It was an interesting way to get home from school, but not too many cars were out on the streets of Southeastern Florida on Monday. Tropical Storm Isaac left behind up to a foot of rain and delivered it with some high winds and heavy surf.
TDP will be back Tuesday evening with a new NASCAR TV/media column. Thanks.
TDP will be back Tuesday evening with a new NASCAR TV/media column. Thanks.
The powers that be assure us that NASCAR fans will not get run-over Saturday night by local NFL preseason games. Before the regular season starts, some local stations get to actually produce and cover these semi-meaningless affairs. This Saturday, several areas will be affected.
There are six TV markets in the country that have NFL programming conflicts. All of them have made alternate viewing arrangements for NASCAR fans.
The easiest way to solve the problem is to switch NASCAR fans to the ESPN cable channel in their area. ESPN is not carrying the race nationwide, it's just a local market temporary channel switch. Buffalo (NY), Tulsa (OK), Quincy (IL) and Westlaco (TX) are the areas where fans just switch to their regular ESPN cable channel for the race.
Update: In the four markets where the race will be on ESPN, the race will also be on DirecTV channel 210, and DISH channel 145.
In the major market of Detroit, the ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV will move the NASCAR race to the station's digital tier 2 channel and the main station will join the live race when the Detroit Lions game is over. WXYZ's D2 channel is called 'Live Well Detroit' and in the Detroit area is channel 7.2 over the air, 437 on Charter, 297 on Comcast and 127 on Bright House.
Update: More locations for WXYZ-TV tier 2 "Live Well Detroit" viewing:
ACR Cable Beacon Hill: Channel 8
Lamont Digital Systems: Channel 144
WOW: Channel 101
Wyandotte Cable TV: 141
In Rochester, NY the local station WHAM-TV will do the same and carry NASCAR on its digital 2 tier channel. WHAM-TV's D2 channel is also the CW affiliate. It is Time Warner Cable Channel 16 or Channel 1016 for CW-HD, Digital Over-the-Air: Channel 13.2.
Due to the time zone issues, there are a handful of ABC stations that have news at 7PM ET when the NASCAR Countdown show is on. In Little Rock (AK), Corpus Christi (TX), and Omaha (NE) the news will end and NASCAR will be joined at 7:30PM before the green flag.
Local stations have their own agendas and sometimes that just does not mesh with live national sports. Over the years, ABC stations have preempted NASCAR races for everything from local charity telethons to the Mummer's Parade in Philly. That is why the move of most of the Sprint Cup Series races to ESPN and away from ABC was a good one.
Needless to say, the Watch ESPN service cannot be used as this telecast is on ABC. All those fun features fans get when telecasts are on cable go away in the broadcast network world. Thanks to Andy Hall from ESPN for providing the specific information on Saturday night's issues.
We will be here on Saturday and also on Twitter monitoring the situation. Stop by and drop us a line if there is a problem. Happy to have your opinion on this topic. Comments may be moderated prior to posting.
The ESPN telecast crew will use ABC for the broadcast, which has caused some problems. First, there are six TV markets that will be carrying local NFL pre-season games. Secondly, TV markets in the Central time zone with local news will be preempting the pre-race show. Finally, the approaching Tropical Storm Isaac will get non-stop coverage on the ABC affiliate in Miami tonight.
The good news is that all six NFL conflict markets have alternate viewing options available. Also, none of the local stations airing news will miss the green flag. Finally, Miami viewers can turn to their ESPN cable channel and will find the ABC coverage of the race. For a full breakdown of this information, check the previous post on this blog. Thanks to ESPN for keeping us updated on this topic.
Nicole Briscoe gets Rusty Wallace, Brad Daugherty and Ray Evernham in the Infield Pit Studio for the NASCAR Countdown show. Rusty is clearly under pressure to ramp-up his intensity and has responded with some controversial statements. Brad remains a cheerleader, but Evernham has begun to insert his opinions into the telecasts. This pre-race show should be one to watch.
Allen Bestwick has Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree alongside as usual. Unfortunately, ESPN often framed only two or three cars on-camera when covering the Friday night Nationwide Series race. It was awful. On a tiny track like Bristol, staying wide and then moving in after an incident or to cover a pass is the right way to operate. It's fundamental. This style of production makes effective play by play almost impossible.
What Friday night viewers saw and heard was PXP man Marty Reid following the pictures on the TV monitor instead of looking out the window and calling the race. Reid could not locate cautions on the small track until he saw the pictures. There was an awkward delay when the caution lights came on and while ESPN searched for a replay of what had happened.
While Bestwick has his work cut out for him, the pit road gang is really in the worst environment possible. Hand signals will be the order of the day once the green flag flies. The noise in the Bristol infield is intense. Keep an eye on Jerry Punch, Mike Massaro, Vince Welch and Dave Burns as they try to provide info under green flag conditions.
ESPN paid the money and the network has the right to present the sport as they see fit. The battle is clearly between the HD-driven images being produced for the "younger set" and the need to provide perspective and information for those of us who are hardcore fans. It's been an ongoing conversation.
Keep your eye on how the restarts are presented. Wideshots that show the field vs. in-car cameras and tight zooms for dramatic effect is the battle. Pitstops under green should be presented in a split-screen video box, so that both the race and the pitstop can be seen. This is easy to do with the small track.
Ultimately, the chief complaint of this race is commercials under green. Lap after lap goes by as the two and three minute commercial pods roll slowly by hour after hour. Of all the tracks on the Sprint Cup Series circuit, Bristol makes the fans crazy when things happen during commercial and the TV coverage comes back to caution on the track. Look for that to happen tonight, as there are no split-screen commercials in the coverage.
The good thing is that the changes to the track have generated a buzz. The truck and Nationwide Series races have proven to be interesting, but no real conclusions of how the Sprint Cup Series cars will be affected could be drawn. Also, Danica Patrick is in the field and will no doubt be a topic of the TV coverage tonight.
As usual, we chat live on Twitter during the race by using the #TDP1 hashtag for TV comments. We invite you to join us. Comments will be updated on this post during the race and there will be a Race Wrap post after the race for your opinion on the coverage. Thanks as always for dropping by.
Nicole Briscoe had some Little League World Series issues, but the NASCAR Countdown show featured Rusty Wallace, Brad Daugherty and Ray Evernham. As in years past, the problem with this race is that once the pre-race is over there is literally no time for this group to get on the air again. 15 second laps and critical pit stops combined with a heavy commercial load make on-camera time almost impossible.
Allen Bestwick was the other bright spot of the night. He called a race with enthusiasm from start to finish and coaxed the best out of Andy Petree and Dale Jarrett. While the pit road group was adequate, Bestwick was the person who really shouldered the load and made it work.
The racing on the track was constant, but ESPN's philosophy of showing two cars at a time continued. It's almost embarrassing to have to replay an incident at a tiny track like Bristol, but that certainly was the case on Saturday night. Zooming-in to make pretty pictures results in missing the moments that make up the race.
For once, the stars of the show were the drivers. Pushed into a new situation at a critical time in the season, they responded with hard racing instead of some of the points racing we had been seeing earlier this year. The results were the elements fans want to see. Intense action and good storylines with some caution flags along the way are the elements that built the sport.
Missing from this telecast were the beautiful wideshots of the track after restarts with the cars running almost all the way around the race track. Instead, the hyper-tight shots of single cars were mixed with in-car cameras and replays of the incidents that were missed. It's a formula.
Sunday night SPEED will return with three hours of motorsports. It should be interesting to see the driver, owner and media comments that SpeedCenter, Victory Lane (replay) and Wind Tunnel will relay to fans. This race is going to cause a buzz that will last for days. That is just what the sport needed.
We welcome your opinion of the ABC/ESPN coverage of the Sprint Cup Series race from Bristol. Comments may be moderated prior to posting. Profanity, hateful speech and derogatory comments are not in the spirit of this blog. Thanks again for stopping by.
There are six TV markets in the country that have NFL programming conflicts. All of them have made alternate viewing arrangements for NASCAR fans.
The easiest way to solve the problem is to switch NASCAR fans to the ESPN cable channel in their area. ESPN is not carrying the race nationwide, it's just a local market temporary channel switch. Buffalo (NY), Tulsa (OK), Quincy (IL) and Westlaco (TX) are the areas where fans just switch to their regular ESPN cable channel for the race.
Update: In the four markets where the race will be on ESPN, the race will also be on DirecTV channel 210, and DISH channel 145.
In the major market of Detroit, the ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV will move the NASCAR race to the station's digital tier 2 channel and the main station will join the live race when the Detroit Lions game is over. WXYZ's D2 channel is called 'Live Well Detroit' and in the Detroit area is channel 7.2 over the air, 437 on Charter, 297 on Comcast and 127 on Bright House.
Update: More locations for WXYZ-TV tier 2 "Live Well Detroit" viewing:
ACR Cable Beacon Hill: Channel 8
Lamont Digital Systems: Channel 144
WOW: Channel 101
Wyandotte Cable TV: 141
In Rochester, NY the local station WHAM-TV will do the same and carry NASCAR on its digital 2 tier channel. WHAM-TV's D2 channel is also the CW affiliate. It is Time Warner Cable Channel 16 or Channel 1016 for CW-HD, Digital Over-the-Air: Channel 13.2.
Due to the time zone issues, there are a handful of ABC stations that have news at 7PM ET when the NASCAR Countdown show is on. In Little Rock (AK), Corpus Christi (TX), and Omaha (NE) the news will end and NASCAR will be joined at 7:30PM before the green flag.
Local stations have their own agendas and sometimes that just does not mesh with live national sports. Over the years, ABC stations have preempted NASCAR races for everything from local charity telethons to the Mummer's Parade in Philly. That is why the move of most of the Sprint Cup Series races to ESPN and away from ABC was a good one.
Needless to say, the Watch ESPN service cannot be used as this telecast is on ABC. All those fun features fans get when telecasts are on cable go away in the broadcast network world. Thanks to Andy Hall from ESPN for providing the specific information on Saturday night's issues.
We will be here on Saturday and also on Twitter monitoring the situation. Stop by and drop us a line if there is a problem. Happy to have your opinion on this topic. Comments may be moderated prior to posting.
There are six TV markets in the country that have NFL programming conflicts. All of them have made alternate viewing arrangements for NASCAR fans.
The easiest way to solve the problem is to switch NASCAR fans to the ESPN cable channel in their area. ESPN is not carrying the race nationwide, it's just a local market temporary channel switch. Buffalo (NY), Tulsa (OK), Quincy (IL) and Westlaco (TX) are the areas where fans just switch to their regular ESPN cable channel for the race.
In the major market of Detroit, the ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV will move the NASCAR race to the station's digital tier 2 channel and the main station will join the live race when the Detroit Lions game is over. WXYZ's D2 channel is called 'Live Well Detroit' and in the Detroit area is channel 7.2 over the air, 437 on Charter, 297 on Comcast and 127 on Bright House.
In Rochester, NY the local station WHAM-TV will do the same and carry NASCAR on its digital 2 tier channel. WHAM-TV's D2 channel is also the CW affiliate. It is Time Warner Cable Channel 16 or Channel 1016 for CW-HD, Digital Over-the-Air: Channel 13.2.
Due to the time zone issues, there are a handful of ABC stations that have news at 7PM ET when the NASCAR Countdown show is on. In Little Rock (AK), Corpus Christi (TX), and Omaha (NE) the news will end and NASCAR will be joined at 7:30PM before the green flag.
Local stations have their own agendas and sometimes that just does not mesh with live national sports. Over the years, ABC stations have preempted NASCAR races for everything from local charity telethons to the Mummer's Parade in Philly. That is why the move of most of the Sprint Cup Series races to ESPN and away from ABC was a good one.
Needless to say, the Watch ESPN service cannot be used as this telecast is on ABC. All those fun features fans get when telecasts are on cable go away in the broadcast network world. Thanks to Andy Hall from ESPN for providing the specific information on Saturday night's issues.
We will be here on Saturday and also on Twitter monitoring the situation. Stop by and drop us a line if there is a problem. Happy to have your opinion on this topic. Comments may be moderated prior to posting.
