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

[ozrevhead]

and what happens with the rest of them???

Looks like we will lose our race AND our coverage at the same time

[NickFalzone]

as far as i can tell, internationally ESPN holds the rights to their 5 races, and the rest you'd have to get either on indycar.com, versus.com, or mediazone.com. I believe there's a 24 hr delay on mediazone, but you do get to see the full race:

http://www.mediazone.com/channel/rac...hedulemain.jsp

[ozrevhead]

oh thats just dandy isnt it

[MDS]

As far as rain fade and Vs. I've noticed that certain channels seem to have a more relaible position on the satelite bandwith, or something. Like right now I have BBC America on but Verses has been off the air in my house for hours.

I have flipped to Vs a few times since the announcement to check out their programming, and it seems to largely be made up of cheaply produced hunting reality shows. I could see where their viewers would be attracted to NASCAR, but Indy Car?

[garyshell]

Report from AP:

Versus Making Its Plans for IndyCar Broadcasts


Sep 10, 11:35 AM (ET)
By The Associated Press Since it was announced last month that the majority of the IndyCar Series schedule will be shown on the Versus cable channel for at least the next 10 years, a debate has raged over whether the series should have stayed with ABC/ESPN family of networks, which currently reaches more homes.

ABC will continue to broadcast the Indianapolis 500 and four other races through 2012, but Versus will air at least 13 races each season, beginning in 2009. IndyCar officials are hoping the new partnership will breath life into the television production and give the open-wheel series more exposure.

Several Versus executives took in the points finale last weekend at Chicagoland Speedway, spending considerable time in meetings.

"There's nothing in place right now, but I think over this relationship, because it's so long, we definitely want to be innovative and hear from the fans, the viewers and the teams (on) what can be done to make the viewing experience better," said Marc Fein, executive vice president programming, production and business operations.

"One of the reasons we're here this weekend is to take it all in and to see if any ideas come to mind, either on our own or from talking to a lot of folks," he added. "We're going to look at everything."

Versus is owned by Comcast Corp. and reaches about 74 million homes through cable and satellite.

Fein said the network has not yet made any decisions on a broadcast team.

"As we get properties, we like to put our own brand and stamp on them," he explained. "For (NHL) hockey, it was a combination of people who have done it in the past, nationally, versus some other folks who we brought on to give them their chance. We want to be smart. We want to be credible, obviously, and have the right people out there, and we also want to infuse some life into it."

Fein said what is known is that the race broadcasts will be three hours, instead of the current two-hour windows.

"That will give us more time to cover personalities, the behind-the-scenes," he noted. "We're also going to have a one-hour qualifying preview show the day before each race, which is also going to help us build excitement for the weekend." Besides the NHL, Versus also broadcasts college football, Davis Cup, Tour de France, mixed martial arts and bull riding.

Gary