Hotpass and NASCAR sponsorship cancelled by DirecTV – NASCAR news
Effective immediately, DirecTV has cancelled its free NASCAR Hotpass service. The story was reported by Sports Business Journal. The report further says that DirecTV will no longer be an official NASCAR sponsor in the upcoming season in light of a decision
that was made at the end of last year.
For consecutive six years, DirecTV has been an official NASCAR sponsor but in 2013, NASCAR fans will no longer see the satellite television provider sponsoring NASCAR races.
Hotpass was a free service to which DirecTV held exclusive rights. It featured 4 exclusive driver channels, with one driver getting coverage for a week until being replaced by another one, Dale Earnhardt Jr. being the only exception. The free service also
broadcasted radio transmissions of the communication taking place between the team and driver. Each channel also featured on-board cameras which gave live coverage to that week’s driver.
According to the press report, the cost of production for Hotpass was very high. In contradiction to the cost that DirecTV had to bear to produce Hotpass, the product was unable to draw considerable attention amongst NSCAR fans. That was the basic reason
DirecTV decided to cancel Hotpass.
“We tried to charge for the (Hot Pass) product a few years ago, but the demand for it was low. We decided to switch to a free service. It’s been great and we’ve been happy with it. It’s been a differentiator. But in the end, the production cost became too
much to bear,” DirecTV Senior Vice President Darris Gringeri told the Sports Business Journal.
When Hotpass was first launched in 2007, it was a pay-per-view service which meant NASCAR fans had to pay to utilise this service. Initially, the cost was $10 for every Sprint Cup Series race. In its inaugural year, Hotpass featured five exclusive driver
channels, with drivers rotating every week. It also included exclusive commentary from famous personalities.
In 2008, DirecTV temporarily suspended Hotpass. It was again started before the 2009 Sprint Cup Series, but this time as a free service. The commentary on races was replaced by driver-to-team communication and number of exclusive channels was reduced to
four.
In the upcoming season, NASCAR will be acquiring editorial control of NASCAR.com from Turner Sports. In the digital Raceview subscription, NASCAR.com is already offering a service similar to Hotpass. So for fans who did use DirecTV’s service, a replacement
is already there.
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