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Seven-and-a-half hours of CART race event television coverage
on SPEED Channel from the season-opening Tecate Telmex
Monterrey Grand Prix will officially kick-off the new
relationship between the burgeoning television network and the
CART FedEx Championship Series this weekend.
“CART is America’s No. 1 open-wheel racing series and adding
this major player to our motorsports programming package
simply strengthens our position as the place to turn for all
the best motor sports coverage on television,” said SPEED
Channel network President Jim Liberatore. “With the NASCAR
season underway and Formula One kicking off its season last
week, SPEED Channel is loaded with live racing and insider
news programs that are set to become the benchmark in the
industry.”
Following its announcement of the full 2002 schedule of CART
programming yesterday, SPEED Channel opens its CART event
coverage on Friday with same-day coverage of Champ Car
qualifying at 9:00 p.m. ET. Immediately following the
qualifying telecast at 10:30 p.m. ET, the first installment of
the 30-minute CART Friday Night program hits the SPEED Channel
airwaves.
On Saturday, live coverage of the final round of Champ Car
qualifying airs at 2:30 p.m. ET, and same-day overage of the
2002 CART Toyota Atlantic Championship opener from Monterrey
airs that evening at 9:30 p.m. On race day – Sunday, March 10
– SPEED Channel’s coverage begins with a 30-minute pre-race
program at 3:30 p.m. ET.
The pre-race show will be followed at 4:00 p.m. ET by
two-and-a-half hours of live coverage of the Tecate Telmex
Monterrey Grand Prix. Including scheduled re-airs, 15 hours of
total CART programming from Monterey will air on SPEED
Channel.
“I believe that the SPEED Channel coverage that we will see
from Monterrey and all year long is going to substantially
raise the bar for television coverage of motor racing events,”
said CART President and CEO, Christopher R. Pook. “CART
programming will dominate the SPEED Channel schedule this
weekend, and SPEED Channel is poised to show our sport in a
new light. SPEED Channel and our friends at Lingner Group
Productions have assembled a very talented, passionate, and
entertaining group for CART television broadcasts. CART fans
will be refreshed by these television broadcasts, and I am
confident that this will be the dawn of a new era in Champ Car
event broadcasting.”
Now carried in more than 50 million homes, SPEED Channel is
the nation's fastest growing sports cable network, having
added almost 12 million new homes in the past 12 months. The
SPEED Channel and CART relationship launches as the network is
setting record numbers in viewers and households reached after
last month’s re-launch. Formerly Speedvision, the new SPEED
Channel witnessed average ratings 74% higher from 7:00 p.m. to
12:00 midnight compared to February 2001 daypart averages.
Households watching SPEED Channel increased by 120% and the
network posted a .30 rating in prime time for the week of Feb.
11 – 17, its highest weekly prime time ratings ever. In the
past year, SPEED Channel ranks among the top-10 overall in
household growth among the 43 ad-supported cable networks.
Just prior to CART Sneak Preview at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
last month, SPEED Channel announced that the on-air talent
will consist of long-time racers Derek Daly, Tommy Kendall,
Scott Pruett, and Calvin Fish; and veteran motorsports
broadcaster Bob Varsha. The television production will be
handled by Indianapolis-based, Lingner Group Productions.
2002 CART TV Schedule
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Martin Basso
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