other side of the scale but I believe my predictions were pretty close.

what's your point sailor?

[STAND E]

IIM, you have a point. Looking at CART in isolation, it sounds good. I think it doesn't make me that happy because I don't seem to want to see two successful open wheel series. It will forever be confusing and not as fun, but even more so. (For instance, even if there are great cool moments in the two series, the nag of knowing it doesn't count the way it used to will still be there). I wouldn't even want them to be successful divisions of a single series. I'd want all these kinds of races to be part of a single championship. So what can I do? I chose to hope, and to let my wishes be heard.

[tbyars]

Originally posted by Jim Wilke
Autoweek says CART will announce next year's TV deal soon:

No word on who will do the production and how much that will cost CART and no word on how CART will pay all that money to CBS. I would also guess this means goodbuy to Speed and qualifying coverage. Could be worse, I suppose. At least UPN wasn't involved.

Jim, as they say, the devil will be in the details.

Frankly, it would not surprise me at all if CART has worked a deal with USA and CBS where CART does the production and gives the programs to the networks, then the networks sell and keep the ad revenue.

And right now that's not too bad a strategy for the networks.

With CART for sale, one of two things have to happen. Either someone who can draw some sponsorship into the series will buy it, making this a potential windfall for the networks.

Or, no one will buy CART, in which case the networks aren't out a thing, because CART won't be able to put on a season next year.

Be interesting to see.

[Disciple]

CBS is in a position where they do not need any free programming they can sell. It doesn't work that way. CBS will want to be compensated for the time. Period. Maybe Letterman will provide some funding.

USA has traditionally been one of the highest ad sales billing cable channels over the past ten years. They'll pretty much laugh about the idea of being given free programming as well without compensation.

Methinks there may be a little much optimism in play. If they can't nudge ratings on a channel exclusively devoted to racing, how in the world can someone running a network think they'll be anything more than a cancer?

[Longhorn]

Yet Defender,I think CBS,and USA know a little more about the future of Cart than you do.

[indycool]

Why would CBS and USA know more about the future of CART than anyone else? It's a public company going into the tank financially. Pook and the MPH BoD have no clue to what the future brings, other than serious money problems that need to be addressed in short order. And no one's going to know for awhile what the deal is with CBS and USA. They hafta be time buys, as in the past. The ratings don't support those networks paying rights fees.

[mesquite]

Originally posted by indycool
Why would CBS and USA know more about the future of CART than anyone else? It's a public company going into the tank financially. Pook and the MPH BoD have no clue to what the future brings, other than serious money problems that need to be addressed in short order. And no one's going to know for awhile what the deal is with CBS and USA. They hafta be time buys, as in the past. The ratings don't support those networks paying rights fees.

And the IRL's ratings (including the Indy 500's ratings) support the millions ABC is paying the IRL ? Yeah right !! The IRL's best rated race is as good as the 30th best Nascar race. The other network races are equal to or no better than CART's.

[Longhorn]

Originally posted by indycool
Why would CBS and USA know more about the future of CART than anyone else? It's a public company going into the tank financially. Pook and the MPH BoD have no clue to what the future brings, other than serious money problems that need to be addressed in short order. And no one's going to know for awhile what the deal is with CBS and USA. They hafta be time buys, as in the past. The ratings don't support those networks paying rights fees.

My point is,if CART future is in doubt,they would not even bother with scheduling the races. Why scedule events that may not happen,not worth the hassle. So Cart's future must be a little more secure than the sages on this board believe. That was the point of my statement.

[indycool]

What else is CART going to do? Its course is set. If it says, "we aren't going to schedule races or have TV," then it's bankrupt. It must ACT like it's going to be in business or it's not, whatever the obstacles.

[Longhorn]

Originally posted by indycool
What else is CART going to do? Its course is set. If it says, "we aren't going to schedule races or have TV," then it's bankrupt. It must ACT like it's going to be in business or it's not, whatever the obstacles.

True,but CBS (Viacom) can see Cart's numbers,and if they thought CART was bluffing them,or there was no reasonable way that Cart was going to be around to fill in those time slots,CBS would not have bothered amending the contract.

[Jim Wilke]

They can't see all of CART's numbers because they haven't been revealed yet. Nobody knows who the mysterious people are behind the supposed private takeover move. Even if CBS and USA asked, Pook couldn't legally tell them. All he can and likely did say is that there are moves afoot that will ensure the financial well-being of the series. At this point, both parties have some sort of tentative, preliminary agreement. You may be very sure that CBS and USA will ask a lot tougher questions before a deal actually gets signed.

[indycool]

True, there will be performance clauses in ANY deal, like the promoter agreements which guarantee a minimum amount of cars or the sanction fee goes down.

[jjjanos]

Originally posted by Jim Wilke
They can't see all of CART's numbers because they haven't been revealed yet. Nobody knows who the mysterious people are behind the supposed private takeover move. Even if CBS and USA asked, Pook couldn't legally tell them. All he can and likely did say is that there are moves afoot that will ensure the financial well-being of the series. At this point, both parties have some sort of tentative, preliminary agreement. You may be very sure that CBS and USA will ask a lot tougher questions before a deal actually gets signed.

1. If CBS and USA are getting paid for their time, they aren't going to ask questions or at least no where as many as they would if the network was counting on selling ads to earn its dollars. The profit will come from the time-buy or from running a movie that never gets shown on cable - something like 16 Candles or When Harry Met Sally.

2. Pook is not legally obligated from telling people about any deal in the works. He is legally obligated from acting in a manner that benefits himself from the insider information. Anyone that he provides the insider information and who also knows that the data are insider information cannot benefit from that knowledge. If Martha Stewart gets convicted, the standard will be expanded to include knowing that the information probably is insider information. Whether the information is insider or not depends on how you learn about it, the number of people who know the information and whether the Feds want to throw your skinny little arse into jail.

If, in the middle of JFK, Pook is yelling into his cell phone that Bernie is going to offer $16 per share and 500 people hear it, then the information no longer is insider. If I'm dumpster diving outside of CART's office and find a copy of the tender offer, then it remains insider information. If I give that memo to Mark CARTennelli and he puts it on IR1BigTool.com, then, once it hits the web, I am free to buy all the stock I want.

[Jim Wilke]

1. If CBS and USA are getting paid for their time, they aren't going to ask questions or at least no where as many as they would if the network was counting on selling ads to earn its dollars. The profit will come from the time-buy or from running a movie that never gets shown on cable - something like 16 Candles or When Harry Met Sally.

If they are getting paid for their time, they are going to ask one big question: Who's paying? Have you got the money to do this deal? Clearly, CART can't live up to any new agreement that involves substantial cash outlays. Anyone can see there will not be enough money left next year to support this level of spending. CBS and USA have accountants and you can bet they've seen the same numbers we have and maybe a few more. Based on those numbers, CART can't pay and anyone who signs a new deal with them is going to ask for someone with deep pockets to step up and guarantee any debts. Who might that be?