New deal gives several networks the races

Viewers will need to navigate their way through the various channels.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Race fans, start your clickers. And make sure the TV listings are handy.
Beginning in 2007, NASCAR viewers will need both to navigate their way through a 36-race television schedule.
NASCAR agreed to an eight-year, $4.48 billion television deal Wednesday that will split its schedule among the networks beginning in 2007. The 36 events will be aired on Fox, ABC/ESPN and TNT, and the annual all-star race will be on Speed Channel.
Although the actual races will have scheduling continuity, the remainder of the weekend programming -- qualifying, practices and the Busch Series -- will be spread out all over the dial in deals that run through the 2014 season.
Major accomplishment
"This is a major accomplishment for the NASCAR drivers, teams and track operators that have made this sport what it is today," chairman Brian France said. "The new broadcast partnership is also good for the fans, because they will have so much more NASCAR content from a variety of media and new media sources."
Marc Ganis, a sports marketer who heads Chicago's Sportscorp Ltd., dismissed a suggestion that the multitude of networks could prove confusing to viewers.
"NASCAR is sufficiently attractive to audiences that they will look for where the races are from week to week," he said.
Under the new deal, Fox gets the Daytona 500 and the 12 races that follow, TNT gets a six-event stretch over the summer, and ABC/ESPN closes out the schedule with 17 races -- including all 10 Chase for the championship events.
The deal marks a return to the sport for ABC/ESPN and the furthering of a long-term relationship for TNT.
ABC/ESPN had been shut out of the last TV contract, a six-year, $2.8 billion deal that began in 2001 and split the schedule among Fox, NBC and the network's sister stations. When NBC declined to extend its contract with NASCAR, it opened the door for the networks, owned by The Walt Disney Co., to negotiate.
TV's racing history
ABC was one of the first networks to televise stock car racing in the 1960s, and ESPN introduced flag-to-flag race telecasts in the 1980s. The network was NASCAR's leading carrier through the 1990s, but has not aired a race since 2000, when it lost the rights to NBC and Fox.
Disney worked hard to be included this time around, agreeing to pay about $270 million a year to split the final 17 races on the schedule between ESPN and ABC.
ESPN's networks also will be home to the lower-tier Busch Series. While most of the Busch races will be on ESPN2, the deal calls for no less than three events to air on ABC.
ABC is the only network that has discussed talent, confirming Wednesday that Jerry Punch will be part of the broadcast team. Punch began covering motorsports on "ABC's Wide World of Sports" in 1987 and has been involved in the Indianapolis 500 coverage since 1989.
TNT, meanwhile, fought to continue a 22-year relationship with NASCAR. The network, in conjunction with NBC's part of the 2001 deal, has aired seven to eight races a season and wanted to remain involved despite NBC's withdrawal.
So TNT came up with about $80 million a year for a stretch of six races in June and July. TNT was adamant that it wanted continuity in scheduling and a marquee event.
Turner Sports nuggets
"We got both and we're thrilled," David Levy, president of Turner Sports, said of the network deal that includes the July 4 weekend Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway and races 14 through 19 on the schedule.
Fox, meanwhile, continues its run of scheduling the first portion of the season. The network extended its deal to pay about $205 million per year for 13 races and the exhibition Budweiser Shootout.
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