<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jumkie @ Jun 3 2009, 07:44 AM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Rewriting history?
Lex, did you forget the soured relationship that DMG created with manufactures? I think they put the AMA pro primetime show on Saturday night because 1) the manufactures were
alienated by DMG and 2) SpeedTV played along not wanting to air the coverage for less money. Both backfired, and now SpeedTV is crawling back to show the racing when people actually want to watch it. However, I doubt SpeedTV was getting much better revenue during the Sunday spots on AMA weekends since they were playing reruns of Bullrun and ..... The truth is they will get more views if they show the racing on Sunday, but they were holding out, thinking the manufactures would cave (since they also need to advertise for their product).
DMG is the .... up here. Now that they couldn't compromise and make the manufactures happy, SpeedTV continuing to lose money, they decided to cut their losses and show the races on Sunday. People will tune in and at very least they can charge other advertisers increased rate as soon as they prove increased ratings.
This actually may bring the manufactures back into the mix for SpeedTV. Not for the sake of DMG but rather for the sake of getting their message out to their target audience.
If soured relationships caused AMA to lose live/same-day coverage, then repaired relations have brought it back. No relationships have been repaired. Neither the departure of same-day coverage or it's return are related to DMG. You are simply railing against the AMA because you don't like Edmondson.
I definitely agree with you, though, that Speed are crawling back to their old format.
However, I highly doubt that Speed assumed the manufacturers would continue paying top dollar for a Saturday night slot that featured 2-week-old races. It's much more likely that Speed looked at DMG's offer then simply scheduled Pro Primetime according to bureaucratic company policy.
The delay was always inevitable for 2009 so DMG tried to dress up delayed coverage by showing the entire race in destination format. When Speed realized what their stupid company policy had caused (increased expenses and hugely decreased revenues) they pulled their heads out and granted late-night same-day coverage to the AMA. Edmondson is overjoyed because it protects the new major sponsors who need viewership for their ads (Progressive, GEICO, National Guard, etc.) he couldn't care less about the destination format b/c it was simply an attempt to dress up delayed coverage.
Many of the changes to the AMA have little to do with NASCAR or ego. Most are crafted in response to serious problems within the AMA.
The reduction in tuning equipment is designed to cut costs. Rolling starts are designed to end first corner pile-ups that injure high profile riders. The safety car was designed to stop red-flag shenanigans and keep races moving.
Edmondson has only made one huge mistake----the new Buell pace bike. Really, really, dumb. What happens if the pace bike goes down? DMG must really be hurting for money if they are selling the pace-vehicle to Buell. Maybe the pace-bike and the schedule change are related?
