Fox's partnership with NASCAR, which begins in 2001,
was examined by Mike Mulhern of the WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL,
who wrote that "there is this strange, wild gleam" in the
eyes of Fox Sports TV Group Chair David Hill "when he talks
of what he wants to do with the Winston Cup series." Hill
disputed the notion that NASCAR is "just another trophy" for
him: "No. This is something I've hoped would happen for Fox
ever since I got here from London. The three main sports I
always felt were right for Fox were football, baseball and
NASCAR. We've got a year to figure all this out." NASCAR
VP/Broadcasting Bray Cary added, "I don't think Fox is going
to be intimidated by NASCAR." But Mulhern wrote that "after
listening to" Fox and NASCAR "pitch their case," there is a
"vague, uneasy sense that both sides may be believing their
own hype. ... Indeed, there is a too familiar sense of
arrogance in some of this, on both sides of the TV table.
But then if you just laid $1.2 billion out on the table, you
might be talking up a good hand, too. Somebody's got to buy
some ads now to make this whole package work. The price of
tires and beer may be going up." Hill said Fox will use the
next year to "ponder. To think. To take an idea and look
at it. Let's look at this, look at that. So we'll use this
next 12-month period for pondering" (W-S JOURNAL, 11/21).
CHANNEL THOUGHTS: In N.Y., Richard Sandomir wrote that
one option being explored by NASCAR in order to create its
own 24-hour TV channel is "converting" SpeedVision from its
current programming of cars and boats. In order for Fox --
which owns 30% of Speedvision -- "to be NASCAR's partner in
the channel, it might have to buy out its partners.
SpeedVision could also continue as it is and spin off a
second network" for NASCAR (N.Y. TIMES, 11/21).
