NASCAR TV Partners Scale Back To Make Telecasts Less Costly

David Hill Said Fox Sports Is Looking To Reduce Costs With All Properties

Fox Sports Chair & CEO David Hill Thursday said that the network has "done some trimming behind the scenes" in an attempt to make its NASCAR telecasts more "cost-effective," according Paul Gough of the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Hill said that the net for the past 18 months had "looked 'minutely at every one of our productions,' including the NFL and MLB." Travel costs have been "cut back and deals with vendors -- when it comes to power, catering and mobile-production units -- have been renegotiated." Fox Sports has "cut by a day the time it takes to build its compound" on site at NASCAR events, and also has "partnered with ESPN to save costs, with the networks hiring the same technicians" who at this weekend's Daytona 500 will work Saturday with ESPN and Sunday for Fox (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 2/13).

BEING MORE FUEL EFFICIENT: ESPN VP/Motorsports Rich Feinberg Wednesday during a news conference at Daytona Int'l Speedway said the net has "had to do some belt tightening" because of the slumping economy. Feinberg: "We take that process very seriously. Our goal is that when you watch our telecasts on ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, all our multiple platforms, that race fans will see no difference from what we've done in the past." Feinberg added, "We're affected like everybody else. Just like the league is affected, the teams are affected, the sponsors. ... We've tried to work our way through that. I think our product will represent a step forward in growth from what we've been in the past" (ESPN).

HIT THE BRAKES: In Charlotte, Poole & Utter wrote it is "one thing for announcers on Speed to toe the company line and accentuate the positive as NASCAR battles a difficult economy." But it is "quite another" for reporter Dick Bergren to "chastise those who are trying to honestly assess the situation by saying everything is fine because there are lots of cars in the Daytona garage" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 2/12).