Speed (TV network)

Speed, formerly known as Speed Channel was an international subscription television channel of American origin, which broadcast to the United States,, and throughout Latin America. The channel was based in Charlotte, North Carolina and carried programming mostly related to auto racing and motor sports. Programming in the US included Formula One races, and also broadcast NASCAR in Latin America, NASCAR Toyota Series (formerly Corona Series), Porsche Supercup, DTM, BTCC, WTCC, and since, GP2 Series and GP3 Series were part of the broadcasts in Latin America. It also broadcast programs with content about cars and motorcycles.

Speed ceased being available to most American viewers as a standalone network with its own original programming on August 17, 2013, when it was replaced by the general-interest sports network Fox Sports 1. An "international" version of the network, now known as, concurrently launched in Canada, the Caribbean and the U.S. territory of to replace the domestic feed, airing archived Speed programming and live simulcasts of motorsports events carried by Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 in the United States that would be otherwise unavailable to international viewers.

As Speedvision
The channel that eventually became the Speed Channel was launched on New Year's Day 1996, by Roger L. Werner Jr, E. Roger Williams, Nickolas Rhodes and Robert Scanlon, under the name Speedvision in owned by Cox Communications, Continental Cable and. Under his management, "Speedvision" became the fastest growing cable network of all time.

In the summer of 2001,  purchased a third of Speedvision. In August 2001, they negotiated the acquisition of the shares owned by Cox and Comcast, thus giving them a controlling interest, Since had recently acquired broadcast rights to the first half of the NASCAR Busch and NASCAR Winston Cup Series in a six-year deal, Fox planned to leverage Speedvision as an outlet for supplemental NASCAR programming.

Speedvision was planned by former ESPN president. The network offered a mix of motorsports, boating, and aviation.

Speedvision's initial lineup featured various automotive programs, including various documentary-style series focusing on prolific vehicles, manufacturers, and racing teams (such as ' and '), series focusing on classic automobiles (such as , coverage of 's auctions, and, which moved to the network from ), an -branded television series, along with  and  – two programs respectively syndicated from  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).

Fox acquisition and NASCAR push
Fox saw the network as a negotiating tool for NASCAR's television rights that were split with NBC. The plan was for the channel to become a 24-hour NASCAR network. This plan was finally shelved in the fall due to the unwillingness of Fox management to hold NASCAR races on the channel, 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, 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. 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.

Until late 2007, Speed also aired coverage of 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. 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 ', ', ', the drag racing game show ', American Trucker, and Hard Parts: South Bronx, along with reruns of the series ). By 2008, Speed was carried in over 73 million households.

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

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.

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. Three days later, 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.

As Speed HD
Speed HD was the same channel, but in high definition or HD. It was launched on February 8, 2008. DirecTV was one of the first to carry this new channel. Dish Network launched Speed HD on May 8, 2009.

Speed2
In June 2012 Speed launched an online download service that allowed all cable and satellite customers to access content via their computer, smartphone or tablet known as Speed2. It featured live and archived racing events from various series. NASCAR programming was not included in Speed2, due to rights belonging to Turner Sports.

Loss of rights to Formula One (United States only)
Speed, at the end of the 2012 season of the Major League of motorsports, loses the rights to broadcast Formula 1, and as of the 2013 season, it was confirmed that NBC signed a four-year contract to broadcast Formula 1, 16 races through on its cable signal NBC Sports Network and the races from Canada, Abu Dhabi, the United States, Brazil (beginning in 2013) and Mexico (beginning in 2015) on NBC's national signal.

Channel changes (Latin America and the United States)
Speed ​​disappeared on November 5, 2012, giving way to the rebranding of Fox Sports Latin America, which consists of the renewal of signals: Fox Sports keeping the same signal but with several changes, Fox Sports 2 that replaced Fox Sports + and Fox Sports 3 that replaced Speed, in these last two the programming changed radically, in Brazil in a short time it was replaced by Fox Sports and Speed ​​in Brazil disappeared definitively when Fox Sports entered the cable operators SKY, NET, Oi, Claro TV and DirecTV.

It was confirmed in the United States on March 5, 2013 that Speed ​​would be replaced by a new cable sports channel to be called Fox Sports 1. The closure of the channel occurred on August 17, 2013, initially broadcasting American football and college basketball from the, Conference USA and , soccer games from the , and the , along with the rights to the FIFA World Cups, both men's and women's and both majors and minors from 2015  regular season games will also be broadcast on Saturdays, some weekday games, and the pre-World Series postseason beginning in 2014. Regarding NASCAR, regarding motorsports, some of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races beginning in 2015 will be broadcast on this signal, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the NASCAR All-Star Race and all Speedweeks races at Daytona will continue to be broadcast on this signal.

"For 18 years, it's been our honor and privilege to present motorsports and automotive-related programming to you on the network that began as Speedvision, became Speed Channel, and is now known as Speed. From the visionaries who started this network, from maintenance to management, from the talent to the truck drivers, we've shared your passion for motorsports over lo these many years. We love that you care as much about your cars as family, God and country, and so do we. But now, it's time to switch off the ignition and turn in the keys. This is the end of Speed in America. We hope you'll follow us on our new journey to Fox Sports 1 because all your favorite live NASCAR programming and much more is coming along with us. So now, it's goodnight and farewell to America's motorsports authority, Speed."

- Fox's Mike Joy, at the moment Speed was relaunched as Fox Sports 1.

Although Fox marketed the transition to Fox Sports 1 as a re-launch of Speed, Fox was required to re-negotiate carriage deals with providers for Fox Sports 1 due to the change of its nature of service. There was uncertainty over whether Fox Sports 1 would have sufficient carriage at launch, as it had not yet reached deals with three of the four largest pay television providers in the United States (these being, and ) with only a month before its launch. However, all three finally agreed to terms to carry Fox Sports 1 three days before the scheduled launch. For any remaining television providers that did not reach a deal, Fox offered a "watered-down" version of Speed (which consisted of a loop of the network's reality programming and no live events) to fulfill existing carriage contracts until they reached a deal to carry Fox Sports 1. In international markets such as Canada, a Speed-branded service was maintained (now known as Fox Sports Racing) running an automated loop of Speed's previous non-event programming, and simulcasts of motorsports programming carried by Fox Sports 1 or 2.<

Despite the channel’s shutdown, the Speed brand continues to be used on Fox Sports’ social media platforms for coverage of AMA Supercross, the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, the ARCA Racing Series, International Motor Sports Association, and other non-NASCAR motorsports.

North America (outside the United States)
Speed became available in Canada shortly after its U.S. launch. As Speedvision, Speed was approved by the (CRTC) to be added to its list of foreign cable networks approved for carriage on Canadian cable and satellite providers in 1997. 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, which holds domestic broadcast rights to F1 events (under CRTC rules, foreign services must own Canadian broadcast rights to the content they air). 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.

Canada
Like Speedvision, Speed was approved by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission adding to its list of approved US channels for Canadian cable and satellite providers in 1997.

As well as the and, 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 s and promotions inserted by local providers.

In early 2014, major Canadian service providers including and  began to drop the service upon the expiration of their carriage contracts. dropped the Speed Channel on July 15, 2014. 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). Reports indicate that Fox had attempted to raise the channel's carriage fees significantly, despite the major reductions in original programming for international viewers, 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.

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

Latin America
Speed ​​Channel had live coverage of the NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Rolex Sports Car Series, DTM, American Le Mans Series and the classic 24 Hours of Le Mans. It also showed delayed coverage of the NASCAR Toyota Series (formerly Corona Series, some live races), WTCC, BTCC of Great Britain and in 2012 began broadcasting the Dakar Rally, World Rally Championship, GP3 Series, GP2 Series and the Formula One. On November 5, 2012 the channel was named in Spanish-speaking Latin America (both in the northern and southern cones) as {{w|Fox Sports 3]] and in Brazil on February 5, 2012 as {{w|ESPN4|Fox Sports Brazil}} and the schedule was changed.

Australia
Speed was released in Australia on November 1, 2010 on the channel lineup, in standard picture and HD. After months of talks on March 25 of the following year it was available for. The channel broadcasts the IndyCar Series, GP2 Series, World Motorcycle Championship, Superbike World Championship, NASCAR Cup Series, World Rally Championship, FIA World Rallycross Championship, World Sportscar Championship and United SportsCar Championship among others. In November 2014, the channel became Fox Sports 4.

Notable personalities

 * Adam Alexander – (NASCAR Race Hub host)
 * Will Buxton - (Formula One pit-lane reporter)
 * Wally Dallenbach, Jr. - (NASCAR Race Hub analyst)
 * Dave Despain - (now at hosting )
 * Bob Dillner – (NASCAR reporter)
 * Ray Dunlap - (Contract not renewed for 2017)
 * Jeff Gordon - (Fox NASCAR Color Commentator)
 * Jeff Hammond – (NASCAR Race Hub analyst)
 * David Hobbs - (Formula One commentator)
 * Mike Joy – (Lead Play By Play for Fox NASCAR)
 * Jamie Little - (Fox NASCAR pit reporter)
 * Steve Matchett - (Formula One commentator)
 * Larry McReynolds – (NASCAR Race Hub analyst)
 * Phil Parsons – (NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Studio Analyst)
 * Kyle Petty – (now at NASCAR on NBC)
 * John Roberts – (NASCAR RaceDay host, NASCAR Setup pre-race show host)
 * Hermie Sadler - (NASCAR Camping World Truck Series pit reporter)
 * Danielle Trotta - (NASCAR Race Hub host)
 * Bob Varsha - (Formula One host)
 * Kaitlyn Vincie - (NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Studio Host)
 * Krista Voda (now at NASCAR on NBC)
 * Wendy Venturini - (NASCAR RaceDay analyst)
 * Kenny Wallace – (NASCAR RaceDay analyst)
 * Darrell Waltrip – (Fox NASCAR Color Commentator)
 * Michael Waltrip – (NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Color Commentator)
 * Peter Windsor - (Formula One on-location reporter)
 * Rutledge Wood - now on Top Gear/NASCAR on NBC
 * Matt Yocum - (Fox NASCAR pit reporter)