NBC may tape delay the Daytona 500, and continued sponsor woes in 2002.
NBC …………
The partnership of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and Turner Network Television (TNT) brought us our racing coverage during the last half of the 2001 season. It was common knowledge that NBC was unhappy with their end of the highly touted NASCAR TV deal. They had to pay a small fortune for the rights to broadcast NASCAR events, along with the FOX Network which broadcasted the events during the first half of the 2001 season.
As NBC’s broadcasting tenure was reaching its halfway point last season, they did not make any attempts to hide their apparent displeasure with the outcome of their big TV deal with NASCAR. They claimed that although they were getting ratings that were much higher than race coverage had afforded in the past, they were losing a lot of money. They are limited as to the amount that they can charge advertisers for commercial advertising time. If they charge too much for a thirty second or one minute commercial slot, the advertisers will balk and advertise elsewhere. If they charge too little, then they will not be able to realize a profit or break even. NBC is claiming that their cost to broadcast the events, combined with the amount they are paying for the broadcasting rights, is more than what they will be taking in within the allotted time of the broadcasting contract. As a result, they have set out in search of a way to weasel out of their contract with NASCAR.
Some of you may remember the melee at Charlotte in October when NBC refused to mention the speedway's name, and the names of some of the race team sponsors, because they had not purchased regular commercial advertising time to sponsor the race coverage. Humpy Wheeler, the Charlotte track manager, even had tow trucks backed up to the NBC technical trailers to have them removed from the property unless they changed their stance and lived up to their contracted agreement. The network failed to mention any of the sponsor’s names during the airing of the Busch Series event. Finally, the way the story goes, NASCAR attorneys negotiated a settlement and on the following day, the Winston Cup event was broadcast without a hitch.
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