Speed (TV network)

The network originally launched as Speedvision on December 31, 1995. The network was one of two (the other being the Outdoor Life Network) formed out of a partnership of Cox Cable and Times Mirror which had combined their cable systems operations in 1994. In July 1995, Times Mirror decided to reassess its media holdings and reduced its stake in the two planned networks to 10%. Comcast and Continental Cablevision were brought on as new partners.[6]

Speedvision was planned by former ESPN executive Roger L. Werner, E. Roger Williams and Robert Scanlon. The network offered a mix of automotive, boating, and aviation programming.[7]

Speedvision's initial lineup featured various automotive programs, including various documentary-style series focusing on prolific vehicles, manufacturers, and racing teams (such as Victory by Design and Legends of Motorsport), series focusing on classic automobiles (such as Dream Car Garage, coverage of Barrett-Jackson's auctions, and My Classic Car, which moved to the network from TNN), an AutoWeek-branded television series, along with MotorWeek and Autoline Detroit – two programs respectively syndicated from PBS member stations in Maryland and Detroit. Speedvision also carried coverage of various minor and professional auto racing series, including the Sports Car Club of America's World Challenge series (of which it also acquired title sponsorship of in 1999, becoming the Speedvision World Challenge).

In the summer of 2001, the Fox Entertainment Group (then a subsidiary of News Corporation) purchased a 30% ownership interest in Speedvision. In August of that year, Fox negotiated a deal to acquire the stakes held by Cox and Comcast, thus giving them majority control of the network. Since Fox Sports had recently acquired broadcast rights to the first half of the NASCAR Busch and Winston Cup Series in a six-year deal, Fox planned to leverage Speedvision as an outlet for supplemental NASCAR programming.[7] To coincide with that year's running of the Daytona 500, Speedvision was relaunched as Speed Channel on February 11, 2002; the network's operations were also relocated from Stamford, Connecticut to Charlotte, North Carolina (where NASCAR and the majority of its teams are based).

In the following years, additional NASCAR-related programs were slowly brought on to the schedule, ranging from news programs (such as Totally NASCAR, rerun from Fox Sports Net, and NASCAR Race Hub), pre-race programs Trackside and NASCAR RaceDay, and the post-race NASCAR Victory Lane. Speed Channel also added a weekly call-in show in 2003, WindTunnel with Dave Despain, which featured interviews and discussions relating to news and events in auto racing.

NASCAR Busch (now Xfinity) Series driver Shane Huffman, answers questions from Speed Channel's Dick Berggren.

Starting in 2003, Speed began to carry NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series, after buying out the remainder of ESPN2's contract for the events. The channel also offered coverage of practices and qualifying races in NASCAR's main national series, the Gatorade Duels qualifying races, and the Sprint All-Star Race. In 2005, the channel's name was shortened to simply Speed.

In 2006, the conclusion of Daytona 500 qualifying coverage was moved to Speed due to NBC's coverage of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. The coverage still had NBC graphics and commentary. It would be the only time that the NBC/TNT broadcast combo (which aired the Daytona 500 in even-numbered years and the summer race in the odd-numbered months) would air its NASCAR coverage on SPEED.[8]

Until late 2007, Speed also aired coverage of International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation events over the winter months – including bobsledding, luge and skeleton. Its winter sports coverage also included an annual charity bobsledding event organized by NASCAR driver and bobsled builder Geoff Bodine, which featured participation by various NASCAR drivers. Universal Sports acquired the rights to FIBT events beginning in the 2007–08 season.

Speed continued to maintain coverage of other professional racing series, such as the Rolex Sports Car Series (including the 24 Hours of Daytona), the American Le Mans Series (along with the 24 Hours of Le Mans), the newly renamed Speed World Challenge until 2010, and the Formula One World Championship. By the mid 2000s, these came along with an increasing number of reality series (such as the street racing-inspired Pinks, Unique Whips, Chop Cut Rebuild, the drag racing game show Pass Time, American Trucker, and Hard Parts: South Bronx, along with reruns of the MTV series Pimp My Ride). By 2008, Speed was carried in over 73 million households.[7]

In 2010, Fox launched Speed 2, a TV Everywhere video streaming service which featured coverage of additional racing series not broadcast by Speed, along with video on demand access to archived Speed programs. The service was shut down in 2014.[9]

In 2011, Speed began carrying Australia's V8 Supercars series; it also aired live coverage of the Gold Coast 600 (where major international drivers competed in teams alongside Australian drivers) and the Bathurst 1000 featuring Darrell Waltrip, Mike Joy, Leigh Diffey, and Calvin Fish on-location. The move was met with praise from series organizers, who felt that the series could benefit from the additional exposure it would receive from American coverage—the series would also add a U.S. event at Austin's Circuit of the Americas for the 2013 season.[10]

On October 12, 2012, Fox Sports announced that it would not renew its contract to air Formula One racing on Speed after the conclusion of the 2012 season. Two days later, NBC Sports announced that it had reached a new four-year deal to broadcast F1 races beginning in the 2013 season, with the majority of its coverage to be carried by NBC Sports Network.[11][12] Three days later, Fox Sports reached an agreement with NASCAR to extend the network's broadcasting contract through the 2022 season (maintaining its rights to the first half of the Sprint Cup season and the full Camping World Truck Series season), along with the addition of online streaming rights beginning in 2013.[13]

On October 12, 2022, it was announced that Speed co-founder Robert Scanlon was collaborating with Rick Hendrick, Bill Goldberg and advertising industry sales executive Joe Abruzzese to revive the Speedvision brand as a linear channel on FAST (free ad-supported television) services.[21] The new channel was launched on November 17, 2022 [22] and features original and archival automotive programming on its daily schedule.

Speed became available in Canada shortly after its U.S. launch. As Speedvision, Speed was approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to be added to its list of foreign cable networks approved for carriage on Canadian cable and satellite providers in 1997.[23] As such, Speed is carried by most Canadian television service providers. Prior to August 2013, Canadian viewers saw a largely identical schedule as the U.S. channel, although some programming, particularly live Formula 1 events, were blacked out to protect TSN, which holds domestic broadcast rights to F1 events (under CRTC rules, foreign services must own Canadian broadcast rights to the content they air).[24] However, this point became moot when NBC Sports Network obtained rights to F1 events beginning with the 2013 season, as that network is not available in Canada.

In Canada, as well as the Caribbean and Puerto Rico, Speed was not converted to Fox Sports 1. The exact reasons for this have not been confirmed, although in the case of Canada, it is not clear whether Fox would have had the ability to make such a change given that Speed's Canadian authorization was based on it being a motorsports-based network. The version of Speed available in these areas continues to carry various NASCAR and other motorsports events, as well as related studio programming, mostly simulcast with their U.S. broadcasts on Fox Sports 1 or Fox Sports 2, but does not otherwise originate any new programming of its own. During hours when the network is not simulcasting FS1 or FS2 coverage, it carries repeats of past events and Speed's previous reality and documentary programming. The international feed does not carry commercial advertising: commercial breaks consist solely of promos for its programming, with no outside advertising aside from public service announcements and promotions inserted by local providers.[4]

In early 2014, major Canadian service providers including Rogers Cable and Bell Satellite TV began to drop the service upon the expiration of their carriage contracts. Cogeco dropped the Speed Channel on July 15, 2014.[25] Shaw later announced they will drop Speed on April 1, 2015 within their cable and satellite system (a.k.a. Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct).[26] Reports indicate that Fox had attempted to raise the channel's carriage fees significantly, despite the major reductions in original programming for international viewers,[27] and Rogers suggests Fox was unwilling to allow Speed to be moved to a more specialized package in light of the programming and cost changes.[28]

On February 19, 2015, Fox announced that the international feed of Speed would be re-branded as Fox Sports Racing, and announced that Rogers had reached a deal to add the rebranded network back to its lineup.[29]

Speed on Fox is the name given for any motorsports events shown on Fox which would normally be broadcast by Speed Channel. The events include races from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (using NASCAR on Fox branding and graphics when aired), Formula One, and Rolex Sports Car Series. The name was first used in February 2007. Formula One was broadcast on Fox for six years and the Camping World Truck Series for eight years.

Speed launched in Australia on November 1, 2010 on Foxtel in both standard and high definition.[30] After months of negotiations and controversy, on March 25, 2011, Speed and Speed HD launched on subscription the television provider Austar.[31] Among other racing events, the Australian network airs NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series, Camping World Truck Series, V8 Supercars and Superbike World Championship. The network also has its own version of Speed News. Unlike the U.S. version, it is owned by Fox Sports Pty Limited, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia – which is no longer directly connected to 21st Century Fox due to its inclusion in the split of News Corporation. Speed closed on November 3, 2014 and has been replaced by Fox Sports 5.

The Latin American version of Speed carried live coverage of the Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series, Rolex Sports Car Series, American Le Mans Series (including 24 Hours of Le Mans), Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters and the Camping World Truck Series. It also aired delayed coverage of the World Series by Renault and NASCAR Mexico. Other programming included highlights shows including British Formula Three Championship, the Argentine TC 2000 and Turismo Carretera, and the Colombian T.C. 2000 and delayed highlights of Australia's V8 Supercars, FIA GT (airing on a few months delay), AMA Supercross and Monster Jam, as well as non-motorsport programs such as Grand Prix on Track, Grand Prix Story, Unique Whips, Tuner Mania and Pinks.

On February 5, 2012, the Latin American channel was replaced in Brazil by a domestic version of Fox Sports. Beginning in 2012, the network broadcast Formula 1 free practices and live and delayed qualifying events and races, as well as live races from the GP2 Series and GP3 Series. On November 5, 2012, Speed Latin America was relaunched as Fox Sports 3, whose programming remains focused on motorsports, especially on weekends.