The final days of Speed

[anthonyvop]

Don't you know, Jag, that anyone who doesn't march in lockstep with Anthony in his far right political ideals is a left wing card carrying commie pinko? Anthony has been very clear in that in his posts over the years.

You say that, but the man sees himself as a centrist. This I find scary.

Insults and name calling is expected as is none of you guys actually proving my original statement on this topic is wrong.

Fox entertainment exists for one thing and one thing only. To make money. Their programing reflects that. If you don't like the programing than it is the viewers who watch that are to blame.

[garyshell]

Everything is about me in one form or the other. Even this thread.

Damn, how silly of me, I totally forgot!

Gary

[FormerFF]

I don't know how many of you get Velocity, but if you do, check it out. There's all kinds of nice motorhead stuff there, but not much racing, at least as of yet. They are doing a four part series on Patrick Dempsey's LeMans effort, so there's hope.

[Jag_Warrior]

Not surprised by your reaction at all. Actually it was predictable.

Have a nice day

You didn't get to read my original reaction, Anthony - and I agree that it was best that you didn't.

But since you want to keep the game going, so we shall. All things considered, exactly what was in my original post that suggested any of the foolishness that you posted??? Please point it out. Read slowly. Take your time. Your powers of perception and basic reasoning are on trial now, Mr. Vop. You see, putting words in my mouth and twisting what I have (actually) said just raises the question of your own cognitive abilities.

I don't claim to be the most business savvy person on this board, but I have forgotten more about business principles and practices than you will ever know. That is not an attack on you. That is simply a statement of truth. My evidence supporting that belief is your complete inability to comprehend anything but the most basic of business principles. Feel free to calculate an IRR or NPV, and throw in a discounted cash flow model, and you might prove me wrong. But until then, nah uh! I know better than you why Fox, and any other publicly traded corporation, is in business. And no where did I say that they should bend to my own personal desires or that they didn't have the right to broadcast whatever they choose to broadcast. To suggest that I did say that puts you at a choice of admitting that you are a liar or a fool. That also is not an attack. But when one claims something to be true, that is obviously not true and it obviously was not said or suggested, then he must admit that he has either (knowingly) lied or he cannot understand basic, written English. So I leave you to make that choice on your own.

As for Fox, once they began filling Speed Channel with intellectual gems such as Pass Time, Are You Faster Than A Redneck?, Pinks, Pinks All Out, Pimp My Ride and a host of other cheap, trashy, reality TV shows, I began watching less and less. You see, even though it may be their right to open a restaurant and serve fried rats (I hear there's one hell of a gross profit margin on fried rats, Anthony), it is my right to not eat there... and it is also my right to criticize them for serving fried rats. But if you like fried rats, well, you can belly up to the all-you-can eat buffet at the Fox Restaurant anytime you want.

Yes, in an attempt to make some easy money, they attempted to find a low-brow niche audience, which would glom onto the low quality and cheap-to-produce programming they were shoveling out like pig slop. But as Speed still had so many racing series that mainly appealed to people of (hmm, how to say it nicely?)... uh... higher tastes, their Mutt & Jeff reality shows just guaranteed that their channel would get switched off as soon as F1, Grand Am or Le Mans went off. And in closing, if you present disparate programming, which (literally) turns off your original, primary audience, that doesn't sound like a very smart way to "make money" to me. And if you can't make money doing whatever it is that you primarily do (your core competency), then IMO, that is your fault... not the market's. So now, they're doing what people without vision or innovative thinking usually do: give up and take the easy way out.

You have a nice day as well, Anthony. As always, I enjoy our little chats.

[Jag_Warrior]

Don't you know, Jag, that anyone who doesn't march in lockstep with Anthony in his far right political ideals is a left wing card carrying commie pinko? Anthony has been very clear in that in his posts over the years.

Over the years I've learned to take him with a (gigantic) grain of salt.

But going back to programming in general, and Speed Channel (R.I.P. Speedvision) specifically, I hope to be one of the increasing number of "cord cutters" in the U.S. within the next year or two. Whether the networks make money or not, well, that's not our problem, is it? If there was more high quality, less blatantly stupid programming, which didn't insult our intelligence, we'd probably be less bothered by our rising cable or satellite bills. Don't you agree?

The Velocity Channel that FormerFF mentioned shows promise and potential. I have found myself watching it more & more. It is sort of like the old Fine Living Channel (before it was turned into the Food Network). There are some decent classic and exotic car shows on there. And from what I've read, they are going to try to get more into live race broadcasts. And there are several other channels that seem to be more focused on people who have no desire or intention of watching marathons of Keeping Up With the Kardashians or Honey Boo Boo. I'm not talking about fancy, schmancy high brow shows that deal with "what's the best brand of caviar?" - just things that are a step above the intellectual slop that pollutes our TV systems now. Some of these can now be had by online streaming. And I guess one could use "other means" to get certain programming if you decide to cut the cord. So over the next year or so, I am going to carefully consider what I REALLY want to watch vs. what I just watch every now & again. I'd like to keep access to AMC and HBO for the one or two series on there that are half decent. But for the most part, I can hook that new (half used) "smart TV" that I bought last Christmas up to an Apple TV or some other streaming box, stick a digital antennae in the yard and worst case, get basic cable as a supplement, and be done with paying over $100/month for programming that I seldom watch, and generally hate when I do. But since NBCSports now has F1 (and doing a darn good job with it and IndyCar, IMO), that seems to be the major dilemma that I face.

Cord cutting has accelerated to an historically high rate. And the reason for that (IMO) is that without value, people will not hand over their hard-earned $. That's a lesson for the cable and satellite companies, content providers, the networks (including Fox - sorry Vop)... and various racing series.

[FormerFF]

I've been watching Velocity a bit this week. I'd recorded the first three episodes of that Patrick Dempsey LeMans miniseries, and have been enjoying it immensely. I was afraid it would be too focused on Patrick as a celebrity, but it's been all about the racing side of his life and his team.

I also see that Velocity is going to start showing some of the motorsports programming from Eurosport, so hopefully more racing (and rallying and rallycross) will follow.

Meanwhile, Fox Sports 1 seems to be getting off to a slow start. I saw that they were showing some kind of second tier college football games, and reruns of the Lucas Oil short track series. Also, lots of their sports news show. I did watch part of a Grand Am race on Fox Sports 2, and oddly enough it was in standard definition. I'm really not sure what was up with that.

[nigelred5]

I"ve been watching Velocity quite a bit. It is quickly morphing into a chanel very similar to the original Speed. They recently started running ads for Eurosport racing coverage.

[mainemandean]

I really, really, REALLY wish that Wind Tunnel had lasted a few more weeks so we could have heard Dave's take on MikeyWaltripGate!

[garyshell]

I really, really, REALLY wish that Wind Tunnel had lasted a few more weeks so we could have heard Dave's take on MikeyWaltripGate!

And his take on the return of JPM to IndyCar.

I miss Despain a lot. It was a Sunday night ritual for me.

Gary

[zako85]

One extremely unfortunate result of the demise of SpeedTV is that I seem no longer to be able to get Australian V8 Supercars in HD format. FS1 shows V8SCs, but in standard format, which looks terrible on a large LCD screen. Granted, I am surprised we get V8SCs in any format, but still.. I feel disappointed.