SPEED Channel to Increase Coverage from 24 Hours of Le Mans

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SPEED Channel to Increase Coverage from Famed Michelin 24 Hours of Le Mans

Erik Arneson 6-8-2004

SPEED SIGNS NEW DEAL EXTENDING LE MANS CONTRACT THROUGH 2008

HOBBS: EVENT BELONGS TO THE ENTIRE WORLD

SPEED Channel returns to the Michelin 24 Hours of Le Mans for the ninth consecutive year, with 21.5 hours of coverage from the 72nd running of the round-the-clock classic -- an increase of more than four hours from a year ago.

“As always in June, SPEED Channel is extremely energized by the 24 Hours of Le Mans,” said Rick Miner, SPEED Channel’s Sr. VP Programming/Production and Executive Producer. “Once again, we will send an extensive team of experienced talent to France, and in addition to the outstanding host broadcast, we will provide SPEED-only in-car and pit lane cameras.

“We also are pleased to announce that we have signed a new deal , ensuring that what is clearly one of the world’s premier motor sports events will be on SPEED through 2008,” Miner added.

SPEED hits the air at 8:30 a.m. on June 12 with taped recaps of test day and qualifying, before beginning 20.5 hours of live coverage at 9:30 a.m. ET. Veteran broadcaster Bob Varsha will lead the SPEED team of on-air talent which includes Leigh Diffey with play-by-play, David Hobbs, Derek Daly and five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell as analysts, and Calvin Fish, Brian Till, Andrew Marriott and Amanda Stretton reporting from in the pits.

“Le Mans has taken on the aura of one of a select group of sporting events that belongs to the entire world,” said Hobbs, who competed 20 times in the event. “It belongs with such events as Wimbledon and the Indy 500.

“As a driver, it is a magnificent course to race on -- it’s very smooth with long straights, great sweeping corners and a few slow corners that basically are rural intersections the rest of the year,” Hobbs added. “And the atmosphere separates it from every other event in motor sports. There is a fairground-like setting with shops and villages popping up just for the event. There are hundreds of thousands of people at Le Mans, but they are not crammed into a race track, they are spread out over the French countryside.”

SPEED Channel’s 24 Hours of Le Mans broadcast schedule (all times ET):

Saturday June 12
· 8:30 a.m. - Test Day Recap (taped)
· 9 a.m. - Qualifying Recap (taped)
· 9:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Michelin 24 Hours of Le Mans (Live)
· 2:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. - Michelin 24 Hours of Le Mans (Live)
· 7:30 p.m. - 8 p.m. - Michelin 24 Hours of Le Mans (Live)
· 10 p.m. - midnight - Michelin 24 Hours of Le Mans (Live)

Sunday June 13
· 12:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. -- Michelin 24 Hours of Le Mans (Live)

The SPEED Channel Web site (SPEEDTV.com) will provide a link to Autosport’s Radio Le Mans coverage.

In 2004, SPEED Channel is the exclusive U.S. cable home for many of the top motor sports series in the world. In addition, SPEED’s weekly programming schedule brings car enthusiast television to Prime Time Monday through Thursday. Now available in more the 66 million homes in North America, SPEED Channel is among the fastest growing sports cable networks in the country and the home to NASCAR TV.

--www.SPEEDTV.com--