[SIZE="5"]Catching races on the tube
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When ESPN began broadcasting in 1979, it needed to fill 24 hours a day with sports. Broadcasting racing was an ideal way for them to fill hours. It was a perfect fit – a sports station looking for sports to televise and a sport that was looking to be televised much more extensively than it was. TV rights to races were less expensive then, costing the networks about $50,000 per event. After the two came together, some viewers stumbled upon racing, including NASCAR, because it was on so often. Existing fans couldn’t get enough to begin with, and the more races that ESPN broadcast, the more they watched.
The modern era of NASCAR television broadcasting is considered to have begun in 1979, although it was a coincidence that was the same year as the birth of ESPN. In 1979, CBS aired its first live, flag-to-flag telecast of the Daytona 500, catapulting the sport into a new age. In 2004, FOX and cable partner FX broadcast events during the season’s first half, while NBC and cable affiliate TNT combined to provide coverage of the second half. Now, nearly every major network and many cable stations can say they have broadcast a NASCAR race or have had some NASCAR coverage. That includes not only the major networks and ESPN but also specialty stations such as SPEED Channel.
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When ESPN began broadcasting in 1979, it needed to fill 24 hours a day with sports. Broadcasting racing was an ideal way for them to fill hours. It was a perfect fit – a sports station looking for sports to televise and a sport that was looking to be televised much more extensively than it was. TV rights to races were less expensive then, costing the networks about $50,000 per event. After the two came together, some viewers stumbled upon racing, including NASCAR, because it was on so often. Existing fans couldn’t get enough to begin with, and the more races that ESPN broadcast, the more they watched.
The modern era of NASCAR television broadcasting is considered to have begun in 1979, although it was a coincidence that was the same year as the birth of ESPN. In 1979, CBS aired its first live, flag-to-flag telecast of the Daytona 500, catapulting the sport into a new age. In 2004, FOX and cable partner FX broadcast events during the season’s first half, while NBC and cable affiliate TNT combined to provide coverage of the second half. Now, nearly every major network and many cable stations can say they have broadcast a NASCAR race or have had some NASCAR coverage. That includes not only the major networks and ESPN but also specialty stations such as SPEED Channel.