For This TV Viewer There Is No More SpeedTV

by John Krill

On Tuesday, April 6, 2004, Cox Cable moved SpeedTV to their digital spectrum and replaced it with VH2.

I sent an e-mail to both SpeedTV.com and Cox cable. I have received a response from Cox but nothing so far from SpeedTV.

This is what Cox had to say about the move of SpeedTV:

Thank you for your e-mail regarding the Speed Channel. Cox is committed to providing the best customer service possible. Speed Vision was moved to our Sports and Information Package and is on channel 318 on our Digital service. Cox is continually evaluating how to best utilize the limited bandwidth that is available for cable services, and want to ensure that there is room for new products and services, such as EOD (Entertainment on Demand), DVR (Digital Video Recorder) and HDTV with DVR.

Also, because the FCC has mandated that all television broadcasts must be converted to a Digital format by the end of 2006, we are slowly converting our channels over to Digital. Eventually, if the FCC?s plan is carried through, all channels will be Digital by 2007 and the analog channels will go away. Everyone will have Digital by then. You will either have to buy a new Digital TV and VCR that has a Digital tuner built in, by a Digital converter for your analog TV and VCR from an electronics store, or rent a Digital converter from your local cable or satellite company.

We are offering our customers a special deal that was announced because of the channel change.

• FREE Upgrade from Standard service to Digital service.
• FREE Digital Converter for 3 months.
• FREE Sports & Information channel package for 3 months.

What a bunch of crap! If they were really converting to digital then why put VH2 in SpeedTV's slot? No this is all about money. Viacom (owner of VH2) is putting up bigger bucks than News Corp. (Owner of SpeedTV.) It's that simple.

Was the loss of SpeedTV that big a deal to begin with?

Well I watch Formula One. No make that the Michael Schumacher and His Band of Do Nothing Followers show. Those followers have created some of the most interesting excuses to explain why they're a bunch of losers. The only follower I will miss is Jenson Button.

Then there is the 24 Hours of La Mans. The way SpeedTV has covered this race the last couple of years can be described with one word: Boring.

World Rally. That I like. But what has happened to it. I can never figure out when it's on. Another programming BS move by big media - News Corp.

Do I miss NASCAR? No. Watching cars go around in a circle, and with so many cars in the race, is more like the Santa Ana freeway during rush-hour going through the City of Industry. Total confusion. Has SpeedTV really become NASCAR-TV?

Now consider SpeedTV's replacement at Cox - VH2. This music channel has been declared in violation of the Geneva Convention as to cruel a punishment for POWs. Just one hour of the crap they call music that transmits from this channel is enough to melt even the strongest person's brains.

So what's a race fan to do? How about going to the races. Problem is in Southern California there isn't mush in the way of motor racing. Riverside has been gone for over a decade. The Long Beach race is just one weekend a year and this year it is a total mystery as to what will be racing. That leaves Laguna Seca. But consider this: Paying for just one race weekend at Laguna Seca would probably cover 5 years of digital cable from Cox!

Update: I have just learned that CART will be broadcast on Spike TV. Though from the wording of the statement it sounds like it will not be live: "providing fans with a consistent time slot to watch every event . . ."

PS: The above ads for Laguna Seca is a freebie. I just wanted to put something there. It's not like Laguna Seca Raceway has ever acknowledged the existence of this web site, it hasn't.

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