TV News/Ratings: There is some good news from the Winston Cup television front – Sunday’s Pennsylvania 500 from Pocono got a 5.2 rating on TNT, up from a 4.2 for the same race at year ago- but there was also some bad news. Bloomberg News reported that Fox, NBC and Turner Sports woould suffer combined losses of at least $20 million on their broadcasts of NASCAR events this year despite higher ratings across the board. Increased competition for sports advertising dollars, an overall weakening of the economy and the increased supply and cost for commercial spots on NASCAR races are all contributing to the losses, the story said. According to the story written by Rick Westhead, the networks had 2,400 commercial spots on 28 over-the-air network broadcasts to sell this year, compared with 840 on 10 telecasts a year ago. The price for those spots on the average race increased from about $65,000 each last year to between $90,000 and $110,000 this year.(full story at That’s Racin’)(8-2-2001)
