Pay Per View Races? Will some Winston Cup races eventually go to pay-per-view? That’s what some worry following the announcement that Turner Sports’ TNT division plans to move some of its NASCAR programming to a new cable channel – TNT Plus. The new channel is part of TNT’s plan to raise rates 10 percent to cable companies that carry TNT. How many, if any, Winston Cup races TNT might move to its new upper-tier cable channel is unclear. And there are reports that TNT might black out Winston Cup coverage to cable companies that don’t accept the rate increase.(Winston Salem Journal), HOWEVER – last week NASCAR addressed the TNT situation: It looks like NASCAR is very confident that NASCAR fans won’t miss any programming on TNT in 2003. Paul Brooks, NASCAR VP of Broadcasting, tells us, “Turner has informed NASCAR that they are going through their normal cycle of negotiations with cable affiliates and they feel confident that these negotiations will result in renewed agreements and that NASCAR programming will not be affected. We look forward to giving NASCAR fans even more NASCAR programming in 2003”.(MotorsportsTV)(10-30/11-4-2002)
