NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice sessions and the Camping World Truck Series race August 17 from Michigan International Speedway will be among the live telecasts on the first day Fox Sports 1 goes on air in place of the Speed cable network. And that could be a problem. Among those still negotiating carriage fees with Fox Sports 1 are DirecTV, Dish and Time Warner Cable. Spokesmen for DirecTV and TWC said Thursday that discussions are ongoing and Dish also has not signed a deal, according to the SportsBusiness Daily. Speed is in nearly 86 million homes, but millions of its current subscribers wont be able to see Fox Sports 1 unless a carriage deal is finalized. DirecTV has 20 million subscribers, Time Warner Cable serves 14.6 million customers and Dish has 14 million subscribers. Not all of those subscribers pay for packages that include Speed (and would include Fox Sports 1), but those are three of the largest television providers in the country. According to the SportsBusiness Journal, Speed costs about 23 cents each month per subscriber, and Fox is looking to increase that to 80 cents per month. Its not surprising that these negotiations go down to the wire, but its enough to make NASCAR fans nervous as the channel they know as Speed will cease to exist when Fox Sports 1 is launched in its place in about a week. A NASCAR spokesman declined comment as negotiations between the network and the cable and satellite operators continue. Among the NASCAR programming scheduled for Fox Sports 1 for August 17 is all of the NASCAR activity at Michigan, both Sprint Cup Series practices as well as the truck qualifying and race. Just three days later, August 21 at Bristol, Fox Sports 1 is scheduled to show both truck practices as well as the truck race that night. Thats a good deal of NASCAR content in the first seven days of the new network all of which NASCAR fans are in jeopardy of not seeing.( Sporting News )(8-9-2013) UPDATE: Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. has yet to strike deals to get Fox Sports 1 in the channel lineup of three of the biggest U.S. pay-TV companies days before it is scheduled to debut. DirecTV, Dish Network Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc. have a total of about 46 million subscribers – about half the number Fox has promised investors it will reach with the new channel. Comcast Corp., Cox Communications Inc., Verizon Communications Inc.s FiOS, AT&T Inc.s U-verse, Cablevision Systems Corp., Charter Communications Inc. and Suddenlink Communications have reached deals to carry Fox Sports 1, representing about 45 million subscribers.( Bloomberg )(8-14-2013) UPDATE 2: Fox Sports 1 should launch with few hiccups Saturday as Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, DirecTV and Dish all have agreed to show the new network that will replace Speed. The SportsBusiness Journal reported Wednesday night DirecTV, Time Warner Cable and Bright House will carry the channel even if they have not finalized carriage agreements by Saturday. The Los Angeles Times reported that Dish will do the same. The changes also have provided angst for fans in Canada, where Fox Sports 1 has not yet gotten approval. The Speed channel that remains on Canadian television providers will carry the Fox Sports 1 coverage from Michigan.( Sporting News )
