DirecTV Cancels NASCAR "Hot Pass" Package For Next Season

A New NASCAR Package May Be Available To DirecTV Customers In Lieu Of "Hot Pass"

DirecTV next season will "not continue its exclusive NASCAR 'Hot Pass' pay-per-view package," according to Jim Utter of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. NASCAR Managing Dir of Corporate Communications Ramsey Poston confirmed changes to NASCAR's DirecTV platform and said, "We are working with DirecTV on a package that will hopefully provide fans some of the same enhancements they received with ‘Hot Pass.’" Poston said that a "new package, minus the driver-specific broadcasts, could be made available to all DirecTV subscribers, thus expanding the reach of NASCAR coverage" on the satellite provider. DirecTV debuted "Hot Pass" for the '07 season and "featured the use of up to 10 channels on DirecTV devoted to expanded coverage each week of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series races, including views from driver in-car cameras, radio communications and telemetry as well [as] the live nationwide race broadcast." Meanwhile, Utter notes DirecTV also has sponsored "several races" on Richard Childress Racing's No. 07 Chevrolet Cup entry, and it is "unclear whether that sponsorship will be affected." DirecTV Group Inc. yesterday announced that it has "frozen hiring and that all but the most critical capital projects would be suspended due to the poor economy" (THATSRACIN.com, 12/10). THE DALY PLANET reported sources had said that 250,000-300,000 DirecTV users "had to subscribe to Hot Pass to make it break even. With the economy tight and times getting tougher, it seems that DirecTV has seen the writing on the wall" (DALYPLANET.BLOGSPOT.com, 12/10).