Versus will become the exclusive cable television home of the Indy Racing League

Per NY Times: Versus will become the exclusive cable television home of the Indy Racing League next year with its agreement to a 10-year deal worth an estimated $60 million. Versus, which will take over from ESPN and ESPN2, will carry 13 races. ABC will continue to broadcast the Indianapolis 500 and four other I.R.L. events. The agreement also gives Versus the rights to carry all of the Indy 500 qualifying. Scott Guglielmino, a vice president for programming for ESPN, said shedding the 13 I.R.L. races was not connected to the network’s holding Nascar rights.


VERY BAD MOVE Indy racing is now dead to me as we do not get Versus on our cable package and I am not paying extra for premium channels. Nobody gets Versus. Arch rival UCLA put a couple of games on Versus and only 1 out of 10 fans at best could find it - it was a disaster. At least Spike and Speed are basic cable - Versus is digital premium channel only - I doubt even your favorite sporta bar gets it.

If the IRL wants to be invisible to the general sporting public, broadcasting on Versus assures that !!!! Hello, anonimity...

Thank god USC football starts in less than a month - Go Trojans !!!

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Originally Posted by SoCalPVguy

Per NY Times: Versus will become the exclusive cable television home of the Indy Racing League next year with its agreement to a 10-year deal worth an estimated $60 million. Versus, which will take over from ESPN and ESPN2, will carry 13 races. ABC will continue to broadcast the Indianapolis 500 and four other I.R.L. events. The agreement also gives Versus the rights to carry all of the Indy 500 qualifying. Scott Guglielmino, a vice president for programming for ESPN, said shedding the 13 I.R.L. races was not connected to the network’s holding Nascar rights.


VERY BAD MOVE Indy racing is now dead to me as we do not get Versus on our cable package and I am not paying extra for premium channels. Nobody gets Versus. Arch rival UCLA put a couple of games on Versus and only 1 out of 10 fans at best could find it - it was a disaster. At least Spike and Speed are basic cable - Versus is digital premium channel only - I doubt even your favorite sporta bar gets it.

If the IRL wants to be invisible to the general sporting public, broadcasting on Versus assures that !!!! Hello, anonimity...

Thank god USC football starts in less than a month - Go Trojans !!!

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60 millions :o Amazing!!! + ABC Money

i have never heard of Versus?? but im still happy for indycar to get off ESPN,
it makes it wosre when your on a channel that also carrys nascar, cuz when it comes down to it, witch race will they carry?

again i never heard of Versus so i guess thats a bad thing,
its to bad nascar pretty much owns speedtv, cuz does anyone rember the old speed vision channel? they use to show alot of open weel racing, it sucks that nascar owns them now, cuz that channel could he been great,but we need a channel that even are friends from europe can watch ;)

I get versus(but I'm the only one of all my friends), but I agree it's a strange move for a sport trying to get into the mainstream again...

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Originally Posted by SoCalPVguy

a 10-year deal worth an estimated $60 million

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Seems to me like Tony George has finally grown tired of funding some parts of the IRL out of his own (i.e. IMS's) pocket now that he's won the open-wheel war (by default).

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Originally Posted by domaza

60 millions :o Amazing!!! + ABC Money

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with its agreement to a 10-year deal worth an estimated $60 million.

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Anybody else notice they didn't specify who is paying whom?

Versus used to be Outdoor Life Network, an I believe it's owned by Comcast, so no comcast, no versus unless they have a deal with your satellite provider. At least I get it and it is only 1 channel off all of the ESPN/ and local sports Channels on our Comcast lineup, so it's in the channel surfing neighborhood. Too bad sponsors won't give a rat's behind about the league now. They will basically see a 5 race series now.

Versus...hmm...why do I feel I've been down this road before? Oh yeah, CC and Spike. And to commit to 10 years at 6 mil a year? Doesn't seem like anyone is expecting a lot of growth in the series to make such a long term deal on a fairly obscure cable chanel. With the races still being produced by ESPN it seems we'll keep getting the same lousy production work we've come to expect this year. Sorry, hard to see this as anything but a step backward.

Well, in retrospect, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. ICS is now on ESPN and ABC, and their ratings are not going up whatsoever.
I know ratings will most likely fall because of this, but we'll have to see what the real story is.
I get versus, I'm happy.

From a British perspective, I'm wondering how this affects Five's coverage. They tend to get most of their US sports coverage from ESPN. It would be a shame to lose it just as the series starts gathering momentum.

Although, as long as the indycar.com website keeps showing races for free, it might not be too much of an issue...