The Versus Nightmare Begins
According to Cavin, today’s teleconference will be about the league moving to Versus next year for all but five races.
If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. For the first time in the history of this blog, though, the three letters the fanatics used for Tony George almost made it into print. I may not be able to watch races at this point.
Update: Kentucky is almost a sell-out. Unrelated? Nope. Cincinnati is a market that is dominated by Time Warner Cable and doesn’t get Versus. Also, Mid-Ohio had great turn out. Well, I think Columbus is Time Warner country, too.
August 7th, 2008 at 6:44 am
I have nothing nice to say either. …I just feel sick.
August 7th, 2008 at 6:44 am
What does Time Warner have to do with it? I’m on Time Warner out here in SoCal, and I get Versus just fine. In fact I’m watching “Bass Fishing With Jesus” right now!
August 7th, 2008 at 7:27 am
not a big deal. espn butchers indy racing anyway. this way ABC concentrate on the one race everybody watches, and four more the average sports fan might watch. open-wheel fans will find versus and hopefully their coverage will be more comprehensive.
August 7th, 2008 at 8:18 am
I don’t know about open-wheel fans finding Versus. I didn’t even know I had Versus in my satellite package until the talk started about IRL going to Versus. How do we build the fan base on an obscure channel like that?
August 7th, 2008 at 8:40 am
people are acting like the IRL really had a choice. I’m not sure they did. Maybe this was all they could do.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:20 am
My hope of hopes is that Vs actually does something good with it, possibly learning from it’s experience with the NHL (that’s National Hockey League, not Newman Hass Lanigan).
The NHL fell off many people’s TVs as Vs doesn’t have anywhere near the reach of most other sports channels.
*cringing and whinging*
I’m cautiously optimistic, but I get it on my Dish. For those who have a cable system without it, try to get your cable company to get it or join my bliss with a Dish (or DirecTv).
August 7th, 2008 at 10:30 am
This is a good thing. ESPN doesn’t care about the IRL, they don’t advertise our races, and they crap and piss on us when it comes to scheduling. Versus is going to have pre-race, post-race, and possibly even a weekly show. Versus actually wants IndyCars, and we’ll help them grow as a station. No more tape delays, no more having to watch the end of a B-league taxicab race, or a trophy presentation for golf, all the while missing the pre-race and first couple laps of a race. I’ve always hated the 2.0 hour window on ESPN, because it’s never enough time. Worse yet, what if there is a rain delay? My guess, is that Versus agrees to interrupt or reschedule other programming to televise the IndyCars live, regardless of when the race comes on.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:31 am
I live in the Cincinnati area and have time warner and get versus
August 7th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Here is what I was hoping to hear. Now if it only comes to pass…
“At the same time, because they don’t have 61 sports that they have commitments to and are constantly juggling and balancing their limited time windows, they will be enthusiastic about preview shows and qualifying shows and longer pre-races. For our fans especially, that will be most noticeable difference. It’s just a lot more coverage.”
- IMS Productions President, Charlie Morgan.
Dear Versus, Please please please, strongly consider hiring; Paul Page, Jan Beekhuis, Gary Gerould, Jack Arute, Jerry Punch, Derek Daly, and even Eddie Cheever for your coverage.
Minimum 3 hours coverage for each race, plus weekly race show, plus Lights coverage, plus qual highlights coverage, etc?
I’m actually disappointed that ABC got to keep the 500 and 3 other races (no doubt the marquee ones). They’ll just muck em up, I’ll bet, and I’d hate for the 500 coverage to have less quality than the Vs coverage.
We’ll just see won’t we?
August 7th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Dear planetirl,
whats your secret?
August 7th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Judging from fan responses, it seems that Time Warner folks in many areas of the US do not get Versus at all. Cablevision, AT&T, Comcast, Dish, DirecTV and Verizon Fios all seem to, most currently getting the Golf/Versus HD. One issue is that come December, Comcast is launching separate channels for Golf and Versus HD. Hopefully the providers will choose to keep Versus HD. The Canadian fans are worried because TSN is co-owned by ESPN, and the NHL kind of got the shaft up there when they went to Versus.
August 7th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
The one advantage I can see to staying on ABC, aside from the tradition, is that you avoid pissing of Disney/ESPN. If something notable happens like Danica winning etc. it will still have a shot at making Sportscenter. Not a big deal, but maybe worth noting.
August 8th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I guess if I’m an Indycar fan, I’ll watch wherever I can. If ESPN doesn’t like it, they have no one to blame but themselves. I’m not overly impressed with SportsCenter anymore. They (like the whole of ESPN) seem to be trying to cover too much ground and not doing most of it any justice.
Dish Network has VS and Golf Channel on separate channels currently and VS is included in the America’s top 250 package, but not below.
I waited for years not getting a dish and hoping that with each successive merger, cable would get better. It only got more expensive. I’m so glad I have a dish. The only way I could come close with cable to what I have now is to go to digital cable which in our area is approximately 50% higher than dish (Comcast) and that’s without a cable DVR.
VS is also going to broadcast Indycar in HD which is included in most larger HD channel packages.
August 8th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
One word of caution, I also worked with a local company which actually handles satellite/TV/home theatre/etc. and installs, not just the strip mall-taking your money-call Mr. 800 number installer show up. I was able to get a better installation on my home than if the random dish dude showed up.
This is my sample experience vs my four neighbors who had the random installer show up (Dish and DirecTv) and did a fairly lousy job of stringing wires and installing the dish in unsightly locations.
Not saying any of the experiences are typical, I just had the advantage of being last of the 5 and got the best advice from them. Now I pass it along here for those who are interested.
August 8th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Almost everybody has access to versus, if they have cable or satellite, they just probably don’t know it. It’s often wayyyyy up the channel lineup. I have Time Warner and I’ve always had Versus, but we don’t have it in HD yet.
August 8th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
We all crawl before we walk before we run.
Long ago there was ESPN carrying auto racing long before Speed Channel (i.e., SpeedTV) came along. SpeedTV in its infancy understandably had its growing pains.
Long ago there were three (3) major television networks - ABC, CBS, and NBC. Along came FoxTV to vie to become the fourth major television network. Fox had its growing pains in its infancy.
If history continues to repeat itself, then Versus will do just fine as a cable television provider of IndyCar racing.
Even what is considered to be the second best traditional NASCAR Sprint Cup race - the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - is now telecast on cable television instead of on a regular broadcast network.
More is accomplished by all pulling together and working in a positive “can do” manner than in bickering back and forth.
If we are not happy with Versus, then we should all join together and contribute out of our pockets the money that would be necessary to assure all IndyCar races are broadcast on the big four (4) television networks - ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC.