[cmakin]

Originally Posted by racefan20 Australian rules football....where? :2:

Setanta USA had it, but they shut down and programming is provided by Fox Soccer Plus. No Aussie Rules any more. At least they are still broadcasting Rugby Union, which is why I got Setanta in the first place.

But I still don't understand how there can be endless poker tournaments, billiard games, cheerleader contests, reality shows about tow truck drivers, or other silly reality shows on ESPN and Speed, but no real racing. I guess that is why I am an insurance adjuster and not a TV programmer. Of course I don't watch any of the ESPN channels and rarely watch Speed. That must put me in a narrow demographic.

Having worked in motorsports TV back in the 90's, I can tell you a few things about racing on TV:

I used to do the 'This Week on DIRT' TV program from 1991-2000...and we were on a variety of over-the-air stations and cable systems...and even though we did the show 'on the cheap', it was still a pretty substantial cost for equipment/staff/production of what you would call a 'simple' half hour show.

We began broadcasting live races in '96/'97, and the costs got even higher when you added in additional staff/equipment/satellite time...not to mention the costs you might not think about, like crew catering and hotels...

While the shows did generate some revenue from advertising sales, much of what paid for the shows was an allocation from existing sponsor packages...so we were almost a 'value added' portion of a sponsorship, which meant that we had to deliver the product to honor the sponsor commitment with dollars that were essentially coming out of the sanctioning body/promoter's pockets.

We had decent coverage (30 to 40 million homes) for the live shows on independent cable sports outlets around the USA, but when many of them became FOX Sports regional networks, we lost distribution...and simply couldn't generate enough sponsor dollars to offset the increased cost of having to BUY time on a major sports cable network.

It's a pay to play world, even more so now than it was when I was doing the TV stuff...and like it or not, the statement about racing/dirt track/sprint cars being a 'niche of a niche' is accurate in the marketing and sponsorship world...and only the major players like NASCAR and the Izod ICS can get networks to pay THEM a rights fee to carry their events.