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NASCA-FOX-CABLE :NASCAR EVENTS MIGHT NOT BE SEEN
Come January 1, 2010, over 14 million cable customers will no longer have Fox networks. Fox, of course, televises many of sports’s biggest events, including a large bulk of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule. Unless Time Warner Cable and Fox can come to a deal and renew their contract over the next three days, many NASCAR fans will be without their Sprint Cup Series until June, when TNT and ESPN take over.
Even more greatly effected is the Camping World Truck Series, which has boasted improved ratings each year it has been on SPEED. However, The SPEED Channel, which is owned by FOX, may go “dark” in the new year, which could end that streak promptly.
According to numerous internet reports, Fox now wants cable companies to pay their local Fox stations a monthly fee along with a fee for their other regional and national networks, such as FX, SPEED and the Fox Reality Channel. The change of charging an extra monthly fee for Fox’s local stations would only apply in some markets, as Fox does not own every local Fox affiliate. However, people that live in Dallas, Los Angeles and New York will be among those affected.
The added fee is believed to cause a 300 percent increase over the price that Time Warner paid Fox in their previous agreement. Time Warner, however, says they will not pay the added fee because it will in turn force them to raise their customer’s monthly bill. Fox, on the other hand, claims that the nation’s second-largest cable provider is more than able to pay the extra price for their networks.
With all of this at hand, NASCAR fans could be one of the many innocent victims in this battle that appears to have no resolution in site. With the season-opening Daytona 500 less than two months away, this disagreement is sure to cause an uproar amongst NASCAR fans, who join NFL and MLB fans as those who will be greatly affected by this clash.
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